Manual rewind with F3+MD-4?

[bill_schmidt]

With the MD-4 mounted is it possible to manually rewind film using the

crank on the camera's rewind knob? I want to leave the leader out of

the casette and don't have that special camera back.

[todd peach seattle, washi]

I've never done it, but it shouldn't be any problem. 'Step 2' of the rewind sequence on an MD-4 pushes the rewind dog up into the film canister so it can be rewound. If you don't do step 2, it's not engaged in any way. 'Step 1' of course pushes the rewind button on the bottom of the camera.

[david_h._hartman]

Yes, there are two rewind sides on the MD-4 (R1 and R2). One releases the body and the other starts the power rewind. To rewind manually you only use the R1 slide and then use the rewind crank. There was a special back for the F2 designed for power winding while leaving the film leader exposed. There were also two switches on the MD-2 Motor as on the MD-4. I dont recall if a special back was made for the F3 and MD-4.<br>

<br>

Here is an <a

href="http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/hardwares/classics/nikonf3ver2/pdf/md4.pdf"

target="_new"><u>MD-4 Motor Drive Manual in PDF</u></a> and <a

href="http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/hardwares/classics/nikonf3ver2/motordrive/md4manual/Index.htm"

target="_new"><u>one in HTML</u></a>. I never owned an F3 or MD-4 so I

had to double check at Photography in Malaysia. I own the MD-2 for the Nikon F2 but was quite sure they both allowed manual rewind. The F4 and F5 allow manual rewind as well; the F100, damn it, does not.

[todd peach seattle, washi]

<i>

I don�t recall if a special back was made for the F3 and MD-4.</i>

<p>

There is, the MF-6B. I have one. Perversely, I don't want to leave my leader out, so I have the contacts defeated with electrical tape. I kinda like the back anyway, as it has a 'thumb ridge' on the right side that improves handling slightly.

<p>

Mine came as a 'package deal' with a camera/motor/ni-cads. If I ran across another one for cheap, I'd add it to my other F3.

[lex_jenkins]

Yup, no problem. I've done this several times this year while experimenting with different EI's and development techniques on TMY (which I don't buy in bulk, so I treat a single 24 exposure roll as two 10 exposure short rolls for my experiments).

 

I usually make sure the power is off via the lift-and-turn collar around the shutter release on the MD-4. Just to limit my chances of a brain fart resulting in a full rewind.

[jason michael]

You might also consider a $10 film picker device which easily pulls the leader out of

the cassette. I find mine invaluable as I often end up changing rolls midway

through...It's also good to have a marker to write on the cassette where you should

continue shooting.

[david_h._hartman]

After years of not trashing film by opening the back I was rewinding TX in my F5 and heard a click that in an FE2 always meant the film had just come off the take-up spool. I opened the back and there was still film on the spool. It�s probably the first time I�ve done this in 20 years or more. I think I�m switching, if that�s perverse OK. I lost some of the last photos of my father when he was still able to have a good time.

 

I�ve extracted film leaders thousands of times with the cheap extractors from Spiratone. The first time you try it you might think it�s as hard and cracking a safe. After a while you can do it in the dark with the stereo running. I never liked using a can opener and I find loading film on stainless reels safer than from a naked spool.

[gene crumpler]

Lex is correct.

[lex_jenkins]

BTW, and somewhat loosely related to this thread, Gene mentioned in another thread/forum that the MD-4 can be preset to halt the film advance at the desired setting.

 

I had completely forgotten about this feature. Very handy since I do fairly frequently shoot partial rolls. By presetting the point at which the film advance halts I can standardize this procedure.

 

Thanks for the reminder, Gene.