Topic: Ultra Wide and Slim question

[astrobeck]

I have a Vivitar Ultra Wide and Slim camera that I plan to take on a short train/road trip later this week and am wondering if I can use a 36 exposure roll in it.  

Seems I've only been using 24 exposure rolls because I had read somewhere that the take up spool in the UWS would not wind on all the frames.

Can someone enlighten me....I don't want to waste film....at least not like this.

Help!
and thanks in advance!

[Thom Stone]

I have used 36 exposure rolls before and haven't had any problems apart from once the film came off the spool halfway through a roll. I think the problem comes from people snapping the rewind lever because there is too much tension, as its only flimsy plastic
 

[Sandeha Lynch]

I always use 36 shot film but am very very careful with winding.  If it gets very stiff at #34, stop there.

[hookstrapped]

I've had no problem with 36-exp. rolls.

[Francois]

I've read before that the frame counter can actually be killed by a 36 exp. roll...
These things are so flimsy... I'm also in the "be vewy vewy caweful" crowd.
I've only used some 24 exp in mine... just to be on the safe side.

[charles binns]

I've never had a problem with 36 exposure films.  It is quite a flimsy camera though.

[Heather]

Might be something to do with your camera. If it was a well built one, 36 exposure rolls seem to be no problem. Might also be a difference between the sexes... I'm sure ladies know that if there's resistance, not to push it too far... hehe

[al]

There's a tiny bit of plastic in the winder mechanism which takes a lot of force during wind on, there's a high risk of it breaking when you reach the end of the film.  36 exposure film increases the lever effect on this so it's a greater risk of breaking.  Just make sure you always wind on smoothly and slowly, don't rush it, especially near the end of the roll, and take even more care with 36 exposure film.

If it does break, the film advance will no longer work.  Although it's not practical to repair the tiny bit of sheered off plastic, the camera can be made to work again by gluing the mechanism back together as one solid lump, the downside is that while film advance will work as before, rewinding the film isn't quite so easy.

I was going to point you in the direction of a blog post I once wrote explaining how to do this, but the whole blog seems to have been deleted     I'm trying to get it restored.

[astrobeck]

Al,
That would be very helpful!   
I think I'm going to continue to play it safe and only use 24 exposure rolls.

The UWS does seem fragile, and I'd hate to break it.

Thanks!

[lauraburlton]

This never occurred to me, but that is probably how I have broken a few cheap plastic lomo cameras......I almost always use 36 exposure rolls....

[gary m]

Have used 36 exp rolls with no problem so far. Just take it easy

[al]

I was going to point you in the direction of a blog post I once wrote explaining how to do this, but the whole blog seems to have been deleted     I'm trying to get it restored.

       The good people at blog.co.uk have seen fit to delete the entire blog without warning and for no good reason that I can see.  "It's been deleted for more than 4 days so can't be recovered. Thank you for your enquiry"    At least I know who to avoid in future!

All is not lost, the wonderful WayBackMachine at http://www.archive.org/ has logged the text at least, so I'll try to rebuild it soon.

[Jack Johnson]

Slightly off-topic, but another decent plastic Vivitar worth picking up is the Eco 35 (and I've heard the Eco 35 Flash). Rumor has it they were designed as a replacement for disposable cameras, so think "reusable disposable camera" and that's roughly the quality you'll get.

Just a slight vignette, nowhere near as wide or fun as the UWS, but I like to think of it as my $0.35 35mm Holga. I have a roll of FP4+ in it now and can't wait to see the results.

The film path seems to be barely tougher than the UWS, but rewinding film takes more force than I'm comfortable with and is a pain with the tiny rewind knob. The body, however, is notably tougher.


Snow globe by knapjack, on Flickr

But, as the man says, all you need is a dark box with a hole in it.

[jojonas~]

vivitar eco35? damn! that's one cute camera! :3