Not off to a good start

[Jimmy B]

I loaded up the voightlander with a roll and went out for some shooting with it. I was cheating with my canon MK2N as a meter. After several shots I advanced the film and heard a horible sound. I have never lost a roll of film, until now.Here is what I saw when I opened the camera when I got home. Discouraged yes , I do have another roll I can put in though!
Jimmy B

[Canuck935]

Ouch. Looks like it got snagged on something then tore. Hopefully it was a freak thing and your next roll won't suffer the same fate. In fact, I have never seen this before. Plenty of broken film yes, but never actually broken in the camera like that. The closest is the edges getting chewed up from overzealous winding, but not actually torn apart completely. Not even after working in a high volume photo lab for a couple of years.

[cameron665]

Interesting failure mode. I haven't seen a film tear in half before, only get chewed up. I was a bit worried about this when I got my Vito B as the sprocket that sets the shutter is incredibly hard to turn with your fingers. However, it all worked ok. Did the film counter count down as you wound the winder? Give it another go but maybe with an expendable film. They are great little cameras.

[Jimmy B]

yes it did move I had about 4 shots on it when tore. Counter was at 20. I will give it a go in a week or so.Thanks for the replies.
Jimmy B

[Xia_Ke]

Wow, so it broke mid roll??? Can't say as though I've ever seen that happen before. Hopefully was just some sort of fluke and the next roll will go better.

[brmill26]

That's very strange Jimmy. Hopefully it's just a freak thing...

[drg]

I would think about having the camera CLA 'd(cleaned, lubed, and adjusted) as there may be something binding.

One possible problem would be if the pressure plate was loose or bent slightly and caught the film as it was coming out of the cartridge. That or the rewind shaft is worn/bent and wants to bind.

I had a manual camera years ago that after 15+years had a problem with the take up shaft lower bushing and it would jam. It wound up tearing a roll or two as the film twisted across the shutter counter advance/guide sprockets and then jammed and tore. It was very good camera worth repairing at the time. I had to run film through it with the back open to see what was going on and 'fake' the pressure plate with a piece of glass to figure that one out.

Good luck and let us know if this happens again. Meanwhile take a changing bag with you just in case you need to 'rescue' a roll.

[Jimmy B]

Thanks for the in site DRG.

[opus]

happened to me once back in 1983. I still get freaked out EVERY SINGLE TIME I open the back of a film camera.

Had it been me, I would have taken the camera into the lab and opened it in a blackroom, just in case. But that's the voice of experience talking.