VT film rewinding problem

[los]

i have had two rolls now where i've had problems on the negative from rewinding problems. as VT users may know, if you come to the last frame of roll mid-shutter, you cannot fully cock the shutter or disengage the shutter by rotating the "A" (film advance) ring around the shutter release button. in this situation, i've had to open the camera back (in the dark, of course) and release the film canister so that i can release the shutter and rewind the film.

that's my first problem.

the second problem is that once the shutter is disengaged and i'm able to rewind the film, near the end of the roll, the film seems to get stuck and requires quite a bit of added power to continue to rewind the film until it releases from the take up spool. so my questions are:

1) does anyone have a solution for releasing a half-cocked shutter at the end of a roll?

2) does anyone else have a "hard to turn" section when rewinding a roll, and if so does it mark your film when processed?

i like my little camera, but this problem is enough to make me want to put it on the shelf and lug around the gw670II.

also, the camera was given to me by the original owner in mint condition, and it had a CLA two weeks ago. i think my technique is to blame, or just an old and poor design for film rewinding.

 

[jlw]

If that's actually the expected behavior (which I strongly doubt) it must be something they fixed on the VI-T, because my VI-T definitely does not behave like that.

If you hit the end of the roll in mid-wind, you can turn the shutter-release collar to the (unmarked) rewind position. This de-tensions the shutter (sounds like it fires, but it actually doesn't) and then you can rewind normally.

I haven't used a V-T in a while, but my recollection is that it's supposed to work the same way. In fact, I can't imagine Canon designing a camera that sometimes required you to go into the darkroom to rewind the film!

Also, while it's sometimes hard to turn the rewind at the moment the leader pulls out of the takeup spool (because the slot grips the leader tightly and you have to yank it out) it isn't notably hard except right then.

I can't help wondering if maybe your rewind control isn't disengaging the film advance fully when you turn it, CLA or no CLA. Maybe the repair technician didn't set it up correctly after cleaning it, or muffed the final assembly. If you got a warranty on the job, I'd say you need to talk to them about this.

 

[los]

i passed a test roll of film through the camera and tried the dials again. they worked! it seems i was being too precious with the old little camera. the rewind ring does disengage the shutter even when half cocked. and the rewinding is tight only at the end of the roll. i passed the test film through the camera twice, and got it developed today. the processed roll came out clear (to the bewilderment of the lab tech) with no cinch marks, scratches, or light leaks.