Hi my name is Enrique,

I have a Canon Elan IIE camera with a 28-80 mm lens.

I had a vacation trip and I used four rolls of film: one black and white, one for color prints and two slide films.

When I came back I send two of the four films to be developed, the b&w film and one of the two slide films at the same lab. When I went to pick up the developed films, they (the lab's staff) told me the slide film was NOT EXPOSED.

My question is as follows: How feasible is that a Canon Elan IIE which has not presented any inconvenience since I have it, had a problem trying to advance the film? (This is the lab's version of what happened). It is important to keep in mind the camera didn't present any warning through its LCD (it is supposed to warn you when the film is not properly loaded). It is also important to remind that when the last frame was exposed the film was automatically rewound (and shown in the LCD). Another fact: the film exposed AFTER the apparently not exposed film didn't show any problem when developed, so the film was loaded and advanced properly (as the camera indicated).

Thanks in advance,

Enrique Saravia.

-- Enrique Saravia (1357@mail.usa.com), January 03, 1999

Answers

Response to Canon Elan II E film advance

I've never had a film advance problem with my Elan II. In fact I can't see how this could happen if the frame counter was advancing normally. The Elan II uses an IR sensor to sense the number of sprocket holes which pass the sensor when the film is being wound. If the film wasn't advancing, the camera would know and indicate an error condition. You'd also see somthing odd happening on rewind. It would be very short and the frame counter wouldn't count down as usual.

I suppose the shutter could fail to open every time, but then it's pretty hard to explain why it would do it on every frame of one film and no frames on the next!

One remote possibility is the camera misread the ISO code on the film. This could happen if the DX code on the cassette was dirty I guess. If it read ISO 3200 and it was really ISO 50, you wouldn't get much on film. But then your indicated shutter speeds and apertures should have given you an indication something was wrong for slow film. Did you check the ISO (it flashes up briefly as the film loads if I rememeber right)?

Either you have an unusual problem with the camera, or the lab screwed up somehow and are trying to blame your camera for their error. Did they give you the "unexposed film" back? Did it have frame numbers and emulsion ID on the edge. If properly developed it should have.

-- Bob Atkins (bobatkins@hotmail.com), January 03, 1999.