I used to think that Fuji 120 film didn’t like my Holga 120N. I was wrong…sorry Fuji.
Every once in a while, the turning of the film advance dial would get sticky and it would be really difficult to move to the next frame. The further along I would go, the harder it would be to get to frame number 12. I would eventually get to the last frame, but only after wrestling around a bit with the camera and working up a little sweat. After all that work, the results after finishing that last shot were either the spooled film not being tightly wound around as it usually should or not being able to finish the roll as the dial was stuck beyond my mortal strength. Either result usually ended up with my removing of the film from the camera and manually re-winding the film in the dark.
After some asking around and a little experimentation, I think I figured out what happened.
The issue with the loosely wound film was caused because of the missing foam pieces that are usually glued into the film spool compartents in the Holga 120N. Without the spongy pressure that presses against the winding film, you get pockets of slack as the film is winding around the spool. The uneven wind of the film would then put pressure against the chamber walls, making it hard to turn the take-up spool. This can cause pretty bad light leaks (or good ones, if you’re lucky) once you expose the finished roll to light.
Here's a shot of where the missing foam should be. Gotta replace it for future, hassle-free, photo sessions.
The best way to fix this is to replace the foam with similarly sized pieces that are about 3/4″ to 1/2″ inch thick.
The second problem came up from my attempt to temporarily fix the missing foam issue. I stuck a folded piece of cardboard under the new film spool to add resistence. Problem was that the cardboard was a little too thick and as the film spool turned and turned, the piece of cardboard would wedge itself deeper under the spool. In the end, the spool would get stuck and off to the dark room I went.
Here's the newly replaced folded paper sitting under an emptied spool. The piece before it was too thick and the new piece is half the original thickness.
The simple fix to this was to just use a thinner piece of cardboard…or even better, replace the foam with similarly sized pieces that are about 3/4″ to 1/2″ inch thick.
Here’s a shot I took that came from one of my loosely wound spools exposed to light…
The Metro station under Pershing Square in Los Angeles
It’s not too bad of a shot. The light leak adds a little character to the picture. What do you think?
Filed under: Analog Life, Tip, Toy Camera, 120mm film, analog, holga, holga 120n, sticky spool, troubleshooting
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