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Olimatt

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Occasionally I have the same problem with my plastic Jobo film reels. I find that the sharp corners of the lead edge of the film sometimes catch as you feed it onto the reel. To help reduce the problem I will cut about 1 millimeter of the sharp corners off the film at a 45 degree angle on the feed end of the film. This helps but is not an absolute resolution.

 

Stainless reels work easier once you get the hang of them. I prefer the Hewes Pro Stainless Steel Reels with the sprocket tabs to hold the film as you start to wind it onto the reel. Here is the Hewes reel: Hewes Pro Stainless Steel Reel - 35mm Reel | Freestyle Photographic Supplies

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In addition to clipping the corners off the the leading edge of the film to be loaded, I roll the first few centimetres gently between my fingers to induce a slight curve that roughly matches the curve of the spiral of the reel. This (I believe) helps the leading edge avoid catching on the subsequent layer of film as it rotates around the spiral during loading. Remember, Leicas induce the opposite curve in the camera which can exacerbate loading in the spiral!

 

With this practice I have totally trouble free spiral loading in my JOBO reels.

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Agree with Erl here, Leicas wind the film in the "wrong" direction to improve film flatness in the image plane.

 

One can wind the film back completely into the cartridge, so that the leader sees bending in the "right" direction for some time. Obviously a contraption is needed then for this technique to pull the leader out of the cartridge again.

 

One can also cut the leader more generously. In the old Leica days, Leica recommended cutting a longer leader. Cutting the leader to this lenght will solve this issue as well - by chance or by purpose.

 

Thinking about it, I never understood the reason for the longer leader in Leicas.

 

Stefan

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Agree with Erl here, Leicas wind the film in the "wrong" direction to improve film flatness in the image plane.

Stefan, you may be right but the 'reverse' wind occurs after the film has been exposed.

 

One can wind the film back completely into the cartridge, so that the leader sees bending in the "right" direction for some time. Obviously a contraption is needed then for this technique to pull the leader out of the cartridge again.

I think just 'reverse' rolling between thumb and forefinger of the leader is easier that using an extraction tool, in my experience.

 

One can also cut the leader more generously. In the old Leica days, Leica recommended cutting a longer leader. Cutting the leader to this lenght will solve this issue as well - by chance or by purpose.

 

Thinking about it, I never understood the reason for the longer leader in Leicas.

 

Stefan

 

I'm no expert but I think it was so to suit the earlier Leicas that needed the take up spool to be removed for winding the film at loading. The idea was to encourage better/easier alignment of the film to ultimately engage with the advance cogs as you first advance the film at loading. Others will probably have a better explanation.

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I guess developing film is like cutting hair, I have not seen two barbers yet, who do it the same way. :)

 

The model I have for film curvature - which might be completely wrong - is, that the conventional way of winding puts more stress on the back side on the film, where the way of winding in an M stresses the film on the back side (from the curvature of the cartridge) as well as on the front side (from the curvature of the take-up spool). The pressure plate can only avoid film curvature on the back side and on the frame of the front side. I think there was a Contax RTS3, which fixed the film by vacuum on the pressure plate for every exposure.

 

As it is often with these speculations, the true reason might be more simple, in the mechanics of the wind-up mechanism, for example.

 

Stefan

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The long leader was for screw mount Leicas, 21 sprocket holes.

 

The purpose was to thread the camera fully with half width film. If the film was full width, it tended to catch on the shutter opening when it was slid up into the camera.

 

People tried to not cut the long leader, but used various home fixes like protecting the shutter protecting the shutter with a business card. All the home fixes have some disadvantages. Best to do it right, cut the leader.

 

Note the factory film length was not shortened to make the short leader.

Also remember the screw mount cameras had no back door which allowed the user to simply lay the film across the shutter.

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  • 5 weeks later...
Hello!

 

I often have problems rolling my films (135/120 - just got a Voigtlander Bessa IIIw ;) ) around my jobo spirals. Have you ever experienced the same? It seems sometimes to be blocked .... should i go for a fixed-size metal spiral?

 

Kind Regards,

 

Olivier

 

Just cut the film round in the beginning. See that there are no dents in the film. Practice with a blank film in daylight. You'll get the hang of it. The film sometimes sticks to the red thing on the reel, but with some movement it will get loose. I am using those spirals for almost 20 years now. One can live with it, as long as you practice.

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