Nikon F100 "End" error at frame 30

pentaxuser said:

OK thanks. I wasn't implying your intentions were not of good intent, I was just curious about the F100's internal link that was connected to the problem

I don't have an F100 but in none of my cameras is there this link to frame counting and refusal to take the film further than frame 30

I can see why without a DX code a camera has to revert arbitrarily to say an ISO of 100 this rendering a problem with exposure if the owner doesn't set the speed dial correctly for the film but stopping the film at frame 30 just doesn't seem to be likely link. If it makes sense to Nikon to build in a mechanism to prevent wrong exposure by not allowing the film to be used then I wonder why it doesn't stop the film at the start

None of it makes much sense to me if the F100 does what you think it does

Can any other F100 user chime in here to help settle the matter?

pentaxuser

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Either the camera can sense that the film will not advance or some cameras like the Nikon N75 move the fill to advance to the end of the roll or 36 exposures when the film is loaded. No DX codes were damaged during the typing and posting of this post.

Three years later... Hoping for new insights to a previously report problem...

I came up against this issue with my recently acquired F100 today. It's about the fourth roll I've run through it. It was a roll of Rollei Infrared 400. Everything happened just as @Joseph Bell reported. It just kept telling me End when the roll was less than half done. It started doing it sporadically so I could get a few more shots off, then stubbornly displayed End, I was able to rewind it (in the camera) and I"ll see if anything looks odd structurally when I develop it.

Oh, and in reply to some of the earlier comments, the camera does not count exposures then stop. Neither did my N8008s. In both I can get 38 exposures on the 36 exposure roll and 26 exposures on a 24 exposure roll. The camera just advanaces this film until it can't. So it might just be the film got "stuck" somewhere/somehow.

Also, had fresh batteries in the MD-15 battery grip, so I had extra power.

@Joseph Bell, have you (or anyone else) seen this happen again???

EricTheReddish said:

Three years later... Hoping for new insights to a previously report problem...

I came up against this issue with my recently acquired F100 today. It's about the fourth roll I've run through it. It was a roll of Rollei Infrared 400. Everything happened just as @Joseph Bell reported. It just kept telling me End when the roll was less than half done. It started doing it sporadically so I could get a few more shots off, then stubbornly displayed End, I was able to rewind it (in the camera) and I"ll see if anything looks odd structurally when I develop it.

Oh, and in reply to some of the earlier comments, the camera does not count exposures then stop. Neither did my N8008s. In both I can get 38 exposures on the 36 exposure roll and 26 exposures on a 24 exposure roll. The camera just advanaces this film until it can't. So it might just be the film got "stuck" somewhere/somehow.

Also, had fresh batteries in the MD-15 battery grip, so I had extra power.

@Joseph Bell, have you (or anyone else) seen this happen again???

Click to expand...

A few months later....

Yes I've just had it happen with my F100. Batteries are good, but it's the second time I've put a roll of FP4 (517) cine film into it and this was wound from bulk stock (not by me). The first roll got all the way to 36 but it had sat in the camera for a few days after loading and my guess is it allowed the roll time to relax. With the second roll it was loaded straight out of the container 'in the field' I only got ten frames from 36 before it said 'End'. So I'm thinking it's the cassette that's tight or the film is wound very tight and the camera thinks it's reached the end since as they say 'it's never happened before'. Maybe a new cassette needs taping a few times to relax the film before loading, like you see actors doing with a cigarette in the old movies? In the case of your Rollei IR the spec sheet says the film base it P.E.T and this may possibly also be a reason the camera thinks the film has gone tight, one article I read says the film is coated to 'help the film through the camera', whatever that means, but it may indicate a basic problem with auto wind cameras and a P.E.T film base? P.E.T is also very thin so may be more prone to being wound tightly in the cassette?

I have always assumed it was a tension problem. This film was designed for cine cameras with fractional horse power motors and not for tight radius 35mm canisters.

The colder temps also probably contributes to the transport problem.

Very freshly loaded rolls of this film probably are not as problematic, but as it ages on that tiny spindle of the 35mm roll, "Core set" or plastic memory (however you want to call it) becomes stronger and it takes more power to pull the film through the camera. Remember, the smallest diameter core in a motion picture camera is most often 2 inches...

The only real solution I could think of is to buy 24 exposure rolls instead of 36 (if available).

I have had a similar problem with my F100 when using Eastman 5222. I noticed that the 5222 film base was thicker and more stiff than regular b&w film. I solved the problem by NOT using 5222 in the F100. No problems when using my 8008s or my F2. I am just about out of 5222 and will move on to Kentmere or Tmax 400, no problems with these two in the F100. RB

EricTheReddish said:

@Joseph Bell, have you (or anyone else) seen this happen again???

Click to expand...

It is always unfortunate when a problem is raised then reasons are put forward for causes and solutions but the OP never says which is any of the solutions cured the problem

That never happened in this case and Joseph Bell has not been seen since last April


pentaxuser

250swb said:

In the case of your Rollei IR the spec sheet says the film base it P.E.T and this may possibly also be a reason the camera thinks the film has gone tight

Click to expand...

I was thinking it could have something to do with the thinner film. But @randyB was having trouble with thicker film. I haven't put enough rolls through mine to see the issue again. My favorite camera store guy just told me "Yeah, that happens sometimes". We'll see what the future brings.