[Leica] reloading Leica cassettes

[michiel.fokkema at wanadoo.nl (Michiel Fokkema)]

Hi,

I use three 'Computrol' loading devices. They handle the Leitz cassettes 
quit well. They also have a system to make sure you don't do it wrong.
They have the system to unlock the film while loading as the Leitz 
cassettes have when opened in the camera. This ensures scratch free loading.
They work very well and only cost a few Euro's second hand.

Cheers,
Michiel Fokkema

TTAbrahams@aol.com wrote:
>  
> In a message dated 1/27/2007 1:47:04 PM Pacific Standard Time,  
> h_arche@yahoo.com writes:
> 
> OK, now  that I own enough of them to spare, I'm going
> to say that the Alden 74 film  reloader beats Watson
> 100's hands down in being able to properly deal  with
> Leitz cassettes. 
> 
> The issue is how well each manages the  cassette's
> opening-closing mechanism. The Watson simply doesn't
> grip the  cassette positively enough to reliably close
> the cassette after you've  cranked on the film. The
> Alden does it with no fuss, and you don't have  to
> adjust an internal spacer.
> 
> Also, every Alden I've seen so far is  bakelite, and
> seems to have hardly been used.
> Hi!   
>   I have found that the Alden works better too, but I mostly use  
> "digital" 
> IXMOO cassette loading procedures. This means that I lock myself in a  
> dark 
> room and pull out the film to the full extent of my stretched arms and 
> cut.  This 
> gives me 37-38 frames. The Alden/Watson are not 100% secure when it comes  
> to 
> closing the cassette which is bothersome and can give you light streaks. 
> They 
>  also only take 100ft rolls and I tend to use Double XX for IXMOO's and 
> that  
> comes in 400ft rolls or longer. I usually lock myself in the darkroom for 
> a  
> couple of hours and load 75 cassettes (roughly 400 ft) and though it is a 
> rather  miserable two hours it will then give me a month to 6 weeks of 
> shooting.
>  You also have to watch for IXMOO's that are stiff. With the loaders  the 
> can 
> snap the bakelite "pins" and shaft. Before using the IXMOO's I always go  
> through them and check that they all open and close smoothly. If they are 
> stiff  
> it is usually because of corrosion or the two parts being squeezed "out of 
>  
> round". Corrosion you can clean up with some light polishing with steel 
> wool and 
>  then apply a very thin layer of Vaseline. Work the cassette back and 
> forth 
> until  it is smooth and wipe off any excess Vaseline.
>  At the moment my IXMOO's are filled with Agfa APX 400 S, a film made  for 
> surveillance work. The emulsion is on a thin polyester base which means 
> that  
> you have to cut the film from the spool as it will not tear off. The film 
> came  
> curtesy of a friend in UK who picked some up when Silver Image UK sold out 
> their  stock for 5 Pounds/160 feet. I tried to order some but it was 
> already gone 
> by  that time. Nice tight grain, slightly rough texture but being a 
> surveillance  film they were probably more interested in pictures of 
> perpetrators than 
> the  Zone-system!
> Glad to hear that there is someone else who "rolls" his own.
> Best,
> Tom A
> ----------------------------------------
> Tom Abrahamsson
> Vancouver, BC
> Canada
> _www.rapidwinder.com_ (http://www.rapidwinder.com) 
> 
>  
> 
> 
> 
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> 
> 


-- 
Best regards,

Michiel Fokkema