How literal is the film loading graphic?

[malligator]

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The film loading graphic on my M-A (and all others, that I've seen) shows a gap in the take up tulip being conveniently pointed toward the rear door from where the leader would be coming. The tulip on my camera, on the other hand, generally has one of the petals pointing in that direction.Does it matter? Am I being too literal and OCD? If it doesn't matter do I just take the leader past that leaf and push it into the first available gap?

I usually spin the tulip by hand to match the graphic which, rightly or wrongly, makes me think I may damage the mechanism--not too mention it makes loading more fiddly.

[Sailronin]

Just put the film end into the tulip. No need to be fiddly, it's called a "quick loader" for a reason. Just make sure the red dots on the rewind knob rotate when you advance the film and you're all set.

Edited December 8, 2021 by Sailronin

[malligator]

Okay. Thanks. I'll not worry about it. I was just wondering if maybe there was some mechanism that was supposed to align the tulip when you took off the bottom--much like the film counter resets.

[250swb]

Just an illustration not a rule. The only way to get it wrong is to think about it too much.

[28framelines]

12 hours ago, 250swb said:

Just an illustration not a rule. The only way to get it wrong is to think about it too much.

As a chronic over-thinker and someone who believes in thinking everything through, this is one of the few times I can wholeheartedly agree when someone says "dont over think it"... I overthought it twice when I first got my MP, and both times I opened up the bottom to discover I exposed the roll to light, instead of discovering what I thought had happened: no film take up. The design of the quick load mechanism is truly way better than any SLR (even though I miss my FM3a sometimes...)

[rtai]

I used to make sure the sprockets catch the film and after mounting the bottom plate wind on to see the dots on the rewind spin before wiping the sweat off my brow. Then a professional photographer friend showed me how easy it is to load the M by doing it exactly the way it’s illustrated with everything in the same position just drop in the film and close the bottom plate.