Response from Kodak on premature rewind - possible?

[barnnies]

In my earlier post I told how my Maxxum 4 (both of them) prematurely

rewinds the film when using a new Kodak Flash (for Maxxum) I

purchased.

I emailed Kodak and their response was one they called "pre-mature

rewind due to not loading film correctly." They said that even

loading a quarter of an inch past the load mark can cause this.

It only happens with this flash attached.

Any truth to this or smoke blowing?

 

Thanks,

Dennis

[craig_gillette]

Are you using Kodak film? I've never had a problem like that with my 5 and have been rather casual with film loading. Although I suppose I tend to load short, not long, squeeze an extra frame in maybe? However, maybe the extra overlap increases tension enough to cause the rewind?

[miguel_rodriguez3]

Hi DEnnis, I got the same problem as you twice, but in this case with a Maxxum 8000i. I was using a third party flash and when I read your post I started to think that the flash might be the problem too. I was thinking that it was a defective film or something. But now reading the response they gave you, I remember having loaded the film past the load mark. I know now it was that, since I always tried to squeeze in an extra frame in each film but in this case I didn't want to risk not loading the film correctly as I was in a rush. I guess that unless you experience that again without the flash, it is going to be difficult to discard the idea that it is the flash which is causing the problem. I would change film brand and probably the way I load teh film.

[georg_kern]

My theory: When you load the film not correctly, it might sit somehow loose on the spool. The loosly wound (or winded? sorry, not a native speaker) film will then use up more space around the spool. Somewhere in the middle of the film, the space is used up, film andvance gets harder and harder. Difficulties with film transport is the "End-of-film-signal" for the camera, and so it starts rewinding.

 

And so why is it only happening with flash? Maybe you hold the camera differently when loading the film if there is a heavy flash attached. Just a guess.

 

Regards Georg

[barnnies]

Thanks for the quick responses.<br>

I guess I have to try a roll with the film loaded "correctly".<P>

 

Thanks again,<br>

Dennis

[christian deichert]

Ah, the joys of having a manual camera -- the less it does for you, the less it can screw up on its own...

[barnnies]

I agree! I was forced to go to a auto focus because of a vision change, even though I still use manual a lot.

[roger_griffiths]

I just purchased a refurbished Maxxum STSi. It looks the part but when I loaded it with film it rewound on the fourth frame. Tried a second roll and it did exactly the same. After reading the comments here I took one of the rolls and pulled the leader out and have reloaded it time and again, but it always rewinds before the film is completely used and it makes no difference where I extend the film to. I'm using Fuji film and no additional falsh units other than the built-in one.