Alternatives to ABLON

[Travis L.]

For years I've just trimmed the leader with the small scissors on my swiss army knife. It couldn't be easier...

Did you see what a wonderful hood this guy has on his Elmar? It seems to have f-stop control too!

Erik.

Not sure the make of the hood in the video is, but Leitz made one called a VALOO. It gives you aperture control on an Elmar.

 

[summar]

I'll follow Roger's advice from now on. Good advice. I loaded my IIIf for years without trimming the leader because I didn't know it was necessary. Never any troublr, but my ABLON will see a lot more use from now on. (I was lucky to get one as a gift.) It takes no time to trim a few rolls before going out to photograph.

 

[Erik van Straten]

Leitz made one called a VALOO.

Thank you, Travis. However, the VALOO on an Elmar only looks smart when the Elmar is screwed into a VALOY or FOCOMAT. On a camera it just doesn't look right. It is top-heavy too.

Erik.

 

[Iestrada]

Resently, there was a similar inquiry. I posted links to steven's cameraquest website an a you tube video detailing film loading without the need to trim. Search under my posting to find them. I am on my phone and don't want to dig them up. Ups, go to go! My daughter's swim meet is starting.

 

[anjoca76]

Several years ago when I bought my first Barnack, I went to Youxin's house, who lives nearby. He showed me how to load film without any gadgets or cards or scissors. He just set a iiiC to to T, and once the shutter was open he slid the (untrimmed) film in using what I presume is the same method as the business card, except using his fingertips instead of the card.

Then he put in my hands the camera and a test roll of film and had me sit there and practice over and over again until I had it down pat while he CLA'd an M3. I bought the iiiC and haven't had any problems since. I suppose there is the possibility of breaking off a piece of film or other potential issues, but I have yet to have it happen to me, and I've put well over 100 rolls through the camera since then.

 

[Pioneer]

I have an Ablon (ABLON) and it is handy for trimming the tail that inserts into the center of the film spool when re-loading. But after that I just use my Swiss Army Knife to trim the leader to length. It takes less time to count of 20 perforations and trim then finding the tool would. Since I am using hand rolled film I have to trim a leader anyway so trimming it to fit the LTM is not too difficult. If I were shooting more pre-rolled film then I can see where it would be frustrating to have to re-trim the tail.