Wide Retina framing- is this normal?

[ZorkiKat]

In my Retina IIa, frame spacing is sometimes uneven- while the spacing generally looks normal (same as what other cameras do), it does become wider at times.

In the Retina II however, the frame spaces look wider than usual. They're about 4mm wide. That's twice or more than the usual spacing made by other cameras. That's about as wide as one perf.

And sometimes, the spacing goes even wider- 4-6 mm. Usually at towards the end of the film roll.

Is this to be expected from Retina II? How can this be avoided? The wind knob on the II will turn both ways at "A(dvance)" mode. And it turns opposite the arrow's direction when rewinding. First camera I've seen to do this...and I've seen a lot of cameras...

[bkrystad]

I have both a II and a IIa, and I've found the same results: frame spacing on the II is more irregular (and definitely larger) than on the IIa. Why? Hmm, not sure. Just thought I'd verify that your results aren't unique to your cameras.

[ZorkiKat]

Thanks for the reply.

The II uses a different film advance system than the IIa. The former relies on the film itself to space and lock the advance. Thus the advance wouldn't work if no film is running through the camera. The latter uses an almost conventional (save for the back-counting dial) arrangement which will run independent of the film.

I now recall that my other cameras (eg the Smena 8M and those cheap plastic 35mm novelites) which rely on the film sprockets for spacing and locking like the II also produce wide frame spacing which become irregular and wider at times.

Well, at least no overlapping happens with the Retinas. No photos are lost, but the irregular spacing does make it a PIA to scan the strips when their laid on the film carrier.

[Ken Ford]

Both my Ia and IIa have always suffered from irregular frame spacing - I've had them for years.

[wlewisiii]

Good to read this tonight - My Bgn rated IIa from KEH is supposed to be here on Wednesday & I'd hate (seriously) to have thought there was something significantly wrong with it if the test roll came back with odd spacings.

May well be other problems, but at least I'll know better on that if it happens.

William

[wupdigoj]

Perhaps the spacing in my retina II is a little wider than normal (not an issue IMO), but it is very regular. The spacing in my pentax zx5 is much more irregular. I don't know why. Regards

Javier