[Leica] Leica Cassette (long)

[TTAbrahams@aol.com]

On 1/8/99 Mary Kephart - kephartol@att.net wrote 
Re: [Leica] Noctilux notes/question about Leica Cassettes:

>Hi Tom,
>I read this with interest.  I have never seen one.  Where can you buy 
>them?  How do they load?
>Thanks in advance,
>Mary

 The reloadable Leica cassette has a long history. With the first "Ur" Leica
in 1914, the cassette was a necessity as there was no 35mm film in nice little
metal containers. The current crop of metal cassettes that you get with your
film is a fairly recent invention
(1930's) and for a long time black/white film was only available in long
rolls. The user had to load his own film, either in a darkroom or in a
changing bag. Some really weird cameras, Agfa Karat, Robot, etc. had a
variation of that - you had two cassettes and wound the film from one to the
other, processed it, and reloaded the cassette. Of course, none of these were
standardised so you could not use Agfa cassettes in a Leica, or the Robot
cassette in anything but the Robot (today it is known as Captive Market
Strategy). I am old enough to have used some of these systems in the 50's -
grew to hate them. Never had enough cassettes of the right kind (which could
account for my current fetish for hoarding them!).
 There were basically 3 kinds of Leica cassettes. The very first version for
the 1920's Leica screwmount camera (now a bit of a collectible), the version
with the black knob, or "lug" on the top for the Screwmount cameras and the
latest incarnation, the cassette with the chrome lug on top for the M-cameras.
The good news is that these cassettes are backwards compatible - the latest
version works fine on the older cameras (but not the other way around).
 The cassette comes in three parts (how Germanic do you want it to be!), a
center spool with a spring loaded set of teeth to hold the film end, an inside
shell and an outside shell,  all metal construction too. 
 To load it you enter your darkroom, and, in total darkness open the can of
100ft long film, disassemble the cassette and unspool an approx. 6 ft length
of film, realise that you cant find the scissors or the Exacto knife. Pack
everything down, find the scissors, go back in the darkroom, turn off the
light, open the filmcan, listen in amazement at the sound of film, having
spent a substantial time under tension, unwinding itself and draping itself on
you and on the floor. You patiently find the end and with the scissors cut a
V-shaped end on the film, feed it in the spring loaded slot and measure of an
appropriate length of film 
(about the length between your fingertips if you extend your arms fully) and
cut it of. By this time you have probably cut your fingers already doing the
V-groove. Have no fear, the drops of blood does not affect the processing
time! Now you wind up the film on the spool, insert it into the inner cassette
shell, pull out a piece of film and insert the inner shell in the outer shell
- - losing the little end that stuck out through the slot in the inner cassette.
After a while you manage to get the film through both the slots, snap the
cassette shut and start on the next one. All of this is done in total
darkness, accompanied by words your mother told you not ever to use and
chasing implements like the scissors, knifes, center spools that has rolled on
the floor- all the same wondering if you got the emulsion side the right way
up! It is great entertainment for anybody outside your darkroom door. 
 Once you have got the hang of it - and the scars on your fingertips have
healed - it is a good system. The older M's M1/M2/M3/M4/M$-2/M4P and the
earliest M6's had the appropriate base plate lock for opening and closing
these cassettes. Around 1990 they changed it to the current lock (a flat
disc). If you look at the older baseplates, you will notice the indent and
slot on the lock - the chrome lug fits into the slot, the curved piece of
metal that stops the lock from turning full circle also pulls the locking
spring of the cassette out of the way. When you load, you drop the cassette in
the camera, put the baseplate on and turn it to locked position and this
action opens the cassette so the film can move through the ¼" slot that opens
up. You don't get scratches from the opening as there is no felt-trap to
accumulate grit, the friction is reduced and once the film is exposed and
removed from the camera it is in a pretty solid container.
 There are some caveats to using these cassettes; if you are shooting with
Esthar based films (Tech Pan, certain Ortho films) don't use the cassette -
you cant rip these films off, they have to be cut and the "one-way" spring
trap in the center spool jams and you have to unscrew the springs in the spool
(very small black screws that tend to disappear). I have also found that using
Infra red emulsions can create problems - the cassette is very safe - BUT the
large opening can fog film.
These cassettes show up at swap meets everywhere. The price seems to vary,
from a reasonable $2-5 for the cassette, add another $2-3 for the aluminium or
Bakelite container with its Leica logo - to the highly unreasonable $25 or
more that some dealers ask.
 Any large dealer will have some in stock, usually in a box of assorted Leica
pieces that he/she has despaired of ever selling (you know the box with the
Reprovit camera mount, the 35 contact printer, the Benser baseplate and other
assorted goodies). 
 I use mine for loading large quantity of film - occasionally I get
moviestock, Super XX, Agfapan 250, etc. in 400ft cans. I lock myself in the
darkroom for a couple of hours and load 65-70 of these cassettes and there is
a month to 6 weeks shooting supply.
 I saw a different version of this loading system some time ago. A friend
brought back from Russia a 64 ASA black/white film (it must have been one of
the worst marketing gaffes ever made. The name of the film was 
"Chernobyl")! The camera store had the film in little alloy foil packages, it
contained a center spool and the film wound up on it. The user supplied
his/her own outside cassette shell. Not a bad film, slightly prefogged, but
considering that it cost something like 8 cents/roll, not a bad deal. It is
good to remember how convenient our 35mm film system is - at least we don't
need a changing bag to reload the film.
 Of course there were tools to make it easier to use these cassettes, the
famous film cutting template, the table edge mounted winder and my favourite,
the brass rod for turning the cassette center spool. Leica was somewhat
accessory happy in the first 50 years of its existence (look at Jim Lager's
volume III, accessories). 
 The cassettes are useful, but they are very heavy, more than double the
weight of the regular filmcassette (for the retentive types, 46.1 grams for
the Leica cassette, versus 20.3 grams for a regular cassette -36 exp/ HP5+ in
both).
 If you pick up one of the Leica Manuals from the 50's or 60's you will find
all the variations of these cassettes listed there. Great reading for all the
other stuff too. The variations on the Visoflex lenses and the mounts will
keep you riveted to your chair - and it is all useful information too. At
least it gives you a great excuse for looking in dusty boxes at camera stores
and finding adapters, etc. You never know when it comes in handy!
All the best,
Tom A
www.rapidwinder.com