3 replies to this topic

[lemons111]

Hope I'm asking in the right place. I recently bought an old Nikon film camera (Nikkormat EL), and every time I try to put film in it the lever on top that advances the film gets all floppy and doesn't wind anymore. I took the camera back to the shop where I got it, and some guy in the back got it working again in 2 seconds. Not sure what I'm doing wrong, but I'd feel dumb going back there for the same problem again. I'm totally new to shooting with film, and this is the first camera I've ever owned, so I could be loading it wrong, though I looked at a bunch of videos online and even tried loading the film into a different camera to get a feel for it, so I'm not sure what else to do. I'd greatly appreciate any tips. 

[Ron]

Gee... I donno. Too bad you didn't ask the guy what he did to get the film advance working. Two seconds isn't a whole lot of time. He couldn't have done anything major.

 

You realize that the camera will only advance film one frame at a time... usually, one or sometimes two strokes on the advance lever. At that point you have to press the shutter button before the camera will allow you to advance the film to the next frame.

 

--Ron

[lemons111]

Gee... I donno. Too bad you didn't ask the guy what he did to get the film advance working. Two seconds isn't a whole lot of time. He couldn't have done anything major.

 

You realize that the camera will only advance film one frame at a time... usually, one or sometimes two strokes on the advance lever. At that point you have to press the shutter button before the camera will allow you to advance the film to the next frame.

 

--Ron

Yes, I think this might be the problem, as I wound it a few times before it seemed to come loose. But, now the shutter won't press so I took the film out and tried to see if I could get it to go back somehow. Still no luck, but I think I might end up going back to the camera shop and having them walk me through putting the film in so I stop making this mistake.

[TBonz]

Is the film release sticking?  It has been awhile since I had a film SLR but as I recall there was a button that you would push to "release" the winding mechanism so that you could wind the film back into the canister.  Until that mechanism is reset and you are able to advance film, I would expect the behavior you are describing.