Storage device for photographic material

Storage device for buffering photographic material by receiving and giving off a photographic material band, comprising:

• a storage inlet and a storage outlet for respectively receiving and giving off the photographic material band;
• a weight member for pushing on the photographic material band between the inlet and the outlet for tensioning thereof, a height of the weight member changing upon change of a stored band length by interaction of a band tension and an inherent weight of the weight member;
• a direction dependent coupling having a driven member and a drive member, the driven member and the drive member being in at least one of a locked condition, in which the movement of the drive member is coupled with the movement of the driven member, and an unlocked condition, in which the drive member and the driven member are moveable independently of one another, wherein the locked and unlocked condition depends on a direction of relative rotation movement between the drive member and the driven member;
• and
• a drive device which rotates the drive member, wherein a height change of the weight member is coupled with a rotation of the driven member, wherein the drive member is rotated by the drive device in a direction for unlocking the driven member and the drive member, and wherein a detector is operable to detect a locked condition and a controller is operable to control transport of the band based on the result of the detection.