Barnack film leader question

[UliWer]

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Perhaps it‘s helpful to have look what other producers recommended:

The manual of my Contax IIa says explicitly that you don‘t have to prepare the film. Even meterware with a rectangular end could be loaded without any cutting of the film.

What‘s the difference between a Contax and a Barnack Leica? You could take off the rear of the Contax and had full control how the film loaded. The manual makes a point of watching the film capturing both sprockets equally.

The Barnack Leica had a closed back. Not even looking from the front with an open shutter gave a chance to watch whether the film caught both sprockets properly. So they had to propose a means for the „blind“ loading, which was cutting the film‘s end as recommended even on the camera‘s baseplate. So the film has some stability with one sprocket before the second catches it as described in #7.  Though much more important than cutting the film is leaving it’s sprocket holes intact and not causing sharp edges just in front of a sprocket hole. 

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[farnz]

I solved the problem of needing to trim the film leader in a different way: by acquiring a Nicca Series 5, which is an exact copy of the IIIf but with an opening door at the rear.  I still have a IIIg so I still occasionally 'enjoy' leader trimming and loading films.

According to Lars Netopil, Leica made a prototype Barnack camera with an opening rear door (before the Nicca Series 5 was produced) but chose not to put it into production. 

Pete.