General Moskva5 Question

[JonGalt]

I've recently come into ownership of a nice Moskva5 that's in perfect working order. The only problem so far has been the camera operator. That being said, I have some questions:

I can't for the life of me decide if the film is loaded on the left, and advanced to the right, or loaded on the right, and advanced to the left.

The only film advancing mechanism I've been able to discover is the large wheel, divided into three segments, on the upper left of the camera body. This supports the 'load on the right, advance to the left' theory, and It's how I've been shooting...but how do I rewind the film?

Not to mention that I've had to guess frame advancement, as the little numbers on my Kodak Tri-x film are not below the red window, but instead on the top of the frame.

So far, I've been shooting one roll at a time, taking the camera back to the darkroom to unload and then process. Nice, sharp, contrasty negatives. But there has to be a better way.

I'd greatly appreciate if someone would help. Thanks

 

[kully]

Jon,

You should have two windows - one for 6x6 (if you have the masking frame too) and one for 6x9. I've used Tri-X and it should have numbers going across for 6x6,6x9 and 6x4.5 - is this standard 120 Tri-X?

Looking at the camera from the back, the film goes in the left and the spool in the right... although I don't have my Moskva any more and you've got me thinking I'm wrong now 🙂

 

[fidget]

Hi Kully, I've got your Moskva 5 and can tell you that your memory is going...

The film is inserted on the right and wound onto the left spool as looking at the back of the camera. I can't imaging how you might get it to work any other way.

I think that the OP might be joking with us here. The frame numbers are on the film backing.....you can't use the frame numbers on the film....and I too only shoot one roll at a time, that all I can get in there!

good luck, and welcome to the forum.

Dave..

 

[kully]

Cheers Dave, mind OK after tea now 😉

 

[nikkorray]

Yeah, that Moskva 5 must have been developed by a left handed person. Everything is ass backwards. I still like to shoot with it though. I'll never shoot 220 with it even though it's capable of doing it.

 

[fidget]

Just re-reading the original post, I can see that I took the comment about one roll at a time out of context...my apologies. I guess that is because you felt that you couldn't rewind the film? I guess that you may not have used 120 film before,is this correct?
Hopefully you are not trying 220 film in there, it really would be difficult to see the frame number through the red window in that case.

How are you getting on with this, any success JonGalt ?

 

[fezzik]

Love my Moskva. Film loads on the right and rolls left. You don't rewind film you roll it onto the old spool. Always keep an old spool for that. If you are using the bottom window you should be able to see the numbers in the screen just keep winding it take a bit.

 

[P C Headland]

You can't use 220 film in it, not without some fairly extensive modification. Load the 120 on the right, wind to the left, checking the appropriate film counter window - the middle one is for 6x6 (if you have the mask in place) or the bottom one for 6x9. If you use Ilford film, you may find the numbers hard to see.

Check the sliders that cover the red windows to see if they are sealing properly. Often light can sneak past the 6x9 window slider (the lower one) causing light leaks. You can fix this by taping over 6x9 red window on the inside, making a smaller cutout that will just allow you to see the frame numbers through the red window.

 

[chippy]

...but how do I rewind the film?

this is a classic! it cracks me up LOL 😀😀😀

maybe not right now Jon but in a few months your going to look back at this an laugh .

 

[jdos2]

this is a classic! it cracks me up LOL 😀😀😀

maybe not right now Jon but in a few months your going to look back at this an laugh .

Made me smile, too.

My first experience with 120 was with a Mamiya RB and I just couldn't, for the life of me, figure out where to put the film (the camera didn't have an extra spool).

 

[oftheherd]

this is a classic! it cracks me up LOL 😀😀😀

maybe not right now Jon but in a few months your going to look back at this an laugh .

An old thread that I hadn't seen before either. I noted that the OP has not been back to RFF, or at least not under the same name. I hope he was helped by the replies. I have used roll film since I was a kid so I don't think I was ever confused about that. But I can see how someone new to roll film might get confused.

Also, I believe we had a thread some time back about funny things photographic. I'll have to try and search for it to see if that was ever mentioned there.