Minolta Maxxum 5, busted film saftey latch, and other associated problems

[dano1]

Hey all. I just shot off 4 rolls of film for my friends wedding. She

had a pro doing all the wedding stuff and portrait stuff, but she had

me doing all the candids.

 

So, I get home and I go to unload the film for development. I press

the rewind button with my thumbnail like I usually do. I heard it

come to a stop, and it sounded just right. So I press the film door

release button, and guess what? It didn't open!

 

So, I try the rewind button again, made more rewinding sounds, then

the door still wouldn't pop.

 

So I go online, find the manual for it, and look in the

troubleshooting section. There it was, the had about a 500 word

explanation as to how to fix it.

 

The first thing I did was change the mode dial to ISO. I then turned

the camera off, then pressed the function button and the spot/AE

button and turned the camera back on. It made a noise, but the little

window was still half red.

 

So I get out the pen, and I manually release the film door hoping I

wouldn't ruin the film. I was both pleased and dissapointed when I

found that the film was completely rewound. I was pleased that I

hadn't damaged the film, but I was disappointed that there was no

ovbious reason for the malfunction.

 

I have since loaded it with abother roll of film. It wound, but only

showed frame 0 in the LCD. I then rewound it, but had the same problem.

 

Seems my camera is kaput. :(

 

It should still be under warranty, I bought it last May, so it's only

got 5 months on it.

 

I'm just wondering what could have caused this. I mean, is this a big

problem for Minolta? The fact that it's in the troubleshooting

section suggests that it is.

 

I'll go send give it to my dealer tommorow. Unfortunatley, I bought

it on B&H. My local Minolta dealer should still send it back for me

though, I hope.

 

Any thoughts on this whole subject would be much appreciated,

Thanks,

Dan O.

[emr]

I own a 5 myself, belong to an online minolta group, and this is the first time I've heard of anyone having this issue. I think you just got "lucky."

[bill_tuthill]

I would send it straight to Minolta: Camera Service Facility,

725 Darlington Ave, Mahwah NJ 07430.