How do you cut your negatives?

santino said:
Older Leicas are really interesting when it comes to frame spacing.
The M3 is almost overlapping frames with the super wide Heliar but is perfectly fine with a 50. The wider the lens, the smaller the frame spAcing.
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I noticed this, too, with my M3. Film spacing was really tight with my 21mm/3.4 superangulon lens, but OK with a 50mm lens. I thought it was a film transport problem with my camera, but there was only slight improvement after it was serviced with attention to this.
 
Long-bladed scissors, with some sort of backlighting or at least a bright surface in the background to help me see clearly where I'm cutting.
 
Kai-san said:
Many years ago I purchased a cheap Matin guillotine type film cutter, I must have run more than 500 films through it without any problems. I recently saw the Film Killer for sale at 25% discount, so I went for it. It's made by Optik Oldschool GMBH in Germany, and there are several dealers who supply it. I find the guillotine cutters to be the best solution, especially for films that come out of some old cameras that has less than one mm spacing between frames. Both my old Matin and the Film Killer has markings for exact positioning of the film so that you do not risk cutting into adjacent frames. I use a LED panel beneath the cutter, makes it much easier to see what you are doing.
Here is a picture of the Film Killer:

View attachment 4858167
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I have one of these. More reliable than I was with scissors!
 
I use a small Fiskars paper trimmer over a light box. One nice feature is that it has a clear grove under the blade that shows exactly where the blade will run.
 
ellisson said:
I noticed this, too, with my M3. Film spacing was really tight with my 21mm/3.4 superangulon lens, but OK with a 50mm lens. I thought it was a film transport problem with my camera, but there was only slight improvement after it was serviced with attention to this.
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Smaller spacing between frames with extreme wide angle lenses isn't a camera problem. When I shoot with my 90 mm or 65 mm wide angle lenses on 4x5 the image is larger since the image from the lens is projected under the edges of the frame. You won't see this with SLR lenses since the lens design is different to allow for the moving mirror.
 
Cascadilla said:
Smaller spacing between frames with extreme wide angle lenses isn't a camera problem. When I shoot with my 90 mm or 65 mm wide angle lenses on 4x5 the image is larger since the image from the lens is projected under the edges of the frame. You won't see this with SLR lenses since the lens design is different to allow for the moving mirror.
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A lovely solution for the unhappy negative cutters: Just go sheet film!
 
Cascadilla said:
Smaller spacing between frames with extreme wide angle lenses isn't a camera problem. When I shoot with my 90 mm or 65 mm wide angle lenses on 4x5 the image is larger since the image from the lens is projected under the edges of the frame. You won't see this with SLR lenses since the lens design is different to allow for the moving mirror.
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This totally makes sense and I agree but I wonder why I didn‘t notice such a behavior of frame spacing with the M6?
 
35mm cameras all space the negative frames exactly eight sprocket holes center-to-center. Three variables affect the width of the blank space between the frames: the focal length of the lens*, the distance of the film gate from the film and the size of the film gate. The longer the focal length to the lens the wider the blank spaces, and vice versa. The closer the film gate to the film the wider the blank spaces, and vice versa. And (obviously) the narrower the film gate the wider the blank spaces, and vice versa.

*That's a bit of a simplification. More accurately, it is the distance from the focal node of the lens to the film plane.
 
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santino said:
This totally makes sense and I agree but I wonder why I didn‘t notice such a behavior of frame spacing with the M6?
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What lenses were you using? I definitely see it on my Contax IIa with the 21 mm f/4.5 Biogon, but not really with the 35 mm Biogon or anything longer.
 
santino said:
This totally makes sense and I agree but I wonder why I didn‘t notice such a behavior of frame spacing with the M6?
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Look at the film gate. Is the M6 gate more squared off on the face at the film plane compared to the M3. A more rounded gate with a lens with a smaller exit pupil (wider angle from light from lens to edge of film) would allow more light to get under the rounded off gate compared to a more tele centric lens. A squared off film gate wouldn’t have the space for light to get under it.

Could also be a difference in spacing from the gate to the film itself. Greater distance could allow more light to be able to under it from an angle n
 
A rotary paper trimmer might be handy for cutting negatives and for trimming prints as well.
Another possibility is a translucent self-healing cutting mat in a size that would fit my lightbox.

Chris
 
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pixelated said:
I use a small Fiskars paper trimmer over a light box. One nice feature is that it has a clear grove under the blade that shows exactly where the blade will run.
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That sounds like it might be good. I haven't seen one with a clear panel. Which Fiskars model is that?

Chris
 
x-ray said:
Scissors and work on a light box.
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This is how I do it, using a short and small-bladed scissors, about 2 inches. A small scissors makes all the difference for being able to control, and to see exactly where I'm cutting.
 
JJC Slide Film Cutter … made by Scheufer Technologies GmbH. One can also obtain additional razor-blades for this unit. It works well enough for 35mm (exposed with Leica M4, M4-P bodies).
 
Another vote for the JJC here.

After a few days use, I'm quite happy with it, though I have yet to try 120 film.

My larger motive is that I have a Leica IIIF with a somewhat oversized film gate. This makes interframe spacing very, very narrow and a real pain to cut well with scissors. This looks to be a rather elegant solution to that problem.
 
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