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Jackson
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, August 10, 2004 - 06:51 pm: | 
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I took out my recently overhauled EM today and shot the first test roll. When I started rewinding, it became apparent that the camera had only pulled a few inches of film onto the spool.
With the back open, the main tractor spool turns smoothly with the advance lever. However, only a slight finger pressure on the spool is needed to stop its rotation.
Is there a clutch that wears out in these? Is it adjustable? I found two related posts in the archives - one said they received a repair estimate of $150, the other went unanswered.
Considering the hours I've spent getting this camera into shape, any assistance would sure be appreciated! |
Jon Goodman
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, August 10, 2004 - 08:55 pm: |
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Hi, Jackson.
Not exactly...The fact is the spool doesn't pull the film through. I know it seems logical that it would, but if your EM is working properly, the spool should do just what it is doing. It only serves to wind the film into a coil. Not that the film doesn't want to be coiled...it is biased to do that from the time it spent in the canister, but it needs some guidance. The tractor wheels should not give at all when held with your thumb as the camera is cocked. Those are what advance the film. My guess is that your problem either lies there, or that maybe you didn't get the film started right on the spool. If you fail to let the spool make a revolution before closing the film door, sometimes it can slip out of the spool slot. The tractor wheels still advance the film, but it sort of bunches up in a wad, and this is never good. I've seen it happen where the film bunches up, presses upward into the pressure plate and just slips off the tractor wheels after a few pictures. A good indication of this is that you take pictures well after the count where you think they should stop...a roll of 24 seems to yield 35, for example. Just my thoughts...others may have different ideas.
Jon |
Gary
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, August 10, 2004 - 10:54 pm: |
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I have an two EM's and have found that I need to wind back the film with the rewind lever until it is somewhat taught before taking photos. Sometimes the film doesn't sit in the teeth. Do you see the rewind reel moving when you wind the film? |
Jackson
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, August 10, 2004 - 11:20 pm: |
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Jon, thanks for pointing out how the spool works. It didn't occur to me that it should only provide enough takeup tension to roll the film. The tractors are solid - no slippage that I can detect when I apply moderate pressure.
Gary, I thought about the rewind reel later, and I was kicking myself for not paying more attention. I just didn't notice whether it was moving. Good idea about back-tensioning the film before shooting. I'm going to make it a habit to do that from now on in all these older cameras.
My guess is that the film popped out of the takeup slot, then slipped off the rollers. I'll drag out some cheap B&W tomorrow and try again.
Jackson |
Jackson
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, August 11, 2004 - 09:49 pm: |
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I tried this again today, and the film seemed to advance properly. I'll know tomorrow for sure, when I pick up the prints. Assuming they're OK, there's one more problem. While I was shooting, I noticed that the film counter stopped incrementing at about #14 or 15. The rewind spool was still turning each time the advance lever was cocked, so the problem seems to be specific to the counter. Any ideas on this one? |
Jon Goodman
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, August 12, 2004 - 10:22 am: |
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Hi, Jackson.
First idea--as I recall, the counter wheel is a thin metal disk which sits under another thin shroud...it forms sort of an upper "cage" for the affair. In working on the camera, one or both of these may have been accidentally bent, causing them to run eliptically. If this happened, the counter will stop if enough resistance is met when the low point of the cage and high point of the counter meet.
Second idea--there could be a broken tooth on the counter gear. A long shot in this case.
Third idea--sometimes I hear of this problem from people who have used material to re-seal the film door slots and/or hinge seal of their camera which is greatly too thick (craft store foam, "Foamies," yarn, weatherstripping, whatever)...and at the hinge end, the EM should use a material no thicker than 1/32" or 1mm. What can happen is the door bows out and does not close far enough to push the reset lever (pin) in as far as it needs to go. There are at least a couple of ways frame counters are started/held in place/reset. If the reset lever doesn't go in far enough, the pawl may just catch the very tip of the gear teeth and not sit in the valley (making the ratchet action ineffective). Either that or the gears that are supposed to mesh may just barely touch...either style can malfunction. As the frame counter advances, the spring pressure pulling it backwards also increases. At a point, the pawl may not catch enough of a gear tooth to hold against the spring tension, or the two sets of gears may not mesh enough to overcome slipping, and in some cases, all the gear teeth may not be precisely the same height. If you push inward on the film door at the point of the reset lever and the counter starts working again when you are cocking the camera, you've solved the mystery. One other thing...these mechanisms (counter/reset mechanisms) generally work very well, but are not always machined to Rolex-like accuracy. You'll sometimes see a decent amount of "slop" in them, and they can sometimes be upset pretty easily.
Personally, I think I'd take the top cover off, reconnect the winding lever and watch until the problem started. Good luck.
Jon |
Jackson
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, August 13, 2004 - 05:15 pm: |
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Funny thing, this apparently only happens when there's film in the camera. I can't duplicate the problem otherwise. Jon, your comments about too-thick foam got me thinking, so I tried to encourage the symptom by unlatching the rear door. With the open end of the door held about 1/8" away from the body (which means the reset lever is backed out even further), the problem doesn't occur. It still counts perfectly.
I guess there's no chance this is related to whether the takeup spool (not the tractor spool) turns? I should add that all the negs I got back were properly spaced, so the advance ratchet and tractor spool seem to be doing their job. Very frustrating. |
Jon Goodman
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, August 13, 2004 - 09:55 pm: |
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No, film or no film...this mechanism should act the same. Interesting. I'll think on it. Possibly it needs an exorcism? Nah. The problem wouldn't be so benign. Dunno. I'll trade you a working Zenit E for it. Film counter never misses.
Jon |
Jackson
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, August 14, 2004 - 08:50 pm: |
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An exorcism? You know, the first time I used this, the rewind knob spun round and round and round, even though there was film in it. I also put the lens on backwards once. This doesn't sound good.
Seriously, I loaded up a roll of Kodak 400 color today, and as of frame 18, the problem hasn't shown up. Maybe it just doesn't like B&W.
Jackson |
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