need some help! film not winding on on my ZI

papasnap

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Jun 22, 2006
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Melbourne, Australia
hola all,

I have a problem with my ZI. Over the last month and a bit so I've been having a great time with the ZI and getting excellent results from it - it's a real pleasure shooting with the ikon + nokton 35mm f1.2 combo. you can read about my thoughts on the ikon here (link) and about another small problem I had with it here (link). I've put about a dozen rolls through the camera so far.

as I've mentioned in my other threads (above), I'm about to go to south east asia for 4 months (I'm leaving in 3 weeks - at the end of april), and it's essential to me to have a flawlessly functioning camera that can take several months of hard life travelling around asia. FYI I shoot provia 400x (always +2 at iso 1600) and always with the nokton 35mm f1.2.

having temporily run out of provia (with more on order), yesterday I bought an emergency roll of superia 400 as a stopgap while I waited, and loaded it into the camera. As I always need to shoot at 1600 (for low light), today I went past my lab and picked up a couple of rolls of superia 1600.

I unloaded the superia 400 this afternoon, and found that on gently pressing the little button on the underside (that you need to press before rewinding) that it was unusally stiff and resistant. The shutter was not cocked by the way - I made sure to release the shutter before trying to rewind / push the button. I pushed a bit harder, and it then depressed as normal, and I could then rewind the roll. When I loaded the 1600 film in, I tried to wind on and found that the mechanism moved a fraction, but something was clearly wrong, as it wasn't advancing properly. I took the film out and wound on and released the shutter a couple of times, then tried to load and wind the film again, with the same problem.

The film sprocket wheel will move if there is no resitance, but will not (or will barely) move at all if there is resistance (eg when film is engaged with the sprockets). The little button on the underside has remained fully depressed (which may be the cause of the problem?) and I can't see what I can do to let it out again, or even remember if it should be out at the start of the roll.

This means that I'm not able to use the camera, as the film can't even advance to the first frame. This has shaken my confidence in the camera a lot, and I'm seriously considering buying a M6TTL pronto so I don't have to go without a camera for weeks/months if the ZI requires repairs. I really, really like the zeiss and for the reasons outlined in my earlier post (see link above) I do belive a functioning ZI is definately the better camera for me than an M6 - but if it won't function then it becomes a moot point, and I'll just have to bite the bullet and get a leica. I seem to be having lousy luck with my ZI (2 problems in I think 2 weeks), but I wouldn't neccessarily let my problems stop anyone else from getting a ZI - they're very capable, and most people on RFF with a ZI seem to be getting trouble free use from them.

as an aside, I wear glasses (short sighted), and shoot the fast f1.2 nokton. If I do need to buy a leica, is the .58 M6TTL good enought to accurately focus the nokton? Failing that, with the .72 will I be able to see the 35mm framelines properly?

Thanks for all your time & patience!
papasnap
 
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ah, feeling a bit more rational about it this morning. Scratch the M6 plan for now - I'll only get one if I absolutely have to, and I don't think that time has come.

pixtu, that sounds like a good idea - how would you go about doing it?

I'm wary of opening up the body as I'll probably wind up breaking a few other things while I'm at it (this is what I'm guessing anyway - if it turns out it's pretty low risk to open the body then I'll go ahead). I've got the rest of the weekend to see if I can find a nondestructive way of getting the camera working, if nothing comes up I'll just send it in to Zeiss on monday and hope for a speedy turnaround.

I'm picking up a ricoh GRD II this week, so I'll just have to rely on that for a while.
 
pixtu, thanks again for your advice!

latest update: have just shipped the zeiss back to noriaki at matsuiyastore, who will send it to zeiss for a warranty repair.

does anyone have an idea re: how long it generally takes for warranty fixes with zeiss? If it's going to take more than a few weeks, I'd like to know asap so I can plan getting another camera now!

thanks all,
papasnap
 
papasnap -- I'd contact matsuiyastore, explain your circumstances (i.e., the upcoming trip) to see if they'll expedite the process, or better yet, send you a new replacement. It is not impossible, but I'd be surprised if you had it back in a few weeks.
 
cpborello, thanks for your advice - I've let noriaki know my circumstances, will see what happens!

Hmm.. so failing some sort of intervention, a couple of weeks doesn't sound realistic. I think I could handle up to 4 weeks max really, definately not more than 6 weeks.

In 2005 I sent my Nikon DSLR in for a repair (bent pins on compact flash slot - my fault), and I think it took a good 6 - 7 weeks for the local australian distributor (maxwell) to fix & return it - I really hope zeiss are more efficient!
 
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