# old Petri



## wileyj (Jul 27, 2016)

I recently bought a Petri FT 35 MM camera at an estate sale. It had a lot of neat attachments including
additional lenses and such. I bought a roll of Kodak Ultra 400 color film to try it out. I followed the instructions in the manual to a T as I had never used an older do everything yourself camera. When I went to pick up the film from the developer I was shocked to be told the roll was blank. None of the
24 shots "took". The film was dated as good through 6/17. Any ideas on what went wrong? Did I buy
a bad camera or was the film bad?
Thanks.
Wileyj


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## cgw (Jul 27, 2016)

Several possible causes but most likely was no film wind-on to the take-up spool. Easiest way to tell is if the rewind knob spins with each crank of the advance lever. Properly loaded film makes this happen.


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## wileyj (Jul 27, 2016)

cgw said:


> Several possible causes but most likely was no film wind-on to the take-up spool. Easiest way to tell is if the rewind knob spins with each crank of the advance lever. Properly loaded film makes this happen.


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## wileyj (Jul 27, 2016)

Thanks for the info. Next roll I'll check to be sure.


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## john.margetts (Jul 27, 2016)

It might take two or three 'goes' on the film advance lever before the rewind crank starts to turn - the film in the cassette is fairly loose and you need to take up the slack before the crank turns.

Petri cameras are good. I have two - one an SLR and one a rangefinder.


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## cgw (Jul 27, 2016)

john.margetts said:


> It might take two or three 'goes' on the film advance lever before the rewind crank starts to turn - the film in the cassette is fairly loose and you need to take up the slack before the crank turns.
> 
> Petri cameras are good. I have two - one an SLR and one a rangefinder.



It's better to check wind-on(and snug up slack in the film can)by gently rewinding till you feel resistance.Works for me.


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## john.margetts (Jul 28, 2016)

I was going to suggest that but thought that if they had not loaded correctly they could wind all the new film into the cassette.


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## wileyj (Jul 28, 2016)

john.margetts said:


> It might take two or three 'goes' on the film advance lever before the rewind crank starts to turn - the film in the cassette is fairly loose and you need to take up the slack before the crank turns.
> 
> Petri cameras are good. I have two - one an SLR and one a rangefinder.


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## wileyj (Jul 28, 2016)

Thanks for good tips. Some stuff to work on for sure. My "other" camera is  a Pentax ZX-L which is pretty much automatic. Just point and shoot. It'll
take a lot of trial and error to get used to this "antique" Petri.


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## sniper x (Aug 4, 2016)

All manual older 35mm camera teach you a lot about photography.  Good luck,  I'm also getting back int9 old manual cameras.  The time is right to find some real gems for great deals.


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## Dave442 (Aug 4, 2016)

Many of the old manuals that came with those cameras were also full of tips (such as using the rewind knob to check that the film was advancing). Should be a fun camera.


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## Dave Colangelo (Aug 9, 2016)

Did you remove the lens cap? 

As people have mentioned you should check the film take up as you may not have pre fed enough film causing it to slip off the spool. The other thing to check is the shutter and aperture to ensure they are working as they should. The black film could also be sever under exposure 

The simplest way to check the shutter,
- Set it to the slowest speed (so you can see whats happening)
- With out film in the camera open the back
- Cock the firing mechanism
- Hold it up to the light and look at the shutter curtain
- Fire the camera
You should be able to see the shutter open then close. You can also set it to BULB (B) and it should remain open while you hold the button down.

You can check the aperture in B mode as well. Use the same procedure as checking the shutter but move change the aperture settings and when looking through the lens make sure the blades are in different places (the hole should change size).

If the camera has some kind of auto mode or the like, you may want to make sure it has proper batteries.

I dont know much about this particular camera but if it has a built in meter you should confirm it against a known good, working meter. As they always say, a meter in hand is worth two in the camera.

Regards
Dave


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## john.margetts (Aug 9, 2016)

Dave Colangelo said:


> Did you remove the lens cap?
> 
> As people have mentioned you should check the film take up as you may not have pre fed enough film causing it to slip off the spool. The other thing to check is the shutter and aperture to ensure they are working as they should. The black film could also be sever under exposure
> 
> ...


blank, not black film. Yes, it could be really severe underexposure but unlikely if there is no image at all.


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