Olympus Pen F Stuck Rewinding

[sygyzy]

Hi,

It's me again. I seem to keep having issues with old cameras and rewinding film! I have a good condition Pen F and I loaded a roll of 24 exp. into it. Loading film was not a problem and neither is focusing, adjusting shutter and aperture, and advancing. Once I hit 48 exposures, I pressed the film release button at the bottom (it stayed in) and tried to rewind. I am following the direction of the arrow (clockwise), but there is a LOT of resistance. In fact, if I force it, I can hear friction or maybe the sound of film ripping.

When I hit the end of the film, the advance lever stopped moving, so I knew it was the end. However, I am able to double advance the lever and fire off shots. This resets the film release button. When I tried pressing it in and rewinding, I was met with the same resistance. I don't want to lose my shots but more importantly I want to be able to rewind my camera.

Thanks.

 

[Landshark]

You're doing it right but if you think it's too much tension, take the film out in a darkroom, changing bag, closet or even under a blanket.
Get into the dark, open the back and remove the film. Then, if you have a test roll, load it run it through & check the rewind. you can do this with the back open. I may be that it just has more resistance than you're used too.

 

[sygyzy]

So I took your advice and went into a dark closet. I hope it was dark enough. Anyway, I opened the back and I tried feeling around. I ended up loosening the film from the take up reel then I tried rewinding it a bit, not using any more tension than normal. I felt a snap and the film released from the canister. I didn't know what to do so I rolled it up and put it inside a sunglasses case I had in the closet. Then I went to get a black film canister and put the film in there.

I just loaded a new roll, this time with the back open and very deliberately lined everything up. I also tested rewinding it so I hope I'm good now.

Question - if I took the film sans canister to a lab, can they still develop it? It's color or else I'd try to do it myself (it'd be my first time).

 

[Dana B.]

Common problem with my original Pen F. I discovered that if I didn't cock the shutter on the last shot, I could press the button and rewind the film. In other words, best to burn one (you've got 47 or 71, so who cares? ;p).

Otherwise, there's too much tension and you'll struggle to press the release button, or even break the film. Before I bought a dark bag, I once took the Pen F into a camera store, where a clerk was nice enough to use its bag.

Good luck.