[Leica] Copy of ABLON template

[marcsmall at comcast.net (Marc James Small)]

We seem to have this discussion on the LUG about 
every six months.  Allow me to summarize:

a)      A few folks never trim and never seem to 
have problems.  Leitz and Leica have always 
recommended trimming out of concern for film 
chips which might clog up the film-transport 
mechanism.  Note the decal on the inner surface 
of IIIc and later LTM bodies to this 
effect.  Several years ago, Tom Abrahamson posted 
that he had never seen such a jam in all of his 
many years of working on LTM and M bodies.  (It 
is important to remember that Tom was the 
principal technical adviser to Oscar Barnack back 
in the 1920's, at the same time when Ted Grant 
was doing his best to convince Ernst Leitz II to 
put the LEICA camera into production.  We owe 
them both a huge debt of gratitude.  <he grins maliciously>

b)      Leitz/Leica recommend the use of the 
ABLON template.  Zeiss Ikon marketed a similar 
template, and there are a number of Japanese and 
British copies available.  These are readily 
available and do not generally demand a high 
purchase price unless bougth at a Tamarkin 
auction.  I have one somewhere.  The downside to 
this is that it takes some time to use, has to be 
done in advance, and requires a box cutter or the 
like.  The upside is that this is the most 
precise method of trimming the film and was the factory-recommended method.

c)      There is the credit-card method.  This 
requires removal of the lens and is consequently 
the slowest of the methods and the most 
cumbersome.  Some folks do like it but Leitz 
recommended against this in the 1970's when it 
was first proposed, as providing a possibility of 
film chips jamming the works, but see a), supra, 
for Tom's knowledgeable remarks.  In this method, 
the lens is removed, the shutter is set to either 
T or Z, depending on the model, the base is 
removed, and a thin bit of celluloid is inserted 
from the bottom into the film gate.  The film is 
then inserted and worked into position.  A fair 
number of folks love this method.  I have never 
managed to do this in less than a minute, what 
with removing the lens and base and then 
returning them to battery.  (Note that the 
lamented Phillip Marlowe always used the 
celluloid cover over his California driver's 
license to force locks when he was 
out-and-about;  at least the advocates of this 
system are not breaking any laws albeit they are 
being very disrespectful of the wishes of Oscar Barnack.)

d)      Then there are the clippers.  Take the 
new roll of film, pull some out of the cassette, 
eyeball it, and use scissors to cut off the 
requisite amount and load.  This is the most 
rapid of the systems and is one which even Jo-Jo 
the Brainless Village Idiot can learn on three 
repetitions, especially with the aid of that 
tell-all Leitz decal on the bottom plate.  (Mark 
Rabiner's thumbnail method is a variant of this, of course.)

Me?  I have used all four of these but I opted, 
back in the longago, for d).  I always have a 
Swiss Army Knife with me, as I have had since I 
was fourteen, and just clip the film.  The first 
time I did this, it took me fifteen or twenty 
seconds but now takes me five seconds or so to 
clip.  Open the base, clip the film, pull the 
take-up spool, insert the film into the take-up 
spool, insert the two, and close the base.  It 
takes fifteen or twenty seconds and Bob's your 
uncle.  If Grandma Leitz had not meant for it to 
be done this way, we would not have that mystic 
decal in our cameras.  Surely those gnomes of 
Wetzlar must have known SOMETHING, or we'd not be using these cameras.

I am always surprised at the heat and length of 
discussion this topic takes, every time it 
arises.  Find the method which works for you, and 
use it.  But the missionary zeal the topic 
engenders is a bit frightening.  There is no 
"right" method.  There is the method recommended 
by the factory, the ABLON, and the other methods, 
and the one which works for you is the method 
appropriate for you, but, perhaps, not a method another would want to use.

Marc


msmall@aya.yale.edu
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