I'm a complete idiot

[mdozier]

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I can't believe it. I put tri-x in one of my MP's Christmas eve and only made a few exposures with this camera christmas. I put the (fairly new to me) 35 'cron asph on it to take to the party last night - really looking forward to using it. All friends, all dressed up for the evening at one of their homes built around the turn (of the last) century... great place and atmosphere. Got some great shots, or so I thought, until this morning I realized I hadn't exhausted the roll.

 

Uh-oh... sure enough I misloaded and the roll never advanced! DAM**IT!

This is the second time I've done this with this MP!

 

I've never done this with my M6 that I've had a few years now. Am I just completely inept? Is there some special something to the MP I'm missing? It looks to be EXACTLY like my '6 (regarding film load and advance spools) so I can't imagine there should be anything different!

 

Oh well. I suppose my amateur is showing... so embarrassing!

[antistatic]

Been there, done that, don't yet have the t-shirt.

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[peter_n]

Me too. I've learned to watch if the rewind crank shaft is turning as I advance. If those two little red dots are rotating then I know I'm OK.

[davidmires]

I have done this too, and I'm pretty sure it cost me one of the best photos I've (n)ever taken I got a sickening feeling when I felt it rewind only the bit of leader when I was "done" with the roll...

I've since developed the habit of watching the rewind knob as I wind on the first few frames, just to make sure it is paying out film. I even find myself watching that knob occasionally as I shoot through the roll, it becomes second nature after a while.

 

Cheers, David

[davidmires]

Whoops, Peter beat me to it!

Cheers

[JBA]

I once misloaded the same roll twice and had to have the guy at the lab fish the leader out of the cassette twice. The embarrassment on top of never being able to see any of the really great photos I was sure I'd gotten was insult added to injury.

[abrewer]

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This seems to happen mostly to newbies to the camera...I did it a couple of times myself when first shooting the MP

 

Watch the rewind knob to see it turn is my only suggestion in this regard

[doubice]

This seems to happen mostly to newbies to the camera......

Not really, happens to old time Leica users too....... I had to spend an extra day in the Loire Valley to re-shoot what I thought to have captured the day before. Unfortunately, some images of moonrise over Chambord could not be repeated .

 

This however, was the one and only time I made this mistake and also the first and last time I did not check if the rewind crank was turning.

 

Best,

 

Jan

[antistatic]

I pretty much follow these steps YouTube - "How to load a Leica M6 or MP" by Tom A including folding the leader and doing one wind and fire before reattaching the baseplate. The other trick is to make sure the film cassette is pushed all the way in otherwise the film will jam.

[andym911]

Yep done that once or twice...now just watch the rewind crank to se that it moves...

 

What got me really close to tears once or twice was finishing the roll, and then calmly and with confidence may I add, removing the base plate BEFORE REWINDING THE F****in FILM:D

 

Now that is real joy!

 

cheers

andy

[UliWer]

To be fair, one has to admit that a M6 or MP has the big advantage of the lightmeter warning you if the lens cap is still on. With an M3 I managed to make many excellent pics of the lens cap's rearside.

[Guest Bernd Banken]

When I put my first roll of Fuji Neopan b/w into my camera I realized that the base material was much softer and flexible compare to Ilford films. Could this be the reason of the reader not been taken by the three "fingers"?

[christoph_d]

Happened to me a year ago... :o ... those pics of the People and Parks of Paris...

It was particularly embarassing that I promised to send some of the pictures...

 

As said many times above, take care when loading the film - to bend the last cm or so

of the leader, so it is caught in the trident, seems a good idea - and ensure that the

rewindknob is moving when advancing the film.

Bernd, IMHO the carrier material of the film has not too much influence. Key issues seem

to be that the film is entangled in the trident and that the perforation is caught

in the sprocket-wheels (or however you call those things in proper english), the latter a

matter of pushing the film far enough upwards into the camera.

 

A few days ago I had troubles of another sort. In the sub-zero temperatures it was very

fiddly to remove the film (and reload) with semi-frozen fingers.

 

Greetings, C.

[alun]

Oddly enough, no, I have never (yet!!) done this. I do "what it says on the tin" as per the manual to load and never find this a problem. If you do misload and the tulip doesn't hold the film and draw it on, then this is always evident because the rewind doesn't move. I find that ensuring a generous amount of leader in the tulip works best.

 

However, I *have* opene up the camera without rewinding the film on finishing a roll!!

[Finnkare]

I haven't used an MP and haven't done anything similar with the M5. I have, though, taken some shots of my front cap's inner side and also opened the back without first rewinding the film. Not with M5, though, I think.

 

But the biggest raise in my blood pressure when it comes to photography was caused by a stupidity in the darkroom. I had taken "the" pictures in my friend's wedding on Delta 3200@3200. The developing time of 2/3 of the films finished, and the next move I made was - opening the lid completely! It was a Jobo tank, so I should have needed just to take the topmost rubber cap off but instead made the manouver I normally have to do after the fixing. I don't know why I did it, it was the first time after a folderful of films. The reels exposed to fluorecent light for about a couple of seconds before my brain started working properly again. I quickly closed the lid and finished the process with my heart pounding like hell.

 

For my surprise I couldn't see any visible changes in the negs! But for those painful 15 minutes or so I was more mad to myself I have seldom been. Knowing that I also had to have the Kodak 800 pushed 1,5 stops, even with all pictures exposed with 1/15th... But all ended up well, although the portraits were a couple of stops underexposed - well enough for Delta to give nothing in the shadows, where the eyes had to be placed, of course.

[Finnkare]

But doesn't the rewind reel start rotating only after a couple of frames, when it's winded all the way?

[azzo]

Yep done that once or twice...now just watch the rewind crank to se that it moves...

 

What got me really close to tears once or twice was finishing the roll, and then calmly and with confidence may I add, removing the base plate BEFORE REWINDING THE F****in FILM:D

 

Now that is real joy!

 

cheers

andy

 

.................................................................... .........................................................

 

 

Don't even know why I'm laughing....

 

...done it too

[peter_n]

But doesn't the rewind reel start rotating only after a couple of frames, when it's winded all the way?

If you wind the film (reasonably) tight in the cassette before you drop the cassette into the camera it starts to rotate immediately.

[Finnkare]

If you wind the film (reasonably) tight in the cassette before you drop the cassette into the camera it starts to rotate immediately.

 

Yeah, I think I have the same impression.

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[andybarton]

But doesn't the rewind reel start rotating only after a couple of frames, when it's winded all the way?

 

 

Load, shoot one frame and wind on, then take up tension in the spool with the rewind crank. The crank will then turn immediately the next frame is wound on.

 

My Dad taught me that.