Puzzling Electro 35 Problem

[allen_a_george]

I've an Electro 35 that has a puzzling issue (to me). It doesn't seem to expose - i.e. when the film is processed, the negatives have only hazy patches on them.

I originally posted here:
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48648

Anyways, I followed the suggestion there. As I stop up/down the aperture blades open up correspondingly. It looks like the shutter is opening/closing. And yes, in different light levels the shutter remains open longer...

So, I'm still at a loss :bang:

 

[ully]

Post a picture from it.

 

[allen_a_george]

You mean the developed film?

 

[payasam]

You could scan any one negative with the "hazy patch".

 

[allen_a_george]

So I got the processed film back today...and it's a blank roll. No hazy patches - nada, just blank.

Since I know I didn't open the back up or expose the film accidentally, is it a light leak?

 

[januaryman]

If it's blank, I can only guess that the shutter never moved. Or perhaps the film was loaded incorrectly and was never run through the camera at all... did it take a reasonable amount of time to rewind?

 

[allen_a_george]

Hmm.

I think it took a reasonable time to rewind, and I felt a slight resistance whenever I used the film winding lever. I suppose I could sacrifice a roll this weekend; load the film, and with the back open check to make sure it's winding properly.

How can I tell if the shutter moved? If I look from the back through the lens (no film loaded), I can see a short flash of black across the aperture iris when I press the shutter button...

 

[Dfin]

G`day allen, sorry to hear about your Electro troubles. I`ve just tried this with one of my GSN`s. Open the camera back, set the aperture to F/1.7, cock the shutter,then hold the camera close to your eye,whilst looking through the lens, point it at a light source and trip the shutter. You should see the shutter open and close, you could also try this with a flash.

 

[allen_a_george]

Just wanted to post an update on this. Due to other work, (and the purchase of a CL) I let the GSN languish for quite some time. That said, it really bugged me that it should have worked but didn't. Since the aperture blades stopped down and the shutter seemed to fire, I decided that januaryman's comment made the most sense - the film had never moved. I found the following Flickr thread:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/yashicaelectro/discuss/72157600088985618/?search=blank

I loaded up some film into the GSN and realized (by winding with the back open) that the way I'd loaded the film the leader wasn't being dragged along by the take-up spool! So I sacrificed a few frames to make sure I was loading and advancing the film properly.

And . . . it works! Just had 2 rolls developed, and no problems 🙂 I don't think it's going to get much use though, because I hate not knowing the shutter speed. I've already lost a few images to camera shake when I shouldn't have . . .