Sankyo XL 400S is advancing film but green indicator light isn’t flashing

[Chris Zerella]

Hey legends,

I have an issue with my Sankyo Sound XL-400S Super 8 camera.The motor turns and it sounds fantastic. My issue and perhaps I am over thinking it is that the green indicator light stops flickering in the viewfinder. I am worried the film is not transferring across. I did the dot test on the film to mark it and it is running, but as I said I am worried it’s not transferring. Is there anything I need to do? Should I just wait until I send the film into being processed? I was expecting to use this first roll of film as an experiment anyway.

I have read online that sometimes the old camera lights don’t work as well however all lights do flash on in the viewfinder, it just stops. Is there anything you would recommend to do?
Thanks in advance. 😊

[Joerg Polzfusz]

Hi!

Do you have a manual?
Sankyo XL60S:

[Joerg Polzfusz]

Sankyo xl300s:

[Joerg Polzfusz]

In both cases, the green light should flicker when the film is advancing properly. And a permanently lit lamp indicates the end of the film or an error.
But please note that the indicator has a different position in both cameras. So please ensure that you are looking at the correct indicator. ;-)

However, at least the xl300s has got a „cartridge sensor“ that is pressed down while a cartridge is entered. So without film (or to be precise: without cartridge), the green light will not flicker.
And -as the end of the film is also indicated by a cutout in the perforation area - the camera can measure the pressure needed to advance the claw. When it’s „too easy“ then the camera can assume that the end of the film has been reached or that there has been an error. —> green light will not flash.

[Joerg Polzfusz]

In other words: you cannot trick out the camera by running it without film that can be advanced. ;-)

When a fresh cart has been entered, but the green light still isn’t flickering, then check the transport by removing the cartridge, marking the topmost image with a white pen and then re-entering it. When you now run the film at 18fps for a second, then the white marking should be transported out of sight. (When the camera has got a single frame advance, you can alternatively also turn this on and press the button four times. Then check whether the marked frame got moved four times down.)

Good luck! I hope that the camera is working properly!

[Chris Zerella]

In other words: you cannot trick out the camera by running it without film that can be advanced. ;-)

When a fresh cart has been entered, but the green light still isn’t flickering, then check the transport by removing the cartridge, marking the topmost image with a white pen and then re-entering it. When you now run the film at 18fps for a second, then the white marking should be transported out of sight. (When the camera has got a single frame advance, you can alternatively also turn this on and press the button four times. Then check whether the marked frame got moved four times down.)

Good luck! I hope that the camera is working properly!

Hey Joerg!

Thank you for your detailed response. I do have a manual and it is the same as the 300S. The green indicator light is to the right. When the camera is rolling with film it does not flicker on, so I’m worried it isn’t getting exposed. Where abouts is the cartridge sensor? Perhaps that is broken.

i have also done a pen test twice now and the film does advance when the camera is filming. I am just worried because the green indicator light isn’t flickering that it’s not being exposed.

Let me know your thoughts!

[Joerg Polzfusz]

The xl300s (which I don’t have - I have only got a large collection of manuals) seems to have two sensors - see image:
1) is called „film counter set pin“. When switching from released to pressed (or is it the other way round in your camera?), the footage counter is reset. But the camera might check whether it is still pressed to check whether a cartridge is entered or not.
2) is called „cartridge sensor“. Given the location, I would assume that it’s only used to differ between silent carts and sound carts

As it looks like your camera also accepts the obsolete 60m-carts, it might have a third sensor that checks whether the door at the top of the film chamber is opened or not (to differ between 15m and 60m carts).

…

Is the red indicator (above the lens) lit when the camera is running?

…

As for the camera’s age: I would assume that the green indicator (and its electronics) is still working properly. If something would be broken, then I would assume that the lamp would be completely disabled. I doubt that there’s only an error in the „flickering part“. Hence I would rather check the sensors first.

….

As for the check of the film transport/end of film:
Some cameras don’t check whether there’s resistance to the claw, but they have a small pin at the gate. The pin gets pressed down by the film and then is released when the „end of film cutout“ is crossing the gate.

[Joerg Polzfusz]

A cheap, imprecise way to test the camera:

You could tape down the pin 1 (with some scotch tape), then turn on the „pocket light“-feature of a smartphone and put it inside the empty film chamber (with the light heading towards the film gate). Then go into a dark room and run the camera at 18fps (or slower). It should then project a flickering image when running. When you have got a second smartphone or a digital camera, you could record the projection and check whether the 18fps (or slower when selected) are reached.

Don’t forget to remove the scotch tape later on.

Other than that you get buy yourself one of those test-cartridges from super8.nl:
https://super8.nl/en/knowledge-base/...uper8-cameras/