Film loading into Pentax MG is proving to be incredibly difficult... any tips/tricks?

[lukemarsh]

I am having alot of problems loading film into my Pentax MG slr camera...

I posted this in another thread, and copied it here cause I couldn't be bothered rewriting it:
...I don't know if it's just me or if it's the camera or if it's dodgy film? (I use Kodak super-something cheap ($14 for 3 rolls) film from Kmart )... Is there some kind of trick to it?
What happens is I stick the edge of the film into the slot and wind it until the little sprig things roll with the guide holes on the film and keep winding until the film is wound on about once or twice around. But most of the time the film just slips out before I even get the film around once! Sometimes I get the film around twice, but then as soon as I start winding with the lever it kicks out again and I have to open up the camera to fix it, ruining half of the film!!

It seems to be ridiculously hard for me to get this right... sometimes I can do it, but other times (most times) it is really being a bastard... today I had to try putting a tiny bit of blutack on the edge (didn't work) and then tried some sticky tape, which finally worked. It shouldn't be this damn hard! What am I doing wrong or what can I do to ensure a quicker and more reliable loading? It is really **************** because I can't quickly load new film in when I finish a roll and need to load some film to take more shots... Instead I have to spend an hour ruining some new film and getting frustrated with it!

If anyone could help me I would much much much appreciate it!

[skegger]

Have you got the manual (guessing not).

http://www.butkus.org/chinon/pentax/pentax_mg/pentax_mg.htm

This might have a clue for you. Otherwise the film spool might be damaged in some way.

[eSRods]

Yes, sounds like damaged film rewind spool or the film rewind button not firmly engaged.
Free rotating of film spool seems be the cause.
Cheers
Ed

[lukemarsh]

I just finished off my film that I had problems with and loaded another roll of film... I think I know what's wrong now!
I was just sticking the edge of the leader in between the white needles of the spool, so it was very loose and not stable... This time I pushed the edge of the film leader a little bit under the needles (past the very first sprocket hole) so it's firm in there, then winded and completed loading etc... that worked first time! Now I feel like an idiot hah :)
Thanks for your help though!

[eSRods]

I just finished off my film that I had problems with and loaded another roll of film... I think I know what's wrong now!
I was just sticking the edge of the leader in between the white needles of the spool, so it was very loose and not stable... This time I pushed the edge of the film leader a little bit under the needles (past the very first sprocket hole) so it's firm in there, then winded and completed loading etc... that worked first time! Now I feel like an idiot hah :)
Thanks for your help though!

Glad you resolved.
Pentax MG is a good camera. My first camera was ME and I only used for snap shooting.
Post some shots.
Cheers
Ed

[skegger]

Some cameras are a bit tricky to load film into unless you do it just right. I just picked up a Pentax P30 (P3) the other day for $19 with a zoom lens (35 - 80mm I think). Never had a Pentax before.

[MistieWatters]

Thank heavens for Canon is all I can say... My 43yo QL19 is SO easy to load... QL=Quck Load... not kidding!

[lukemarsh]

Glad you resolved.
Pentax MG is a good camera. My first camera was ME and I only used for snap shooting.
Post some shots.
Cheers
Ed

I have two posted at the moment... but they were from my first test-roll of film when I first got the camera... I've finished about 4 or 5 rolls now that need to get developed.
I would post some more photos from the film and from my digital camera, but uploading is absolutely ridiculous on this site!! I can only upload 2 a day, and even then half the time it doesn't work and I lose my 2 uploads and have to wait... so if you want to see my photography stuff you're better off going to my photography albums on my MySpace page: www.myspace.com/lukemarsh1

I have no idea why they only let us post 2 images a day on here... it seems crazy for a photography site based around sharing images! When you can upload like there's no tomorrow on sites like MySpace...

[LaurieMcArthur]

It never stopped me, Mate. Must be the way ya holding ya mouth or some such.

On the site you can upload three at a time and as often as you like.

I mostly upload my images to my own site and hotlink. I created a new blog so as to be able to host images there but I also sometimes hotlink to stuff I've published on my main blog. Plenty of options for you.

[lukemarsh]

It never stopped me, Mate. Must be the way ya holding ya mouth or some such.

On the site you can upload three at a time and as often as you like.

I mostly upload my images to my own site and hotlink. I created a new blog so as to be able to host images there but I also sometimes hotlink to stuff I've published on my main blog. Plenty of options for you.

Maybe it's just my account because I'm new to the site? Because if I try to upload more than two images in one day a message comes up saying that the image(s) exceed my daily upload limit... its strange...

[tinny]

Hey Luke,

i think maybe you are getting the forums posting and galleries confused. :confused:
You are correct, in Galleries you can only upload 2 pics a day (unless you are a paid up member).
But in the forum if you put up a post (like this post) you can upload as many pics as you want. So go your level hardest posting your pics in a forum post. We'd love to see them.:)

Cheers

[LaurieMcArthur]

Are you uploading to the forum or the albums. I've never used the albums.

So how about hotlinking to some of your photos on MySpace, give us a bit of a spiel about what you're up to and enter into some conversation about your photography and that of others. It's the yellow mountain icon above. You can put up to six images to a post. Then you can make another post, giving you a dozen images. Mind you, you need to keep the file sizes small if you do this or no one will bother waiting around for the page to open.

Hoping to see some of your work, soon.

[lukemarsh]

Ah I see! Well that definitely makes more sense now... I'll post a couple of my latest ones here now and make another thread or something somewhere else on this site for all of my stuff perhaps? Cause I just got my 5 rolls developed the other day and they turned out quite well. Though, I don't have a negative scanner so they're pretty bad quality cause I just scanned the actual prints and cropped them :)

I mostly do landscape, nature, and city photos because they interest me most and I love the beauty of nature and natural things around me... I live in the South Australian hills so I'm pretty much surrounded by nature most of the time at my house.

Here's one of a plant in the garden at my house, just messing around with foreground/background focus and whatnot... the cobweb came out quite well too:

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o159/loop-de-luke/Image6.jpg

And here's one I took at about 6:00am during sunrise at the Onkaparinga Gorge, S.A. of the clouds and the hills:

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o159/loop-de-luke/Image7.jpg

Good ol' photobucket :D damn MySpace wouldn't let me link the photos here...

[LaurieMcArthur]

See ya still having troubles, Luke. Give us a hoy if you'd like further assistance.

[lukemarsh]

Sorry... moved the photos... Here they are

Garden:

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o159/loop-de-luke/Film%20Photography/Image6.jpg

Sunrise:

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o159/loop-de-luke/Film%20Photography/Image7.jpg

Also you can view all of the photos that I upload on Photobucket here...
Film: http://photobucket.com/lukemarshfilmphotography
Digital: http://photobucket.com/lukemarshdigitalphotography

Or in my MySpace Albums: http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewAlbums&friendID=50190272

[WitnessOnly]

Just a final trick we old filmies do...

To 'know' your film is moving through the film gate when the back door is closed...

After you've got the film in as securely as you can and closed the back door; wind on once, now take the rewind crank, and rewind it till it's firm, so not to much. Now the next time you wind on (it takes 2-3 to bring up frame '1') watch the rewind crank, it should turn each time you wind on, if not, the film will need to be reloaded. If it's turning you have a g/tee that the film is moving through.

Simple and bulletproof.


WO