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Krasnogorsk-3 film always stuck at pressure plate


Bernhard Kipperer

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Hi all!

 

I recently got a new Krasnogorsk-3 and want to test it before I invest in actual film to shoot with it, but I'm facing a strange issue:

 

In order to practice loading it, I bought some white leader film based on Acetate (and was assured by the vendor it won't harm the camera in any way).

 

Loading works perfectly fine at the start (I have a camera without loop formers, so do it manually), I form the upper loop, go past the gate and reinstall the pressure plate, then the problem starts. I can finish the bottom loop and all, but whenever the pressure plate is installed, no film will move, it gets completely stuck. As soon as I lift the pressure plate a bit, or remove it, the film advances fine onto the take up reel, but of course this is not useful to me.

 

Could it be that this leader is somewhat thicker or less flexible than normal negative film would be? Should I just try to find some very cheap expired film on Ebay and continue with that one? I just need a few feet of fogged film to test. Or is this all a sign of the K-3 not working correctly?

 

Bernhard

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Yea, it's probably the leader. I'd try some junk camera negative first and see what happens. The mechanics of the K3 are pretty robust and leader in of itself, is inherently not made well. I actually stopped using it entirely because it rarely runs through my projectors properly.

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Going out on a limb here, but are the leader perfs on the correct side? It could have been wound backwards...I think you would notice when forming the top loop so probably it's ok.

 

Before you put the pressure plate back... (I seem to remember not having to actually remove it, just tilt it back but it's been a while on the K3) do you hear the shutter click as you advance the film manually?

 

Last thing I can think of...since you don't have the loop formers...you are forming the loops and manually making sure the film is going through the sprockets right? It should slide into each side of that sprocket motor from the top, not from the front/side like it would in an autoload situation...at least I think...it's been a long time since I've had a K3...

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Thanks for your tips, Will.

 

"are the leader perfs on the correct side?"

Looks to me like they should be on the bottom, only then the film is transported at all.

 

At first I also thought that the leader could have a wrong curl that would bend too much against gate and pressure plate.

But it seems that this is not really the case either.

 

"you are forming the loops and manually making sure the film is going through the sprockets right?"

I follow descriptions you find online, like the video for K-3s without loop formers at http://www.k3camera.com/k3/krasnogorsk-3-loading-videos.php

The strange thing is that this sometimes works fine for a while until the film gets stuck after running through the camera for many seconds, other times it fails right away and the film won't even move at all when I press the trigger after loading. Once I remove the pressure plate it starts to run.

 

I bought some old negative online two days ago but am on vacation now.

I will try it again with that one next week, hoping that will fix the issues.

 

Bernhard

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  • 2 weeks later...

Ya know what I had this same damn thing happen, and I thought, Awe hell I bought a bad camera. Till I looked at the film ar realized one of the Sprocket holes was ripped Long ways, so the little pull down was just flicking up and down, on little torn perf was all it took. go figure. wasn't really obvious till I knew what to look for.

Edited by Sean DelGatto
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Really? That's odd.

 

By the way, I got my camera to work fine now, even with the leader film (did not have time to try the junk negative yet).

I'm not 100% sure WHY but I ran the leader many times and it works fine now at all frame rates.

 

Here is a list of what I carefully check each time, I share it with you guys in case someone else faces my issues as well:

  • Take a B-Wind film leader (film hanging down, the perfs are on the right side), emulsion in
  • Do not remove the pressure plate but only tilt it when inserting the film
  • Or instead, when removing it, make sure all the film is as flat as possible around the gate
  • Run shortly at 8fps then again shortly at 24fps then close the camera and run all the leader

Bernhard

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