[Leica] Re: Reloadable cassettes

[Ken Wilcox <wilcox@tir.com>]

Michael:

Unlike some LUGgers, I rarely take offence. You must be MUCH more careful
than I. Using standard cassettes I have had occasional scratches, light
leaks and caught leaders. I've also had reloadables pop open when dropped.
(always _after_ exposure, never before :-(

I don't need to buy any more now. I have a couple hundred, most purchased
for a dollar or two.

Ken Wilcox


At 5:43 -0600 1/16/0, a fine scholar, Michael Darnton wrote:

>	This discussion of reloadable cassettes reminds me of the story
>about the man
>in New York City who was seen carrying an elephant gun:
>
>Observer: Why do you have that gun?
>Man: To keep away elephants!
>Observer: That's ridiculous. That doesn't work!
>Man: Of course it does: do you see any elephants around????
>
>	Point being, yesterday I realize I probably have literally
>thousands of rolls
>of negatives in my house. For twenty years I used nothing but cheap reloadable
>cassettes, and I never had a single scratch from doing so. Worse yet, when
>I was
>working on a newspaper, I think I ran about 100 feet of film every two weeks
>through the same ten or so cassettes, for three years running. Never a
>scratch.
>Now, of course Leica cassettes CANNOT scratch film or leak light, but in point
>of fact, under normal circumstances normal cassettes DO NOT scratch film
>or leak
>light, so where's the Leica advantage here, beyond the security of  the merely
>theoretical? ("merely theoretical": Fighting words in this group, what? :-)
>
>	For those who are naturally nervous, I recommend that you keep your
>film in
>clean cans or in the camera--not lying around, or unprotected in pockets. If
>there's no dirt, they can't get dirty, right? Also, I have to say that I did
>"cheat", and every once in a while cleaned the light-traps on those
>cassettes by
>running a couple of pieces of masking tape through them. And I *never* cut a
>leader through a sprocket hole, leaving a sharp tooth to grab and break off in
>the trap. Save those fives and tens and buy yourselves a nice lens or
>something.
>
>	(My apologies to Ken below: I'm not picking on him--it's just that
>he fed me
>the right line to respond to.)
>
>	--Michael
>
>
>>>Date: Sun, 16 Jan 2000 11:07:51 -0500
>From: Ken Wilcox <wilcox@tir.com>
>Subject: [Leica] Re:  Reloadable cassetts (was: M6 baseplate)
>
>I never pay more than $5 for them. They are far superior to normal
>cassettes because they CANNOT scratch film or leak light,
>
>Ken Wilcox


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Ken Wilcox                                Carolyn's Personal Touch Portraits
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