Fuji Quickload film holder...field disassembly attempt

[david_senesac]

Just searched this LF forum for Fuji Quickload film holder problems

which might have required disassembly but saw nothing. Also did not

find anything enlightening at the fujifilm web site or generally on

the web. I had a failure in the field a few days ago which I

attempted to repair by fully disassembling the holder before putting

it back together. Not quite the same after reassembly thus I fear

it isn't really functional though I continued to use it. Am afraid

the last 15 or so sheets of Provia I shot might return from the lab

with light leaks since that is probably the tricky issue. Hoping

someone here has had to do this and can tell me my valuable film shot

far out in a spectacular national park wilderness has some hope. In

any case my film comes back from the lab after this weekend and I

will be contacting Fujifilm for advice.

 

Prior to this failure had shot maybe a couple hundred sheets with

consistent proper function. The failure which occurred was that

after exposing a sheet and pushing the Quickload envelope back into

the holder, when I actuated the lock to pull the Quickload out of the

holder, only the envelope shield came out leaving the film still

attached in the holder. Film thus gets catastrophically exposed. To

recover the film out then requires more firm tugging to release the

metal clip at the holder's back end. When I first began using this

system, I found such can occur if one does not carefully push the

lock in and keep it actuated until the Quickload is fully removed.

Thus I religiously eyeball the lock to see it is fully in when doing

a removal and fully out when pushing in a new Quickload sheet.

 

To debug the problem I used three Quickload sheets that had been so

wasted by pushing the film back into the envelope sheilds. Well I

noticed the lock did not seem to be quite fully closing by a tiny

gap. In the debug process, one of the clips came off of the film

probably because it became warped went remated and was left in the

end of the holder. It was quickly obvious there would be no way to

pull it out with the small needle nose pliers or knife etc I had in

the field. Fortunately I always carry a small phillips and standard

jewelers screwdriver and I noticed the holder had six small phillips

fasteners. Note I had the Fuji "Handling Instructions" sheet which

came with the holder but it has no information on what is inside or

disassembly.

 

Like disassembling a watch, when one pries open the case, everything

inside pops out uncontrollably erasing a clear understanding of what

it is supposed to look like when correctly assembled. The Quickload

sheet clip of course was then easily removed. After about an hour

of numerous assembly/disassembly attempts I got it basically together

nearly correctly. There are a couple of springs inside which attach

to the end a rubber roller which was the main mystery to overcome.

Found out the original failure was due to a small piece of dried

plant material wedged against the lock mechanism thus preventing it

from fully closing. So that was my fault since it gets tossed about

quite a bit during field work where I need to improve keeping it away

from dirt etc. Most of the holder functionality then appeared ok

which is easy to test with an already wasted Quickload sheet. Pushes

in latching the clip, shield pulls out showing the film (though

faulty per below), shield re-inserts normally, after releasing lock

Quickload sheet pulls out normally.

 

The lock was still not functional though. It required extra force to

open and lock. Worse is when pulling out the envelope shield there

is no mechanical stop mechanism to prevent pulling the shield

totally out beyond the confirmation marks. So when I exposed my last

15 sheets, I had to carefully pull the film out to just where the

confirmation marks showed. Since there is something still wrong, I

fear the light shield integrity may also not be what it is supposed

to be. Also when pushing in a new Quickload sheet into the holder,

if the lock is in the release position, it does not automatically

reset to the open position. -David

[paul_kent2]

Thanks for the info. Ouch!

 

I too had a quickload holder problem recently, except that I know exactly what caused it:

my holder fell into deep sand. Despite lots of initial shaking, to clear the sand that had

crept into the end opposite where the film is inserted, I found that film was never grabbed

by the holder. My low-tech solution was to bash the holder quite violently to shake

whatever was jamming the mechanism free. I then sacrificed a couple of film packets to

repeatedly exercise the holder, again shaking it. I never did see anything large fall from

the holder, so it appears that the mechanism is easily jammed.

 

For long wilderness trips, I now carry multiple holders - they don't weigh much. It is quite

easy to periodically verify that film is being gripped properly.

[tedharris]

AFAIK the Quickload holder is not meant to be user disassembled/reassembled nor is it

reliably possible. The only holde that you can reliably disassemble is the old Polaroid 545,

tha lll metal one.

 

The simple answer is to carry two holders. Generally I carry a Quickload and Polaroid 545i

as the backup and to shoot a Polaoriod every once in a while. OTOH you can really pull

and pary on the stuck metal clip end and not damage the holder getting it out.

[david_senesac]

Well I managed to figure out how to re-assemble the Quickload film holder so the lock now works normally. Everything appears to be ok now though I am going to expose one test sheet this afternoon to verify the light tight integrity is still ok. The one piece I did not have in correctly was a thin bar which automatically resets the lock when the film is inserted and inhibits pulling out the envelope shield beyond the confirmation marks. It was slightly ajar from the plastic case's limiting seating position. Not easy to get it right during assembly after the case is closed and difficult to evaluate. I had to have a Quickload envelope partially inserted when closing the holder case in order to keep it in the right alignment as I closed the two halves of the case. I am also more concerned now the 15 sheets I exposed may have light leakage since it seems to effect the firmness of tension against the envelope in that area during insertion. Tomorrow evening I'll find out if it's agony or joy.

 

Ted,

 

The metal Quickload clip was not recoverable in my case. It is a narrow bent over strip of metal which was cocked up inside the housing such that only one edge was visible. I could barely get a hold of it through the very narrow slot with the tip of my small needle nose. Not enough to exert much force without it slipping off. Pulling on that one edge would not get it out as the other edge would get hung up inside. Of course the unit is not meant for field repair as you relate, however the wise choice in my situation was to take the gamble which at least gave me some hope in that situation. Knowing what I have figured out, I would be confident having to do it again if necessary though there is certainly oportunity to bend up some parts of the mechanism if not careful. Fuji is wise not to expect it to be repaired by customers. -David

[guytal]

Had the very same problem (film not being released properly) except in my case the metal strip at the bottom of the envelope would get caught in something on the upper part of the holder and break loose. Don't know if I was just lucky but I sucessfully disassembled the holder, was able to figure out what the strip was getting caught on (a protruding plastic edge) and filed it off, reassembled, and it works like a charm.<br>

I guess the experience listed above might indicate some inconsistent quality control for these holders.<br>

<br>

Guy<br>

<a href="http://www.scenicwild.com">Scenic Wild Photography</a>

[david_senesac]

My film came back with all 15 of the last sheets showing some light leakage. However it was just a narrow 1/8 inch or so on the far left side of the frames so the impacts were insignificant. A few winners I am glad will now live to be seen as big prints.

[see_r]

I just got finished solving my own version of this problem. I got 3 pieces of film back (fortunately I was just testing a new lens rather than in the field) and wondered why they were not exposed, especially since my film in regular film holders were exposed just fine the next day.

 

I figured the problem was either with a mechanism on the quickload film itself or the film holder so I took some expired film and went through the cycle outside of the camera. Sure enough, the darkslide was not getting uncovered at all!

 

So I had my own fun with the disassembly of the filmholder. What I found was the clip from a slide of film from last summer...I guess I vaguely remember a piece of film getting all screwed up but totally didn't notice the clip missing!

 

So I removed the source of the problem, but unfortunately, I too was NOT CAREFUL WITH DISASSEMBLY! After a painstaking process I was able to reassemble.

 

Now I guess I'd better hope I don't get light leaks, but I'm sure glad I figured this out via a test of a new lens BEFORE going on my trip.

 

I must say, I think I am going to invest in a changing back for my regular film holders for use in the field. At least with those there is no mistaking that you have removed the darkslide AND NOT THE FILM WITH IT!!! There is no way to see that the film has remained in place when the holder is in the camera.

 

This Quickload thing is obviously a liability at added expense to boot.