Milford chronicle., 1961-09-15
The Cumeru Picture
From All Angles
BY IRVING DESFOR
Alp NewsfeatureS
FANS, ATTENTION!

n EnA ANsNs ~ ssAS sV.'s
The most hectic-and most re-
notwithstanding season OF the
year is here but with very little
effort you can easily turn success
into dismal failure.
Just pay no attention at all to
whether your camera works, es-
peciallv with brand new camera,
on a vacation trip. Assume you can
push, pull or pry until something
clicks, and that each click auto
matically assures a picture. And
when you get rolls of blank film
back. fly into a rage and accuse
the manufacturers of making fSul-
~ film and YOUR camera store
dealer of deliberally selling you
some.
This is all fantasy you say? l
wish il were. but it's some
thing | personally witnessed at my
local camera store a couple OF days
Ago. AS Icame in, a customer was
screaming that his trip to Europe
was ruined by the film he had
bought. He dramatically unrolled
several rolls of blank film to prove
his point. Some OF the film was
almost good, he added, because on
one roll he did find half dozen
fuzzy pictures.
why did you sell me bad film?"
he insisted.
The dealer tried to get some
facts in between the believing. 1t
was brand new 35mm camera
the camera fan revealed. so that
couldn't possibly be the fault. How
did you load it," the dealer want
ed to know.
81 attached the leader to the
take-up spool. closed the back.
then clicked off three times the
fan replied.
Did you turn the take-up spool
before the back was closed-so that
you're positive the film was proper
ly attached and proceeding in the
sprocket holes?"
well no" admitted the fan.
Then it's possible the film never
went beyond the leader and was
therefore never exposed at all" the
dealer pointed out.
well that might explain one
roll of film" the still belligerant
amateur conceded, but how about
this roll with the first six pictures
on it and the rest blank
At this point | appointed myself
impartial arbiter and cut in. He
couldn't very well be mad at a
stranger, so he Gained down
while | reviewed all the possible
reasons for four rolls of color
film to be blank.
1T could be the film, the pro-
cessing, the photographer or final
ly the camera" / said. Frankly
it's uncomfortable for a batch Of
bad film to pass all the tests and
safeguards TO reach a dealers
shelf. But if it did. other camera
fans would be streaming In, com
planning.
THAT would be even more no
ticeable with processing YOU
films wouldn't be singled out along
Everything processed would bs
blank
Thirdly, you might be at fault
Did you by any chance leave the
lens cap over the Iens2 No? And
while YOU admit the possibility
that you may not have properly
started the film on one roll, you
feel you operated the camera cor
rectly on the others. This is the
camera" l asked.
The camera was an automatic
camera of a foreign make. y
bought it on my trip at one o
the free ports" the fan explained
For the first time in the argu
ment | picked up the camera open
ed the back. turned to the ligh
and pressed the release button
There was a click" but that was
all. The shutter didn't open. l triet
it again Again a click but M
light came through because thu
shutter remained closed, The cam
era mechanism was faulty.
Now, the mystery OF the hal
dozen fuzzy pictures, then tn
blanks can be explained" the deal
er added. THE shutter was stick
ing before it conked out entirely.
However, all the explanation
couldn't bring back the lost va
cation pictures. The moral: con
tinuous testing OF any camera be
fore important picture-making ses
sions can avoid a calamity. Away!
give your camera a dry run a
different speeds. without film. an
feel safer of the results.