I have still been getting intermittent scratches on film run through my PZ-1p. Usually it has been whole rolls either scratched/not scratched, although occasionally it had been just frames near the beginning or end of the roll. I had been hoping against hope that it wasn't the camera.
Yesterday I got enough guts to do something about it. I decided to run some outdated film through it and see if I could match the scratch to something in the camera body Roll 1: Find the old Ritz-brand film, take 24 exposures and of course the Pentax functions are set to Auto-rewind, do not leave leader out. Roll 2: (after resetting function to leave leader out) This was old Kodak Gold 200 stuff by the way, I take the film out and see a continuous scratch about a quarter of the way up from the bottom. Remembering what written about 7 months ago by George Baumgardner and John Francis, I am able to see that the scratch corresponds to the bottom corner edge of the springy film presser plate, inside the door. So I ever so gently and slightly bent the film presser so that the metal edge might not be quite as close to the film. Roll 3: More Kodak Gold 200 (it's good for something, he he he). Remove the film and no more scratches!!! It's also interesting to note that the film rewind was much quieter and smoother this time, as if previously there was some binding going on. Hopefully this solves the problem and it does not recur. I'm wondering whether the scratches occur as the film is being advanced, rewound, or both. The continuous scratch makes me think its at rewind time. I'm wondering if it makes any sense to hold the camera lens down when rewinding, in the case that gravity may pull the film downward away from the presser plate slightly. Hopefully the problem is fixed and that won't be needed. Also hopefully the film is still being held flat. Thought I'd share. Tom - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
