Canon 1014 Autozoom film transport

[Jaike Elliott]

Hi,

First post here, thanks a lot for having me on board.

I recently bought a Canon 1014 Autozoom in fabulous cosmetic condition, box and all.
All mechanical aspects of the camera seemed to be in perfect working order.

I bought a 50D/7203 cartridge with the initial aim to test the camera, but I developed such confidence in the fact that it was probably working fine, that I started to shoot a few things I thought I would use. Big disappointment then when the meter told me the film was finished, only to take it out and to not see the 'exposed' indicator anywhere.

A quick dot with a marker pen on the film revealed that the camera was not transporting the film forward at all.
I double checked with another cartridge - same issue.

I'm not familiar with the technical terms - but both the meter 'gear', and the miniature rod that slots into the film sprocket both seem to be running fine at all speeds. I assumed that there was a problem with the camera that prevented it from gripping the sprocket enough to pull the film along.

I then messed around with cartridge itself, and it seemed really stiff. I wiggled the wheel until it loosened up, and now the camera seems to be pulling it along fine.

Would anyone have any thoughts on this? I guess my only option is to expose a cartridge and see if the film speed and shutter are in sync.
Is transport a typical issue with these models?
And what of the stiffness of the cartridge itself?

Thanks a lot for any comments you may have!

[Steve Klare]

Hello Jaike,

Welcome!

There is always a clutch in the film transport such that at end of cartridge the film can stop before the operator realizes it and releases the trigger. It's possible your clutch isn't grabbing with enough force and it's also possible you have some bad cartridges: I've had this one happen myself.

In your position, I would expose the cartridge and hope for the best once the results come back. I might also see if I could get some expired cartridges cheap (for example: E-bay) to use for testing.

The Canon 1014 is an Awesome camera and it deserves the best chance possible!

[Shane C. Collins]

Super 8 carts are known to "jam" from time to time. It's the inherited design of this format. I currently shoot Kodak's new Ektachrome (7294) color reversal. I've had numerous jams with this stock. My method is usually to pull out about an inch of film from the cart, then turn the little wheel in the center of the cart until the film takes back up, and there's no slack. This will give you a heads up if the film is in fact tight inside the cart. usually this method works for me, and usually I have no further issues.

[Paul Browning]

I used to just tap the cartridge lightly on a hard surface a couple of times to loosen up the tightly wound film inside the cartridge, very much like with the cassette tape that would wind tightly....................

[Jaike Elliott]

Hey, thanks so much for these helpful answers - it's good to know that the camera itself may be OK, although of course shooting a test cartridge is still needed.

Is the wheel on the cartridge supposed to be somewhat loose to the touch? When I 'flick' it, it springs back and forth a little on its axis...

[Shane C. Collins]

Hey, thanks so much for these helpful answers - it's good to know that the camera itself may be OK, although of course shooting a test cartridge is still needed.

Is the wheel on the cartridge supposed to be somewhat loose to the touch? When I 'flick' it, it springs back and forth a little on its axis...

Yes that wheel is spring loaded I believe. It should be somewhat loose not tight.

[Jaike Elliott]

Great, thanks a lot...
When I first inspected the cartridge, this wheel was completely tight - one could almost have thought it was a screw holding the cartridge together...