[Leica] Technical problem--suggestions?

[eddy at altphoto.be (Eddy Willems)]

There is one very important trick that I didn't notice until I noticed 
this message on the bottom of the camera as I was struggling to load it:

LEICA IIIf film leader

*FIlm must be trimmed to have a longer leader, and exactly two 
perforations must show at the bottom.*

If you don't trim your film properly to provide a longer leader tongue, 
the film will get jammed in the gate and not load. Standard 
out-of-the-box film will not load properly until trimmed.

If you do trim your film, it slides right into the IIIf and loads very 
easily.

To trim it, I count back 13 perforations along the bottom, and cut it 
out with my Swiss Army knife. Be sure not to cut across a perforation, 
as the edge might get caught trying to load. Leave two perforations 
pulled out of the canister out at the bottom as shown above, and you're 
good to go.

Leica fanatics use the special ABLON cutting guide (Nr. 68,320, $27.00 
corrected for inflation in 2009 [$1.80 in 1939 dollars]). If you shoot a 
lot, the ABLON is nice because the film drops right into perfect 
position with little tits that poke in the perforations. The ABLON comes 
with its own cutter in its own small leather case, bravo!

People who don't read directions go through all sorts of dangerous 
antics, like sticking their fingers through the shutter, to try to load 
the film improperly.

The reason you need to make the leader longer is because the film has to 
slide past the film gate, with the pressure plate in place. The back 
does not swing open.

When you trim your film properly, there is no bottom edge that has to 
jump over the other film rail, which is what hangs-up people who don't 
read directions.

When properly trimmed film is loaded, only after it's in place do you 
advance the full width of the film over the gate, so all works as The 
Prophet <http://www.kenrockwell.com/leica/oskar-barnack.htm> intended.

Op 17/12/12 10:45, Jim Hemenway schreef:
> Leica iiib