[PjayPages]

Hi all. I'm currently shooting my second roll of film on my new/old K1000. After a hand full of shots in, I began to notice my rewind crank isn't turning as much as I've normally seen it turn while pulling the film advance lever to set-up another shot. Then after those handful of shots of weird ill-turning of the rewind crank, I've begun noticing that it's beginning to turn 'normally'. Can anyone shed some light on this for me please? Should I be concerned with missed frames? What should I do? Please Help.

[Swift1]

Hi all. I'm currently shooting my second roll of film on my new/old K1000. After a hand full of shots in, I began to notice my rewind crank isn't turning as much as I've normally seen it turn while pulling the film advance lever to set-up another shot. Then after those handful of shots of weird ill-turning of the rewind crank, I've begun noticing that it's beginning to turn 'normally'. Can anyone shed some light on this for me please? Should I be concerned with missed frames? What should I do? Please Help.

The film inside the film canister is kinda wound up like a coil spring and when you load the roll the film is wound slackly , as you advance the film that slack is taken up.

[reh321]

Hi all. I'm currently shooting my second roll of film on my new/old K1000. After a hand full of shots in, I began to notice my rewind crank isn't turning as much as I've normally seen it turn while pulling the film advance lever to set-up another shot. Then after those handful of shots of weird ill-turning of the rewind crank, I've begun noticing that it's beginning to turn 'normally'. Can anyone shed some light on this for me please? Should I be concerned with missed frames? What should I do? Please Help.

Being aware of that crank is good - if it doesn't turn at all, the film probably isn't properly caught up in the reel attached to the film advance lever. In 1971, when I had a summer internship in New Mexico, I went off on an outing almost every weekend. On the last outing of the summer I suddenly realized that the rewind crank wasn't moving - the film wasn't loaded correctly; I was able to retake the photos I'd taken earlier in the day, but photos from the end of the previous weekend's trip weren't, and I wouldn't have an opportunity to return to that area {the saddest thing is that I'd been present when my Dad had gone through the same thing nine years before on a family vacation}. However, the motion will be uneven as explained by @Swift1.

[TaoMaas]

The film inside the film canister is kinda wound up like a coil spring and when you load the roll the film is wound slackly , as you advance the film that slack is taken up.

This has been my experience, too. The way around it is to get your film loaded and make sure it's winding onto the take-up spool, then close the back and GENTLY turn the rewind knob to take up the slack inside the film canister. Don't wind too hard because you might pull it loose from the take-up spool. After that, your rewind knob should turn in pretty close proportion to how much you're advancing the film. It's a good habit to get into doing. Like reh321, I had to learn it the hard way.

[reh321]

This has been my experience, too. The way around it is to get your film loaded and make sure it's winding onto the take-up spool, then close the back and GENTLY turn the rewind knob to take up the slack inside the film canister. Don't wind too hard because you might pull it loose from the take-up spool. After that, your rewind knob should turn in pretty close proportion to how much you're advancing the film. It's a good habit to get into doing. Like reh321, I had to learn it the hard way.

The problem with using the rewind knob to take up the slack is that you might scratch the film - at least, I think that is how some of mine got scratched.

[TaoMaas]

The problem with using the rewind knob to take up the slack is that you might scratch the film - at least, I think that is how some of mine got scratched.

True. That's another reason why I put "gently" in caps. Just rewind it ever so slowly until you feel it start to tighten...then stop!

[Swift1]

This has been my experience, too. The way around it is to get your film loaded and make sure it's winding onto the take-up spool, then close the back and GENTLY turn the rewind knob to take up the slack inside the film canister. Don't wind too hard because you might pull it loose from the take-up spool. After that, your rewind knob should turn in pretty close proportion to how much you're advancing the film. It's a good habit to get into doing. Like reh321, I had to learn it the hard way.

Agreed. I do this every time I load 35mm film in a camera that isn't "auto loading".

The problem with using the rewind knob to take up the slack is that you might scratch the film - at least, I think that is how some of mine got scratched.

I really can't see that rewinding the slack would cause scratching, after all, you need to fully rewind the roll when you finish it.

[reh321]

I really can't see that rewinding the slack would cause scratching, after all, you need to fully rewind the roll when you finish it.

When you rewind film into the can, the loose end is .... well, loose, and the film will fill the can with as much space as possible between the coils.

When you take up the slack, you are pulling against an end which is wound several times around the other spool; as you tighten the coils, they will start rubbing against each other as you eliminate any slack.

added: This is my advice, which you can ignore since it is your film.
You don't even have to rewind it into the can if you don't want to {my Dad also did that on the same trip}

[Swift1]

When you rewind film into the can, the loose end is .... well, loose, and the film will fill the can with as much space as possible between the coils.

When you take up the slack, you are pulling against an end which is wound several times around the other spool; as you tighten the coils, they will start rubbing against each other as you eliminate any slack.

But this will occur when you inevitably rewind the finished roll. If this caused scratching then every camera would scratch the film every time it rewinds.

[reh321]

But this will occur when you inevitably rewind the finished roll. If this caused scratching then every camera would scratch the film every time it rewinds.

No, No, No.
Did you not understand my first sentence???

When you 'tighten' the roll, the beginning of the roll is held firmly by the advance spool - so it can tug on the film spiral; as you rotate the crank, each complete turn adds an additional spiral into the same length of film, forcing the spirals closer and closer together {which is basically why you are doing this}. If you do this long enough, they will be forced to rub against each other.

When you rewind the roll, the advance spool is allowed to rotate freely until the film just pops off; there is never a tug on the film spiral. Each complete turn does add an additional spiral, but it also increases length of film in the spiral; size of the can does constrain the film, but film manufacturer designed the can so that the spirals never get dangerously close.

added:

When tightening the film, spirals will get closer and closer and closer - only limit is having each spiral is pressed firmly against its neighbors so it can't get any closer.
When rewinding the film, spirals may get closer, but this will stop when all film is in the can - manufacturer has designed can so there is plenty of space.

[PjayPages]

So the lesson of this is to make sure, 1 the film is lined up in the spool so the teeth are catching the film holes and 2 make sure the film is taught.

[rogerstg]

So the lesson of this is to make sure, 1 the film is lined up in the spool so the teeth are catching the film holes and 2 make sure the film is taught.

Or you can just load it this way and not worry about inadvertently pulling the leader into the canister if not installed well enough.

You Tube

You Tube

[35mmfilmfan]

Interesting that the advice is to fully rewind the film - when I shot fully manual film cameras (Rikoh KR10 Super), I used to listen for the film leader to exit the take-up spool, then opem the canera and either tear, bite or cut-off the leader portion, leaving a little film projecting from the felt-lined jaws of the cassette.

My reason for doing this was to attempt to provide more of a light-tight seal on the exposed film, and then when I came to load the tank, I could round off the exposed portion of the film with scissors, so that it fed more easily into the reel, and instead of opening the film cassette, just pull the film out through the light trap (in the dark, of course !).

The added weight of the cassette stopped the film curling up as I loaded the reel, and once it was loaded I could cut along the cassette jaws to free the remaining film. This worked until I got Pentac MZ5n cameras, which rewind automatically !

[reh321]

Interesting that the advice is to fully rewind the film

In the Age of Film, that was a "discussion". My main reason for fully rewinding the film was so I could easily distinguish exposed film from unexposed film {putting a roll through the camera twice is one mistake I never did make}. Since I shot Kodachrome, I wasn't going to develop it myself in any case.

[Wheatfield]

Hi all. I'm currently shooting my second roll of film on my new/old K1000. After a hand full of shots in, I began to notice my rewind crank isn't turning as much as I've normally seen it turn while pulling the film advance lever to set-up another shot. Then after those handful of shots of weird ill-turning of the rewind crank, I've begun noticing that it's beginning to turn 'normally'. Can anyone shed some light on this for me please? Should I be concerned with missed frames? What should I do? Please Help.

If the film is loose in the canister, the rewind crank won’t turn for a few frames until the slack is taken up.
BTW, most people load film incorrectly. The film tip should be engaged all the way through the take up reel before the canister is put into the camera. Putting the canister into the camera and then attempting to push the young into the slot will result in more misloads than doing it the other way. The YouTube video posted above is showing the wrong way to load film, not the right way. Do that often enough and you will poke a finger into the shutter.