"New" Leica IIIf

[wlaidlaw]

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I have used the card method for loading film into LTM Leicas for 50ish years with never a problem. However, I recently acquired a model 1C where the film slot is too narrow to slide a card in. I went to a photo fair in Brighton, where I found a late model curved end ABLON in its original leather case and I also now have the correct ABCOO slitting knife, also in a leather case, to make sure you don’t get any nicks in the film as you are cutting it. I will pre-cut my film before leaving the house, as it is too easy to put down an ABLON where you are slitting the leader and then leave it behind, after you have loaded the film in the camera. That is what happened to my father’s ABLON, which got left on a bench up a mountain in Switzerland.

 

Wilson

[Guest]

... I found a late model curved end ABLON in its original leather case and I also now have the correct ABCOO slitting knife, also in a leather case, to make sure you don’t get any nicks in the film as you are cutting it. I will pre-cut my film before leaving the house, as it is too easy to put down an ABLON where you are slitting the leader and then leave it behind, after you have loaded the film in the camera...

 

This only works if you never finds on the way that you have taken too little or the wrong films in your pocket.

Isn't it about time perhaps to start a Boy Scout troop, who proudly wear their ABLON in the original leather case on the right side on their belts?

Maybe a uniform neckerchief with Leica logo has also been designed already?

[wlaidlaw]

In most of Europe it is now impossible to buy B&W film (all I use in film cameras) locally. I get all mine mail order other than a pack of Ilford FP4, that I bought at the camera fair. I just trim all mine with the ABLON, as trimmed films fit in my other 35mm film cameras but non-trimmed ones don’t fit in my 1C or only in my IIF with a bit of fiddling with a card.

 

Wilson

[furcafe]

Instead of a wad of paper, I use a small square of green felt-backed tape (not sure what the technical name is, but you can find it in hardware stores, I think it's for putting on the bottom of furniture legs, etc., to prevent scratches). Works well enough & hasn't come off.

 

Thanks, Bill, but my problem is rather the other way around, I believe: i.e. the frame encounters the sprocket holes because the film is pushed in too deep, and is slanted because it is deeper on the take-up spool side.

 

But your wad-solution might still work, at least to level out the frame. It's not the most elegant, and one would have to think how to keep the wad (or pieces thereof) from entering further into the camera, but I concede it is practical.

 

Normally a millimeter of sprocket holes showing would par for the course with a camera like a Leica I, even a nice 'negative signature' with respectable precedent. What bothers me rather more is the slight frame misalignment that interferes with the stereo viewing of images taken with a Stereoly.

[wlaidlaw]

There is an ABLON copy on eBay UK at the moment at a reasonable cost. This is the metal Photax one which I think is by some margin, the best other than an original, to which it is pretty much identical. Leitz type leader film cutter for Leica screw cameras made by Photax | eBay

 

Wilson

[erl]

Last year in Venice (post the Wetzlar One Challenge) I got caught with the 111f and no trimmed film! In desperation I scored the film with a fingernail and tore an appropriate strip lengthwise off to extend the leader. It worked! The film loaded and I kept shooting which ultimately produced a book.

 

I now keep a stock of pre-trimmed film handy.

[Bateleur]

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Some years ago I walked into a photographic shop and bought some film - I was walking about the city taking photographs and had run out of film - anyway once I'd payed I asked if I could borrow a pair of scissors and proceeded to trim the leaders. I heard a worried voice from a customer next to me asking the shop keeper "Why is he ruining his new film?"

[erl]

These days I always carry a Swiss Army Knife in my camera bag to perform the deed as required.

[bill]

These days I always carry a Swiss Army Knife in my camera bag to perform the deed as required.

 

Yup. A mini-champ on my keyring does the job, and passes through airport security.

[payasam]

Cutting a long leader prevents the upper edge of the film from jamming against the guide rail at the top (over which it should go). It has nothing to do with the sprockets. In the "card technique" the card is inserted between the film and the shutter -- to enable the film to go smoothly over the upper rail. The card is not intended to move the pressure plate. Bill Palmer is right about the shorter "new" cassettes (the difference is 2.2mm, I think) causing the film to ride low in screw Leicas up to the IIIc. In my experience the best solution is a weak spring between bottom plate and film cassette. I used a conical spring for some years, but in my last IIIc Oleg Khalyavin of Russia installed an elegant leaf spring. [edit] First sentence should be "Cutting a long leader removes the upper edge of the film that might jam against..."

[giordano]

Yup. A mini-champ on my keyring does the job, and passes through airport security.

 

You've been lucky. I've had a SwissCard Lite and a Utili-Key confiscated, in Australia and Hong Kong respectively, each time by officers who were looking out for them.

[Guest]

...

 

Many thanks for your note.

The much appreciated SwissCard Lite is immediately removed from my hand luggage.

[bill]

Really? The only time recently my mini-champ was confiscated was at Reading Crown Court ( I was a witness, I should point out...) I've flown with it to and from Greece, the Czech Republic, Hungary, France, Russia, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Denmark all without the slightest eyebrow-raised.

[Guest]

Really? The only time recently my mini-champ was confiscated was at Reading Crown Court ( I was a witness, I should point out...) I've flown with it to and from Greece, the Czech Republic, Hungary, France, Russia, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Denmark all without the slightest eyebrow-raised.

 

 

Lucky fellow!

My experiences with Heathrow and Los Angeles are more depressing.

 

Flight controls are becoming more and more gambling, because security stuff interpret any rules at their own option.

Of course everyone wants a safe air traffic, but the understanding of harassing body searches drops to zero, when you know that in the cargo compartment of the same aircraft freight is transported without any control.

 

Maybe in future "Finnish sauna flights" should be offered, where all passengers are allowed only naked to enter the heated aircraft, then the air conditioning could be saving immediately, towels and crushed ice will be presented by the stewardesses.

[friedeye]

Small, round tipped children's scissors will do the job and generally make it through.

[erl]

I have been known to successfully tear a workable leader with my fingernails.