resetting M2 frame counter

[katgut@earthlink.net]

I never seem to get this right. When you load film and close it up, what frame number do you start on--38, 39? When I load the cassette and spool, I don't do any winding until I close the back. So the real question is, how many full winds are necessary to advance to the 1st frame?
thanks

 

[Shac]

For me it's 2 full winds - then I set the counter to zero

 

[cjm]

I do the same, two winds, then set at zero.

 

[katgut@earthlink.net]

Why do you guys set at 0? Doesn't every other camera show the number of the frame about to fire?

 

[MCTuomey]

i want to know the number of frames exposed, so i set the counter to zero. habit, is all.

you go, katgut ... set the wheel to numero one ... i've got yer back

 

[januaryman]

yep. Two, maybe three throws, set to zero. With 2 throws, I get 37 frames. Not good for filing purposes.

 

[payasam]

One wind, then set to 0. The counter is additive. Wound on (cocked) or not, it shows the frame number that's in the gate.

 

[Rob-F]

I haven't read the instructions in years (they are around here someplace), and I seem to recall they say to set the counter to minus 2 and wind 3 times, to number 1. Moi, I set to minus 2 and wind twice.

 

[payasam]

Rob, look at the beginning of a processed film. You'll see slightly more than two frames' worth blank. I'm a miser and use that bit of emulsion.

 

[John Lawrence]

You can download a copy of the full and brief instructions here:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/joechan/manuals/leicamanuals.html

 

[Tom A]

I love the instructions for old cameras. They worked hard to fill 10-12 pages. The Nikon D3 instruction manual is 400+ pages!!!!
I don't think I have read a Leica manual since the early 60's - and that was a desperate situation - stuck in a hotel with nothing to read and by chance a M2 manual had been used to wrap around a lens as a "protective" sleeve.

 

[Al Kaplan]

I bulk load with the outstretchd hands method of measuring. Sometimes I get a 37th frame. Before I cut the film I look at it to see what's there. Often as not there's a frame in the right place to just discard one out of the middle of the roll. If not I cut it into 5 strips of five frames and 2 of 6 frames.

 

[Graham Line]

If you use factory-rolled film and shoot 36 to a roll, you never need to reset the camera. By the time you've loaded and advanced a fresh roll, it's back to the start.

 

[l.mar]

Why do you guys set at 0? Doesn't every other camera show the number of the frame about to fire?

You have to manually reset the counter every time you load a fresh roll --- unlike the M3, the M2 doesn't have a mechanism to reset to counter to "zero" everytime you pull out the take-up spool.