Tip: If Gakkenflex counter isn’t winding

First of all, yes I am still alive!  I just haven’t been able to find time to update my blog much these days.  Anyway, I thought I’d get back into things with this quick, but very useful tip.  As I alluded to in my Gakkenflex review, I had some issues with the film counter not really moving when I turned the winder knob.  If you have this issue, then this post is for you.  Apologies in advance for the grainy photos, my brother took my actual camera for his holiday in America.

Before you try to fix it, however, I think it’s important to understand what should be going on.  I can’t provide you with photos since I have film in my Gakkenflex right now, but you should go ahead and open up the back of your Gakken/Recesky and have a look inside.  Roughly in line with where the counter is, you should see something that resembles a gear/cog.  Now, when you wind the knob, the sprockets on the film inside should catch on the teeth, which causes the counter to turn.  If it’s not turning, that means that the sprockets aren’t catching on the teeth on the gear, for some reason.

I came up with two steps  to solve the issue of it not turning, and now it works fine.  The first step, as you can see in the picture above, is to loosen the screw which I circled in red.  Obviously, if it’s too tight, then there’s too much resistance and the sprockets would more likely jump over the gear inside, rather than making it move.  You only really need it tight enough to keep the counter attached to the body, but you obviously don’t want it falling out.

The second step has more to do with the way you hold the camera when you wind the knob.  You should aim to hold it roughly as indicated in this picture.  What I’m doing here is applying pressure onto the back of the camera, which kind of pushes the film onto the gear inside.  If you want to be more accurate, then open up the camera and have a look where the gear is sitting.  Maybe you could even make a mark on the back, so you know where you should be holding it with your thumb when you wind.  You don’t have to be pushing exactly onto the gear, but just some pressure on the back should work just as well.

And that’s it!  When I figured out these two steps, I haven’t had any issues since!