Advice - jammed Hassy A12 back

[Estheroid]

Hello all! I recently bought a Hasselblad 500CM which seems to have developed a problem with the A12 back. I ran a B&W film through no problems (even managed to dev it myself without mishap) then put a colour film in. Seemed to load ok, shot the entire 12 frames but when it came to rewind it appeared to be fine and then...jammed. The film rewind lever on the back is refusing to budge clockwise. The little window on the back is showing black rather than white or red as it should. I will of course be taking it back to the shop where I bought it (it's well within the 6 month warranty period) but am wondering if it will be possible to save the film? Perhaps inevitably there are shots on there which I'd rather not lose as they're part of a project I'm working on! The back itself can be taken off (with dark slide in place) the camera. Do I take it to the repair/camera place and ask them to remove/save the film at the same time, go and see my friendly local processing chaps and see what they can do to save the film or...?

 

[Woodsy]

Mindful that I don't know the inner workings of these specific backs, I'd ask whether you feel you can open the back (in a dark bag / tent / what ever) and manually remove the cassette from the outer housing. If you can, you can manually remove each spool from it and wind the film manually to save the film. You never know, removing the cassette and it's associated gears may highlight the cause of the problem once you can bring out into daylight.

Just keep in mind the (stupid) phases of the back and body - you don't want to add a costly mistake to any possible repair!

 

[Carl Hall]

My A12 back often jams after I try to wind the roll fully onto the new spool after I've used the film, and it jams right at the end after I've turned it a number of times. It's because the springy metal bit on the insert (the bit that presses down on the roll to keep tension) has a sharp edge rather than a small roller, and as the little sticky tab that you seal the roll with on the film goes through, it catches on the metal bit and snags. Usually I can apply a bit of force to it and it goes through ok, but occasionally the metal bit will rip the tab off, leaving it lying in the film back after you take the insert out, which is a complete pain in the ass as you don't have anything to seal the roll with afterwards. I just carry a rubber band in my camera bag in case it happens!

Not sure if that's the issue with your back, but it's worth considering!

 

[Estheroid]

Wow - thanks for the replies. I guess at least with 120 film you could potentially wind the film onto a spool in a changing bag. Carl - that sounds exactly the issue I'm having. I'd turned it enough (I thought) to have rewound the film and was waiting for it to slacken off...and then jammed. I've been reluctant to force it past a certain point as I didn't want to knacker it further I may have to be a bit more forceful with it!

 

[Carl Hall]

Hopefully this shows you what I mean

 

[RumpFace]

You don't rewind 120 film, you spool it up, shoot it, wind it on, finish. The whole film should end up on the take up spool.

 

[Cannyekerslike]

Hopefully this shows you what I mean

Blimey.....that,s a real Heath Robinson affair...

 

[abdoujaparov]

You don't rewind 120 film, you spool it up, shoot it, wind it on, finish. The whole film should end up on the take up spool.

It's not actually a rewind knob, it's a "continue the wind" knob.

 

[Estheroid]

Carl - thank you for the pics! Most helpful. From what I can feel winding (sorry to folks who correctly pointed out that I'm winding on the rest of the spool and not rewinding!), it feels like it's snagging right at the end of the film. Will just have to see if I can extract the film without losing anything/busting the back!

 

[Carl Hall]

If you have a dark bag then I think I'd be tempted to open the film back inside the bag, take the film off the insert, and then roll it up yourself inside the bag and seal the label on it before taking it out. If it's right near the end of the roll then I can't see that causing any issues as the actual film will be well covered and protected by the backing paper already

If you're going to try and use a bit of force to get the film through like I said I do, just be aware that I mean a tiny bit more force! It doesn't take a lot more, much less than it takes to open a bottle of coke. Last thing I want is for you to damage your film back if it's a different problem to what I have!

 

[RaglanSurf]

Carl - thank you for the pics! Most helpful. From what I can feel winding (sorry to folks who correctly pointed out that I'm winding on the rest of the spool and not rewinding!), it feels like it's snagging right at the end of the film. Will just have to see if I can extract the film without losing anything/busting the back!

Get yourself a roll of expired film or the cheapest roll of film you can find and sacrifice it so you've always got a test roll to check new cameras and backs. I've saved a lot of money and lost shots by being able to check the film transport on MF and 35mm cameras.

 

[Estheroid]

If you have a dark bag then I think I'd be tempted to open the film back inside the bag, take the film off the insert, and then roll it up yourself inside the bag and seal the label on it before taking it out. If it's right near the end of the roll then I can't see that causing any issues as the actual film will be well covered and protected by the backing paper already

If you're going to try and use a bit of force to get the film through like I said I do, just be aware that I mean a tiny bit more force! It doesn't take a lot more, much less than it takes to open a bottle of coke. Last thing I want is for you to damage your film back if it's a different problem to what I have!

Good news is that I managed to free it up! I'll take a pic later but it looks like the gummy strip part of the film had attached itself to the back I applied a very little bit of extra force which somehow managed to be enough to snap the paper, freeing up the roll. I then bunged the entire back into the changing bag to take the film out, just to feel if everything was where it should be. All was OK and had rolled nicely. I even had enough of the gum strip left to tape it down. Not sure why it had gummed itself down...I was using Kodak Portra and previously had run a roll of Kodak Tri-X through with no problem.

Will keep practising loading with a sacrificial film. I usually keep something on hand to practise loading up dev tanks.

 

[Estheroid]

So this is what was causing the problem - you can (hopefully!) just make out part of the gummed tab that was left behind. Thanks to all for your feedback and advice!