We've had exceptional weather in Europe this spring, it's expected to hit
25C / 76F again today and yesterday evening I got out to take some
pictures. I live on the edge of a small wood and the floor is absolutely
covered in small white/pinkish/bluish flowers. With the low evening sun
streaming through the as-yet-mainly-leafless trees it made a spectacular
sight.
I loaded the OM-4 with Velvia, and trekked off with the tripod and a
selection of lenses. I shot wide-angle and telephoto, bracketing +/-
two-thirds of a stop to be sure not to miss the right effect. At about
frame 24 (you know what's coming don't you?) I wasn't convinced the rewind
knob was moving on so I wound it a little to be sure the film was tight -
no problem - but it still didn't move after the next frame. The wind lever
felt absolutely normal and I've never messed up loading the film before.
What to do? Well I shot off a dozen frames (till it read 36) rather
recklessly and the rewind lever really didn't move at all. I accepted that
I had not got any ot the pictures so I decided to open the back without
rewinding to see what was wrong.
As suspected it hadn't been winding. Boo-hoo! The leader was in the
take-up spool OK, but the film was not advanced far enough to get the top
sprockets into engagement (only the bottom sprockets).
Question to experts: Is it only the top sprockets that do the pulling
through the camera? Do the bottom sprockets and take-up reel do nothing
or is there a clutch that is slipping too much in my camera? (3 years
since last CLA)
So, lacking a bit of the motivation that I had started with, I reloaded the
film correctly and started to shoot all over again - with less than perfect
light and feeling generally irritated. Perhaps the results will cheer me
up!
Thanks if you read this far - and now when I read other's posts about
screwed up films I can say 'been there, done that'...
br
jez
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