The problem of the F100 deciding to rewind its film before the end reminds
me of something.
My first SLR was a Canon FT-QL, a late 60's early 70's SLR with a "Quick
Loading" feature. To load it, you put the in the film cartdidge, pulled the
leader out to a red mark in the camera, closed the back, fired off a few
blank frames, and you were set to go. Quite a novelty in its day.
But I had an occasional problem where the film would refuse to advance
before the end of the roll. If I tried to apply more force to the wind
lever, it would just rip the film's sprocket holes. I expect that if that
had been an F100, it would have decided that it was at the end of the roll
and rewound.
I brought the camera to the Canon service facility and talked it over with a
technician. It turned out that some of the film I was using (Anscochrome I
think it was) had a film leader shaped differently than most of the other
brands. The result was that it would load, but be loosely wound around the
take-up spool. Eventually, the wound film would fill the take-up chamber
and be unable to wind any more. After my chat with the rep, I cut the
leader of any Anscochrome film I bought to match the shape of the Kodachrome
leader and the problem never recurred.
Could the F100 problem (if, in fact, it is a problem) be film related? I
would think that other properties of the film, like thickness or stiffness,
could also be related to such a problem. I suggest that any F100 owners
who experience this problem post it to the Digest specifying the film that
was being used. Maybe a pattern will emerge.
Can anyone think of other possible problem areas we should keep track of?
Regards
Dennis
