c220 and 10 frames

[Ishotharold]

Hello all,
After buying a camera from one of the fine members on thsi forum I figured I best return to the forum to figure out how to use it. . I recently received a mamiya c220 from scott. I loaded up a roll of tri-x and headed off to put some pictures through it, our darkroom was closed for the weekend so I went in today to develope and found that I only had frame 1-10, the last 2 frames were never exposed but the counter on the camera was at 12 on the last shot. Frame 10 on the negs is the last shot I took when the camera said 12. Any ideas what would cause this? I'm inclined to just flip the switch to 220 and shoot till frame 14, but it seems like there should be a better solution. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
-Eric

 

[Konical]

Good Morning, Eric,

Are you sure that the film was at the proper "Start" mark when you closed the camera back? If your 10th shot is at the very end of the film roll, that could be the problem.

Konical

 

[dschneller]

Not familiar with how the Mamiya works, but on one of my TLRs after loading the film at the correct starting mark I need to reset the frame counter. You may not be loading the film at the correct starting position.

 

[Dave Parker]

Make sure you have the start arrows lined up correctly and the counter is reset before you start taking pictures, it sounds as if the film may have been off when you loaded the camera.

R.

 

[egdinger]

How much space is there between the frames?

 

[Ishotharold]

I thought that I had the start mark lined up, it would seem I did because the frame numbers along the bottom are correct. there is perhaps a 1/4" gap between each frame. maybe a little less, there is plenty of space at the end of the roll for two more frames. When I closed the back and wound up the first frame the counter was at 1. Any ideas?

 

[isaacc7]

Does your lens perhaps have a chrome ring around it? Many of the mamiya chrome shutters have become erratic over the years. The shutter will seem to trip, the lever will "CLICK", but the shutter doesn't open. It only happened to me every 9 or 12 frames, so watch out!

Isaac

 

[grahamp]

You may have fallen foul of the infamous Mamiya TLR shutter interlock. If you press the shutter release a little you can trip the interlock but not the shutter. Result, you think 'damn, should have advanced the film', and do not expose the frame. This can happen if you forget to cock the shutter on the C220, too. The shutter doesn't trip, so you wind on. There are work-arounds for that.

It should not be possible to operate the shutter control with the lens change baffle up, so that shouldn't be the cause.

What lens do you have? There are a couple of lenses that will allow the shutter release arm to move even when uncocked. The 80 f3.7 is the usual one.

 

[Ishotharold]

I have the 80 2.8, Its a black lens. The odd thing is that there are no pictures missing, I remeber distinctly each frame I took and they are all here. Its just that frames 11 and 12 never got a chance, when I opened the back there was a considerable length of film on the original spool (probably 2 frames worth). It like the counter somehow slipped 2 frames.

 

[dschneller]

It like the counter somehow slipped 2 frames.

Well, you know what you have to do now, go shoot some more film!

Dave

 

[grahamp]

Make sure the camera back is latched firmly at both top corners. The film presses down on the toothed wheel inside the take-up chamber, and a poorly latched back does not apply enough pressure to keep the frame counter in sync'.

 

[Mike Kovacs]

I keep a junk roll of 120 around for testing purposes - it would be a good idea for you to trash a roll and see if you can figure out what's wrong.

 

[Ishotharold]

put a roll of illford through it this AM and got the full 12 frames (though they are ugly do to.. pilot error..too many things to remeber,lots of shots messed up becauxse I didnt raise the paramender) not sure what the deak was but I'm leaning towards not lineing the startmark up as I thought I was supposed to. Is there an arrow on the TRI-x backing or is it a different mark?

 

[glbeas]

Yes, big bold arrows pointing at both sides of the roll. Also be aware that 220 film has the arrows at a different distance from the beginning than the 120. It's been so long since I loaded a 220 I forget if it's nearer or farther from the beginning.