Xpan film loading issue

[burancap]

Hi all,

New here... first post!

I have an issue w/ my "new to me" Xpan on trying to load 24 exposure film. I tried 3 or 4 different film types. The camera was not set to P... engaging P roughly halved the numbers... so that seemed to work fine on the first 2 rolls. I have sent the camera back for analysis, but was curious if anyone had ever run into similar issues.

1st roll: Ran for several seconds... showed "7"

pushed the rewind button

2nd roll: Ran a bit longer... showed "11"

pushed the rewind button

3rd roll: Ran a few seconds... BLANK

Now that is all I get... No reaction. It acts as though there is no film in it. I tried a few tricks... like opening and closing the back... manual ISO... same result.

While the camera is near mint, it is an early example "ER" dating to 1998. Counter = 107. Perhaps it sat idle for too long?

Thanks in advance!

Jeff

 

[veraikon]

Normally the xpan at loading the film pulls it out totally - and rewinds it back after exposure.
The number shown on the display is the number of exposures you can make, it changes if you switch the panoram/normal button .
I never tried 135/24exp film, I only use 135/36 film. From the 135/36 I get 21 (Fuji) or 20 (a "Kodak-clone") exposures.

 

[burancap]

Hi,

Thank you for the fast response!

Yes, you are correct. For anyone else following this thread... that is how the Xpan does work and that is my problem.

1.) Camera "OFF", Open the door

2.) Drop a cassette in, pull the leader out to the film line

3.) Close the door, the take-up spool extracts the film from the cassette completely

4.) Camera to ON - "S", "C", etc...

5.) The ec/LCD will display a number of exposures remaining

6.) In non "P" mode, 24 will display 24, etc...

In my case (as in the first post) the film was not completely extracted. Showing "7" on the first attempt, then "11" on the second. On the third attempt, it would not extract enough film to show any exposures. The ec/LCD was "BLANK". Engaging the "AUTOREWIND" did nothing... it was as though no film was present.

I have read that sometimes thinner emulsions can cause some loading issues, but I tried several different film types. I have never found anyone yet that had utter failure.