Olympus AX2 won't rewind on it's adventure to New York

[Artful Dodger]

I've lent my sister my Olympus AX2 to take some B&W photos of New York while on holiday there. She has shot one film of Kentmere 400 but says the film won't wind back so she can't change the film? She says the rewind lever just spins around and nothing happens. It sounds like she has spent some time trying to figure the problem out.

I'd like to me ask:

1. Does anyone else have experience of this happening to them with an Olympus AX2 and if so how did you fix it?
   
2. Is there a friendly camera/film business in NY that she could ask to fix the problem.
   
3. If she gets the film out of the camera in the dark but cant get it back into the film cassette, how could she get the film back to UK without exposing it to light and without freaking out airport security.
   

Thanks for any ideas!

 

[Prof_Pixel]

My first (and best) guess is that the film was not correctly loaded and never went through the camera and when she started to rewind, the short piece of leader was rapidly rolled into the cartridge.

Opening the camera in the dark should make it fairly easy to tell (by feel) if there is any film on the take-up spool, or if it's all in the cartridge.

Let's see what others have to say.

 

[summicron1]

Do you mean XA?

I'm with the guy who said she perhaps did not load correctly. Does she remember the rewind crank turning while she advanced the film? Always advance a frame before closing the film back to make sure it is engaged.


As to the film, assuming she can remove it in total darkness (go inside a closet and put the camera inside a zipped up coat) she can roll it into the can, but if that doesn't work she needs some sort of light-tight container to put it in. an opaque jar with a lid would work, but it must be totally light-tight.

 

[Artful Dodger]

Thanks Prof_Pixel I had also wondered if that was the issue but she has just emailed me to say a shop has now looked at it and said the film had pulled off the spool. This seems kind of surprising since it would normaly require a huge amount of force to pull the film out of the end of the spool
summicron1 Yes you are correct it is the XA2. Sorry I was being slightly dyslexic. It is such a reliable camera I'm really surprised it has gone wrong.
My latest update is that it now has a new film in it but has failed to wind on after a few frames.

 

[summicron1]

wow--i would never have bet on pulling the film off the spool -- but the store can put it in a light-tight can.

I fear that the force to pull the film off the spool may have been enough to damage the internal gears, which are plastic. Or perhaps the rewinde button is jammed.

sad.

 

[Artful Dodger]

Yes summicron1, I'm already feeling a sense of deep anxiety and grief about my poor old XA2. I was given a previous XA2 by friend when they went digital but passed it on to encourage another photographer friend when they lacked a 35mm film camera. I got this second one to replace it from ebay (since I missed having one) and its been used heavily by myself and others both in Britain and abroad ever since. You're playing with my darkest most fears talking about the shearing and shredding of it's plastic gears. Maybe a silver lining is that replacement XA2s are still plentiful and cheep on ebay. However I’ve always fancied the original XA rang-finder version so maybe this might be my excuse to finally bid for one of those.

 

[summicron1]

Yes summicron1, I'm already feeling a sense of deep anxiety and grief about my poor old XA2. I was given a previous XA2 by friend when they went digital but passed it on to encourage another photographer friend when they lacked a 35mm film camera. I got this second one to replace it from ebay (since I missed having one) and its been used heavily by myself and others both in Britain and abroad ever since. You're playing with my darkest most fears talking about the shearing and shredding of it's plastic gears. Maybe a silver lining is that replacement XA2s are still plentiful and cheep on ebay. However I’ve always fancied the original XA rang-finder version so maybe this might be my excuse to finally bid for one of those.

the XA is my go-to street shooter, easier and more reliable to load than the XA2, better lens, rangefinder. Worth seeing out.

good luck.