Duff frame spacing on Voigtlander Vito C

[Muggins]

I've just got the first roll back from my bank-breaking Vito C (£3) and to my annoyance there's definitely a frame spacing problem. The first dozen or so frames are fine, then it gets progressively worse until for the last few the negs look panoramic... There's also several missing frames, which I haven't found an excuse for yet as the shutter trips every time when I test it.

I think the problem is that the take-up spool is slack enough for its spindle to rotate inside it when there is drag on the outer part (the spool appears to turn on a separate spindle) as, when I got to the end of the roll, it just kept winding on and winding on. Luckily I opened it in a changing bag!

So... Does anyone have any idea on whether I can fix this? The chassis seems to be screwed or rivetted together from the front, and I've not dismantled anything to that extent before. Unfortunately the slot for the film does not allow me to see the inner spindle, or I'd try a bit of epoxy.

Any assistance you can offer would be very much appreciated!

Thank you,

Adrian
(incidentally, for habitues of both, I'm also posting this over on the Classic Camera Repair Forum)

[batterytypehah!]

I think it's normal with the C series that the take-up spool "slips." That's so you don't need to hold down a rewind button. Instead, you just pop up the rewind knob and start twisting.

I have a Vito CD but it's brand new to me, no film through it yet.

Are the sprockets moving reliably with the advance stroke? When you kept on winding, did they mess up the perforation?

[Muggins]

The sprockets appear to be moving fine - I tested with a scrap film before (and after!) the roll in question, and all seems fine.

The sprocket holes weren't torn, and I didn't get any strange noises that I reacll (mind you, I did have a woolly hat pulled over my ears as it was cold!) - it just kept winding, and as it's a very smooth action, I couldn't feel any difference.

I think more experimentation is called for...

Adrian

[batterytypehah!]

Is it possible you popped up the rewind knob at some point into that roll? That releases the sprockets. May just need some working to free up. These usually come out of decades in somebody's drawer or attic, after all.

The mechanism on the earlier Vitos is the reverse (i.e. the take-up spool is ratcheted until you pop the rewind knob, the sprocket is free to turn backwards all the time) and IMO that works better. I can only guess that they changed it because customers were confused -- as many are now -- that the shutter will only fire with film inserted.

My father had a Vito CL that he bought new. Just out of the warranty period, the advance mechanism and frame counter stopped working. He got a repair quote, couldn't afford it, and kept using the camera for another 15 or so years, at which point I permanently loaned it from him. You had to hold down the shutter release for just a moment to begin the advance stroke, and make do without a counter. Nothing else ever broke, to be fair.

Anecdotal, of course, but I've never quite trusted the C series as much as the older Vitos.

[Muggins]

Hmmm... I don't recall popping the rewind knob up, but then some days I can't remember which day of the week it is, so that's a possibility.

I think I'll run the scrap film through it a few times, then try a roll of B&W & develop it myself , see whether that improves matters. Certainly I can't find anything wrong under the lid - mind you, maybe if the frame spacing was never right, that's why it's in such good cosmetic nick?

Thanks for the thoughts,

Adrian

[Muggins]

You might be right - though I need to run another roll through to be sure. Certainly, though, after running the scrap roll through several times, it now stops at the end and the sprockets clatter against the film.

We shall see...

Adrian