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[OM] Does the XA easily tear film?

Subject: [OM] Does the XA easily tear film?
From: Chuck Norcutt <chucknorcutt@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 17:27:21 -0500
I've had an XA with A11 flash for a couple of years and never used it. 
I wanted a pocketable camera along on a trip so I decided to try it out. 
  I shared a test roll of film between it and my Sylus Epic that also 
hadn't been used in quite awhile.  I ended up taking both cameras but 
only used the Epic since I was concerned about the XA possibly tearing film.

When I loaded the test roll it went first into the XA since I knew I 
couldn't control the Epic's behaviour of completely rolling the film 
leader into the casette.  On the first try winding the film on the XA I 
encountered a fair amount of resistance after a couple rolls of the 
thumbwheel.  I thought the resistance was simply cocking the shutter but 
when the thumbwheel suddenly released and started spinning easily I 
realized that I had broken the film sprockets... something I have never 
done in 40 years on any camera.

I opened the camera and noticed for the first time ever that the XA only 
pulls the film on one side.  I then used a pair of scissors to trim up a 
new leader.  After reloading the camera I wound my test images very 
gingerly and had no further problem.

Both the XA and the Epic ended up producing nicely exposed images so I 
took both cameras with me on the trip.  However, I couldn't bring myself 
to use the XA for fear of tearing the film sprockets again.

Anybody had this experience?  Is this common or was I being heavy handed 
on the thumbwheel?

Thanks for any advice,
Chuck Norcutt


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