120 film not loading properly but why?

tikkathreebarrel

tikkathreebarrel

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I've had this happen once before: loading a new roll of film into a Mamiya film back then the actual film not being wound on with the backing paper.

It happened in the same camera, M645Pro with motorwind but as it happened only once before I can't say whether it was the same film back or film cassette.

I can say that both back and cassette have just had four films through them with no issues whatsoever so I doubt that it's the equipment.

It has just happened again, twice on the trot with film straight out of the foil, straight out of a sealed box. It's fuji slide film, old stock with a 1990s date on the box.

This camera has a motor wind with a "film start" facility which prewinds the film to the first frame.

The clue to there being a problem was that this film would not pre-wind correctly and when I opened the back the backing paper had been winding on but the film was coiling loosely around the film spool and just not being drawn across. Having taken the film leader across manually, it is now winding on correctly.

Is it an age thing that the end of the film is not fixed to the backing paper?

My habit is to wind the film onto the take-up spool until the START marks appear and line up with the register marks on the cassette: do I wind this old film a bit further? Do I try it in a manual wind camera? Have you had this problem and what do you think has caused it?
 
tikkathreebarrel said:
Is it an age thing that the end of the film is not fixed to the backing paper?
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Sounds like it to me, or the glue on the tape that was fixing it has taken an early bath, 1990's ain't that old though...I dunno, I can't think of another reason.
Maybe you can unroll a roll in darkness and see if the tape is secure or a bit dodgy, you could even put a bit more tape on to make sure, and roll it back up.
 
joxby said:
Sounds like it to me, or the glue on the tape that was fixing it has taken an early bath, 1990's ain't that old though...I dunno, I can't think of another reason.
Maybe you can unroll a roll in darkness and see if the tape is secure or a bit dodgy, you could even put a bit more tape on to make sure, and roll it back up.
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That's a plan.:clap:

I have harboured the notion that if there's any weakness in the glue/tape, the motorwind can push it to break point but whether that's actually true I can't say.:shrug:

Update: here's the first fillum showing the distinctly poundland tape "holding" film to paper backing. Time to refix the remaining three rolls using this dead-ish roll to develop a workflow for in darkness.

IMAG1183.jpg
 
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Basically: never try to diagnose film loading (or film anything!) problems with very outdated film, because the chances are it is the film.
 
freecom2 said:
Basically: never try to diagnose film loading (or film anything!) problems with very outdated film, because the chances are it is the film.
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I take it that's your diagnosis? :nuts::nuts:

Anyway one of our colleagues seems to think this isn't very outdated!

Cheers!
 
To be fair, your post above does show that the tape holding the end of the film appears to be past it's sell by even if the film isn't ancient. You also said that it's only happened once before which again points to a dodgy roll of film rather than the camera.

I agree with Freecom, if you want to troubleshoot potential hardware issues you need to rule out the film itself by spending a fiver on a new roll.

Steve
 
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In all honesty, its never happened to me ever, I don't think I've used 20 year old cheap film mind.
The tape on quality b/w film is like gaffer tape, sticky as hell, dunno about cheap slide though.
 
stevelmx5 said:
To be fair, your post above does show that the tape holding the end of the film appears to be past it's sell by even if the film isn't ancient. You also said that it's only happened once before which again points to a dodgy roll of film rather than the camera.

I agree with Freecom, if you want to troubleshoot potential hardware issues rule out the film itself by spending a fiver on a new roll.

Steve
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Good grief! Fiver for a new roll? :bonk::bonk::thumbs::thumbs:
 
tikkathreebarrel said:
I take it that's your diagnosis? :nuts::nuts:
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Haha, not the most useful diagnosis - but best to diagnose with fresh everything. Fresh batteries, fresh film. Often so many problems turn out to be issues with batteries/film rather than the camera itself.
 
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