Meaningful use of a AFLOO?

[nitroplait]

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I got a AFLOO film loader as part of a larger purchase, but don’t really know how or if I can make meaningful use of it.

Anyone using it who cares to share how they use it? I am particularly interested in how you may use it with IXMOO and FILCA.

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[willeica]

40 minutes ago, nitroplait said:

I got a AFLOO film loader as part of a larger purchase, but don’t really know how or if I can make meaningful use of it.

Anyone using it who cares to share how they use it? I am particularly interested in how you may use it with IXMOO and FILCA.

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Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

 

From Jim Lager's Accessories Book. Hope this helps.

William 

[Pyrogallol]

It looks really nice, but the downside is that you are working in the dark. A bulk film loader is much more practical and you can see what you are doing, once you have put the bulk film spool in the loader.

Still probably a way of loading Leica 250 spools or loading orthochromatic film under a red light.

Before I bought a bulk film loader in 1973 I would hang a string from the ceiling with a bulldog clip at the top, put the end of the film in the clip and unroll the film until it came down to the end of the string, 30 exposures long, cut off and load the cassette.

[willeica]

2 hours ago, Pyrogallol said:

It looks really nice, but the downside is that you are working in the dark. A bulk film loader is much more practical and you can see what you are doing, once you have put the bulk film spool in the loader.

Still probably a way of loading Leica 250 spools or loading orthochromatic film under a red light.

Before I bought a bulk film loader in 1973 I would hang a string from the ceiling with a bulldog clip at the top, put the end of the film in the clip and unroll the film until it came down to the end of the string, 30 exposures long, cut off and load the cassette.

Your comments remind me of this which I came across recently. A friend of mine demonstrated a way of dealing with the 'red lighting' of a darkroom, while handling unusual large film rolls, on a PCCGB Zoom last Sunday. In this case, he was dealing with the enormous film rolls from a Cirkut camera.

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His blog about the 'red lighting method' is here :

https://www.refracted.net/reflected

In case the Cirkut camera means nothing, here is a description of it. The rolls of film can be 98 feet long, with negatives reaching 70 inches by 16 inches.

https://petapixel.com/2022/08/26/100-year-old-360-degree-film-camera-that-uses-98-feet-long-film/

This would make loading and developing 35mm film rolls in 250 cassettes seem like a walk in the park.

Not strictly relevant, but your comments led me back to this, which i saw a few days ago.

William 

 

 

 

[willeica]

More material here:

http://www.earlyphotography.co.uk/site/entry_M78-A.html

William 

[williamj]

7 hours ago, Pyrogallol said:

It looks really nice, but the downside is that you are working in the dark. A bulk film loader is much more practical and you can see what you are doing, once you have put the bulk film spool in the loader.

Still probably a way of loading Leica 250 spools or loading orthochromatic film under a red light.

Before I bought a bulk film loader in 1973 I would hang a string from the ceiling with a bulldog clip at the top, put the end of the film in the clip and unroll the film until it came down to the end of the string, 30 exposures long, cut off and load the cassette.

Thirty is a good number of frames. Over time I've also come to that number partly because of contact printing on 8" x 10" paper with the strips held in transparent archive pages. It's also easier to store because the pages fit into standard A4 binders. It's the beauty of bulk loading to be able to customise the number of  frames to suit your shooting schedule.

[nitroplait]

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14 hours ago, Pyrogallol said:

It looks really nice, but the downside is that you are working in the dark. A bulk film loader is much more practical and you can see what you are doing, once you have put the bulk film spool in the loader.

That was what I suspected.

Loading a FILCA/IXMOO in the dark is not for the faint at heart if the way I picture it is correct.

I can't really imaging how to cut the film end to fix it to the spool and afterwards load the spool into the FILCA, all in the dark. How do you even fish out the film film lip?
On the FILCA you cannot leave the lip out when assembling the cassette like you can with conventional cassettes - or am I missing something?

 

[Pyrogallol]

7 hours ago, williamj said:

Thirty is a good number of frames. Over time I've also come to that number partly because of contact printing on 8" x 10" paper with the strips held in transparent archive pages. It's also easier to store because the pages fit into standard A4 binders. It's the beauty of bulk loading to be able to customise the number of  frames to suit your shooting schedule.

I went to 30 some time in the early 70’s because that length went in a Peterson spiral easier than a full 36.

[Pyrogallol]

49 minutes ago, nitroplait said:

That was what I suspected.

Loading a FILCA/IXMOO in the dark is not for the faint at heart if the way I picture it is correct.

I can't really imaging how to cut the film end to fix it to the spool and afterwards load the spool into the FILCA, all in the dark. How do you even fish out the film film lip?
On the FILCA you cannot leave the lip out when assembling the cassette like you can with conventional cassettes - or am I missing something?

 

Yes, with a bulk loader you can see the end of the film in the light to trim it and feed it through the mouth of the FILCA to the gripper and you can see the little arrow on the spool to see which side to push the film in the gripper. Contax/Nikon cassettes are easier as the two shell parts come apart for loading.

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Edited February 5, 2023 by Pyrogallol

[williamj]

2 hours ago, nitroplait said:

That was what I suspected.

Loading a FILCA/IXMOO in the dark is not for the faint at heart if the way I picture it is correct.

I can't really imaging how to cut the film end to fix it to the spool and afterwards load the spool into the FILCA, all in the dark. How do you even fish out the film film lip?
On the FILCA you cannot leave the lip out when assembling the cassette like you can with conventional cassettes - or am I missing something?

 

You have to open the slit of the FILCA in the dark to extract the film. Once you've wound the required amount of film onto the spool and then assembled the FILCA, you can open the FILCA by rotating the inner chamber compared to the outer chamber using the knob of the spool chamber. You have to pull on the safety spring to release the mechanism and then it will rotate. Once the FILCA is open you rotate the central spool using the milled knob using one hand. A finger of the other hand lies across the slit and you can feel the film slide underneath. When the cut edge of the film goes across the FILCA slit it will pop up slightly and you can then pull it out. Pull out as much as you need, hold it firmly and close the FILCA by reversing the method of opening ensuring that the safety spring has clicked into place. For extra points you can do this in a dark bag. You can then trim the leader once you've turned on the lights.

That's a lot of words for something that can seem simple once you've done it a few times :).