Nettar not winding film tightly

@Helge: Wow, I think I nerdsniped you into a lengthy investigation!

Thanks for sharing your results here. To be sure I understood you correctly: You think the main component at fault here is the pair of metally-silvery springs going from the center towards the spool flanges and that is what you would like to shim?

Helge said:

Maybe some of the Nettars bad rep in some quarters of the web, really stems from bad or misaligned film transport?

Click to expand...

I would not be surprised. If you are not investigating closely it might be hard to tell a film flatness issue from a lens sharpness problem. In the camera where your film is, poetically speaking, slack as fuck, can you observe the same kind of film movement as I do in post #13?

distributed said:

@Helge: Wow, I think I nerdsniped you into a lengthy investigation!

Thanks for sharing your results here. To be sure I understood you correctly: You think the main component at fault here is the pair of metally-silvery springs going from the center towards the spool flanges and that is what you would like to shim?



I would not be surprised. If you are not investigating closely it might be hard to tell a film flatness issue from a lens sharpness problem. In the camera where your film is, poetically speaking, slack as fuck, can you observe the same kind of film movement as I do in post #13?

Click to expand...

Yes, it's most definitely the two silver springs. You can feel and observe the difference and cause when you rotate and move the spool the little way it will go up and down.
Old spools where wood and metal. Today they are all plastic. Some tolerances and friction is bound to change and slide (sic).
And no I wasn't able to make the backing paper print move up and down. But then I guess it's just a matter of how much force you use when shaking, and you'll be able to make it happen with any red window camera. If it's merely by tilting the camera, then yes, that would be a problem.

Yesterday I took out said exposed roll of film, in the darkbag just to be sure. Unfortunately the shimming of the blueish metal tongues did not do the trick. The shimming was enough to be able to feel increased resistance over the last 6-10 turns. I haven't seen the roll, but I sure could feel the backing paper protruding over the flange diameter. The film will go onto the reel in a darkbag as well.

The next stop is shimming the two silver springs.

@Helge No, just tilting the camera is not enough, it needs to be bumped a bit.

Small update. I came around to having the Provia developed and it came out fine, with some predictable light leaks.

(the shop location where the folder used was bought some 65 years ago, according to a sticker in the film chamber.)

Noticed the light leaks looked like some I had with a previous roll of Provia in another folder, which I had attributed to the lock coming loose.


I measured the Fuji spools against Kodak, Ilford and older Agfa spools I have lying around.
They are definitely a hair shorter in both directions. Width and the diameter of the spool ends. Even the thickness of the sides is less.
That would definitely impact tightness since the Zeiss Ikon folders use the spool ends as brakes.

Distributed, would your film also happen to be Fuji?

I have a few old metal spools that I use in folders. If you have some, maybe you could try them?

takilmaboxer said:

I have a few old metal spools that I use in folders. If you have some, maybe you could try them?

Click to expand...

That would entail rewinding the film first on to another spool and then on to the metal spool.
Not very hard to do, but definitely more hassle than you would like to I have. And you run the risk of dust and misalignment.

Nice reference with the shop there, Helge!

I shot two rolls so far. One is HP5+ wound onto the roll that came with the camera. The takeup roll seemed quite old and made from metal. The second roll was Fomapan 400 rolled onto the empty HP5+ spool. Both rolls were of recent production.

If it's any indication, the width of the spool is 65.5 mm for me. I have never had a Fuji film in that camera.