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Message |
    
Langston
Tinkerer
Username: Langston
Post Number: 1
Registered: 10-2011
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, October 20, 2011 - 07:01 pm: | 
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I have an old Minolta xg-m. Brought it out of the closet after being stagnant for about 10 years, went through one roll of film no problem. It worked perfectly. I put new roll in and apparently a gear had been striped in the advancing mechanism, I took it into the camera shop and the good ole boy had it fixed in a couple of days. Now I've been through 3 rolls of film and I have yet to have an exposure on the film. I've open the back of the camera and I "took a picture" to make sure the shutter was working properly. I can see light through the back of the camera through the lens. I am still learning obviously, but any ideas.
Thanks for your help in advance.
Langston |
Jeffk
Tinkerer
Username: Jeffk
Post Number: 10
Registered: 10-2011
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, October 20, 2011 - 11:04 pm: |
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I'm not familiar with that camera but from photos it looks like a standard SLR similar to the one I use, in which case if you open the back, push the shutter button, and thumb the advance lever, you should see the take-up spool on the right side turning. If you put a *little* finger pressure on the spool while it's turning, it should fight you rather than just slip. And, the rewind knob on the left should turn along with the film advance if it's tight. |
Dgmaley
Tinkerer
Username: Dgmaley
Post Number: 12
Registered: 01-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, October 21, 2011 - 10:17 am: |
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Langston;
Batteries??? Does it have a fresh set of batteries? And clean the battery contacts. Old batteries are time bombs. Do you have a roll of film you can keep as a test roll? You will be running this roll through cameras with the back door open. It's by far the easiest way to see if the film transport is working. Cycle the camera in manual and automatic and with more than one lens.
Dave |
Waynemel
Tinkerer
Username: Waynemel
Post Number: 108
Registered: 08-2009
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, October 21, 2011 - 10:36 am: |
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Either the film is not advancing, or you have the lens cap on... |
Langston
Tinkerer
Username: Langston
Post Number: 2
Registered: 10-2011
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, October 21, 2011 - 03:16 pm: |
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Thanks everyone for your replies.
Jeffk; Once I place some pressure on the take up spool and the sprock both it never slipped. The rewind crank turns when I advance the film.
Dgmaley; I placed a fresh set of batteries once I brought it out. Luckily who had the camera before me was smart enough to remove the batteries so there's no corrosion on the contacts. I've went through a roll with the back of the camera open and the film is advancing. I've used 2 different lenses both apertures adjust fully. I've used all shutter speeds. I've even removed the lenses and changed the shutter speed to manual and held it open. I could see the film clear as day...I'm so confused by this.
I know film can expire, the expiration on the boxes are 05/2013 so I don't think that's it. I've used 400 color and 100 b&w speeds. I don't know how the film was stored before I bought it, since I've had it, it has remained in a controlled temp. Any other ideas?
Thanks again. |
Hanskerensky
Tinkerer
Username: Hanskerensky
Post Number: 124
Registered: 05-2009
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, October 21, 2011 - 03:34 pm: |
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When you could actually see the film through te opened shutter but it seems to be not exposed after development then clearly something is wrong with either the film (maybe it has no light sensitive layer) or something goes terribly wrong with the development.
Are the developed films completly black or completly transparant ? |
Mareklew
Tinkerer
Username: Mareklew
Post Number: 252
Registered: 03-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, October 22, 2011 - 05:33 am: |
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Another idea: if you use the automatic mode and it 'thinks' your film is much more sensitive than it is (say, it 'thinks' it's ISO3200 and you have ISO100 in there), then the result might be like what you described.
Give it a simple test: set ISO100 on the camera, put f:16 on the lens and shoot with back open out of your window on a clear sky sunny day. The shutter should open and close, at least half of the frame should be open before the shutter starts closing again. If you see but a slit running past your eyes, then the exposure meter is off due to some reason...
Marek |
