Ondu 6x12 problem

Hello,

I tried an old Ondu 6x12 camera last weekend which I purchased for my son as part of the Kickstarter campaign in 2015. I loaded a roll of Lamography 120 film according to the instructions on the Ondu website. I found that the take up roll required a lot of force to turn the knob. After the first exposure I tried to advance to the second frame, but it was very difficult. After a few turns the winding got very easy but I did not see any indication of movement of the film in the red window.

Does anyone have any ideas about why it was so hard to turn and recommendations how to use the camera?

Thank you for your help.

Seth

The winding getting very easy with no backing paper movement likely indicates the tab tore off the leader where it was pushed through the spool (or just possibly pulled out of the slot). Another possibility (hopefully not the case) is the drive key shearing off the advance shaft.

The hard winding might indicate misalignment at the takeup spool, causing the spool to crumple the edge of the backing and film until the load got too much. When you open the camera in a darkroom or changing bag, you'll easily be able to identify this problem.

Generally, I find the wooden pinhole cameras (I have a couple of them, one in 35 mm and one in 6x6/6x4.5) easy to use, but since they lack guides it's also easy to get the film out of its proper track. When loading, you can safely advance to the start arrows (running across the backing paper) to be sure everything is running straight before you close the camera.