T90 flashing transport bar

The top LCD on my Canon T90 has a film transport bar that has begun to flash. The camera fires normally without film, but when I put a film in the bar flashes and the shutter locks. I assumed this meant the film hadn't loaded correctly, but when I opened the back the film was advancing normally. I tried a different film assuming there was something about the cassette or leader the camera didn't like, but same result.

Anyone know what the flashing bar means?

Flashing bar and locked shutter means the film-loading failed.

Maybe the advance sensoring is failing.

AgX said:

Flashing bar and locked shutter means the film-loading failed.

Maybe the advance sensoring is failing.

Click to expand...

Maybe, but film is advancing correctly. I can find only one reference to the same problem from 14 years ago: http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?15332-T90-problem&viewfull=1
Edit: reading again it isn't his film advance that is flashing (cassette icon and dotted lines), but his advance mode icon (single, continuous).

Film advance is done by fixed gear rotations. Thus would not be affected by faulty sensor I guess.

You caused some confusion now. What flashing sign do you see?
The T-90 has two sings corresponding to film loading : bars virtually coming out of a film cassette, and a static bar flashing.

Problem solved! A piece of film had broken off and wrapped itself tightly around the take up spool. Because the spool is partly hidden in the T90 I'd failed to notice it and had tried to load another film on top.

What caused the earlier film to break is still a mystery but the camera appears to be loading okay now. Thanks for feedback.

But still I'm puzzled: you seemingly got a warning sign, bút nevertheless the film was loaded properly?

AgX said:

But still I'm puzzled: you seemingly got a warning sign, bút nevertheless the film was loaded properly?

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Yes, the mechanism that winds the film on to the first frame is obviously not the sensor for film transport.

The T90 was a funny beast, but definitely the one to have way-back-when.
When I had a T90 and was an everyday user of Kodachrome 200 (the professional version), the T90 sometimes broke the last frame (sometimes two) of these PKL rolls, resulting in a flashing film transport bar. PKL often had a strange number of frames, certainly not just 36. Sometimes it was still winding at 39! Like the cameras (EOS) that came after it, the T90 has a precision winding mechanism that is sensitive to anything that could "enlarge" the take-up, and one should develop a habit of checking for any debris around the take-up area -- like the bit of film that had broken off you mentioned.

Poisson Du Jour said:

The T90 was a funny beast, but definitely the one to have way-back-when.
When I had a T90 and was an everyday user of Kodachrome 200 (the professional version), the T90 sometimes broke the last frame (sometimes two) of these PKL rolls, resulting in a flashing film transport bar. PKL often had a strange number of frames, certainly not just 36. Sometimes it was still winding at 39! Like the cameras (EOS) that came after it, the T90 has a precision winding mechanism that is sensitive to anything that could "enlarge" the take-up, and one should develop a habit of checking for any debris around the take-up area -- like the bit of film that had broken off you mentioned.

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I'll certainly check in future! It hasn't torn a film previously and I obviously didn't notice a short length when I developed the previous film. The piece wrapped round the take up spool was around five frames long, and so tight I must have thought the spool was film coloured and loaded the second film over the top.

I had the camera CLA'd about three years ago and it has been faultless, but film tearing is a bad habit. Maybe the advance drive is too strong? I wonder if the previous film was bulk loaded because I sometimes put over 40 frames on by enthusiastically over-winding the loader. The depth of film could have played havoc with the sensor or drive resulting in a torn film.

With tearing film you mean tearing film off the cassette at the end of advance?

That would be a major fault only surpassed by door flipping open...

I don't know how the sensor system in the T90 functions, but I'd guess film tension must play a part. In my case the camera had "decided" the film had come to an end and automatically re-wound into the cassette. It wasn't tearing film out of the cassette, it was leaving a piece on the take up spool after rewinding.

It's possible (about 20% chance) the film that tore was bulk loaded and the depth of film on the take up spool did something strange to the mechanism. If it was bulk loaded I wouldn't have taken too much notice of the film counter, and wouldn't have noticed an odd film length afterwards. I doubt it's an endemic problem with the T90 or we'd have heard more about the issue. With manufacturer's 36 exposure rolls it's probably unheard of.

Sophisticated cameras are more sensitive to film transport generally. Two weeks ago I was having problems with my AF Nikons not loading. The same cassettes were fine in my Nikkormats, A-Series Canons and Yashica FR. On close inspection I found the light traps on the film were slightly distorted open - it was cheap Chinese film I keep in because the lack of anti-halation layer suits some subjects - barely noticeable, but enough for the auto loading cameras to reject them. The manual cameras managed the same films without any problems. Sophistication comes at a price.

Thank You!


In default setting the T-90 should stop releasing and start rewinding

-) with DX-coded film after max numbers of exposures

-) with non-DX-coded film at the end of film (higher pull-tension)

AgX said:

Thank You!


In default setting the T-90 should stop releasing and start rewinding

-) with DX-coded film after max numbers of exposures

-) with non-DX-coded film at the end of film (higher pull-tension)

Click to expand...

That might explain it. If a DX coded cassette was re-used and overloaded, it would begin rewinding after 36 frames. If there was sufficient film already advanced on the take up spool it might snatch and tear. An extra frame or so might not have sufficient inertia, but five or six frames could do it. A piece of tape over the DX coding might fix things.