R
ruben
Guest
I believe most of us use to load film in all of our cameras by the following proceeding:
a) Inserting the film tonge at the take up fixed spool
b) Inserting the film cassete at its corresponding chamber
c) Rewinding with the rewind knob to create a tension between the take up spool and the film cassete.
d) Close our camera and start with 2 or 3 blank frames. Since the film in our cassete is tight, we use the movement of the Rewind knob each time we wind, to comfirm that the film is indeed winding.
This I may call the classical way of doing it. But taking into account Noel's clarification that at the Contax and Kiev, the sprockets are the driving force, I went back to the Contax II and III manual, available by courtesy of Rick Oleson and Mike Kovacs, looking for the relevant recommendations about film loading.
And indeed, there are there two additional details to be taken care for when loading these cameras, going very much along the sprockets and not the take up spool being the drive force.
The first is to take care that film has engaged BOTH sprockets. Film bought from the store has a small tongue and this fact may usually convert this point into an automatic fact. But with bulk film we cut ourselves, we may produce somewhat longer tongues, and better we take care of the two sprockets issue.
The second is after producing the tension between the film cassete and the film at the take up spool, before closing our camera, to press a bit the center of the in-between area with our thumb, to further secure this tension an correct matching of film holes to both sprockets. At Kievs and Contaxes, film must run from side to side perfectly straight.
BTW, i am not sure but it seems to me I have read at the English Kiev manual, a dispute about tensioning the film within the film cassete as this may leave traces of friction on the film. Yet, all my life I never had a single trace of friction with my tensioned films. Of course tensioning the film cassete, after closing the camera, like anything else, should be done with a minimum of sensitivity and common sense.
Cheers,
Ruben
a) Inserting the film tonge at the take up fixed spool
b) Inserting the film cassete at its corresponding chamber
c) Rewinding with the rewind knob to create a tension between the take up spool and the film cassete.
d) Close our camera and start with 2 or 3 blank frames. Since the film in our cassete is tight, we use the movement of the Rewind knob each time we wind, to comfirm that the film is indeed winding.
This I may call the classical way of doing it. But taking into account Noel's clarification that at the Contax and Kiev, the sprockets are the driving force, I went back to the Contax II and III manual, available by courtesy of Rick Oleson and Mike Kovacs, looking for the relevant recommendations about film loading.
And indeed, there are there two additional details to be taken care for when loading these cameras, going very much along the sprockets and not the take up spool being the drive force.
The first is to take care that film has engaged BOTH sprockets. Film bought from the store has a small tongue and this fact may usually convert this point into an automatic fact. But with bulk film we cut ourselves, we may produce somewhat longer tongues, and better we take care of the two sprockets issue.
The second is after producing the tension between the film cassete and the film at the take up spool, before closing our camera, to press a bit the center of the in-between area with our thumb, to further secure this tension an correct matching of film holes to both sprockets. At Kievs and Contaxes, film must run from side to side perfectly straight.
BTW, i am not sure but it seems to me I have read at the English Kiev manual, a dispute about tensioning the film within the film cassete as this may leave traces of friction on the film. Yet, all my life I never had a single trace of friction with my tensioned films. Of course tensioning the film cassete, after closing the camera, like anything else, should be done with a minimum of sensitivity and common sense.
Cheers,
Ruben
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