Minolta Maxxum 5000 Wants Me to Rewind After 4 Frames

I've been using the camera for vacation photos down in Florida. It's a second hand camera I bought at a local pawnshop - all in all it's worked pretty well until now.

I loaded a new roll in, Kodak 400UC (36 frames). I'd only shot four of those when the film icon appeared and the frame number started flashing, signaling that I needed to rewind.

The low battery icon also came up, so I figured I just needed to change batteries. I did, but it still wanted me to rewind.

I'm not sure if the film isn't loaded correctly - if it jammed, maybe I could salvage the roll. Or maybe the roll itself was bad.

Or it could be the camera malfunctioning. I do know that I don't want to waste 34 frames of quality film nor would I like to lose the four frames I've already exposed, if at all possible.

Any advice would be most appreciated.

Sorry, 32 frames of quality film.

Most of these systems work on a tightening of the tension on the film, because the camera has no way of knowing if you've put in a roll of 24, 36, 27 (older Agfa emulsions were sold as 24 + 3) or some custom load.

So, the camera senses the "end" of the roll simply by the amount of tension or resistance in the film advance.

Perhaps, the roll that you have might have a slightly tighter lip or felt seal. Or it could be that the spool is dragging a bit because the metal end caps are slightly tighter than normal or are slightly out of round. Or maybe it's a slightly thicker emulsion with that batch. Or it could be the fact that it's a roll of 36. Or who knows?

The short version is that it could be that the film isn't coming out of the cassette smoothly, and the camera is taking that to mean that it's at the end of the roll.

I would try it with a different roll, perhaps a roll of 24. See if it works OK.

Maybe the drive system in the camera is slightly gummed up, so a small amount of resistance is read as the end of the roll. Or maybe it has to do with the batteries. Without actually seeing the camera, there are too many variables.

But I would start with trying a new roll of film and a shorter length (24 exposures).

If you don't want to waste the film that's in there now, unload the camera in a changing bag or a dark closet or at night. Wind it by hand back into the cassette, and use it in a different camera.

I've seen on at least one occasion where the film cartridge was loaded with the light trap area was inserted into the camera facing up rather than lying flat, parallel to the film guide. That gave a similar failure.