Re: [Leica] Leica Cassettes- how to load??

[Martin Howard <marho@ikp.liu.se>]

Bob Keene/Karen Shehade wrote:
>
> I just received some Leica cassettes for bulk loading film and the
> question just begs to be asked:
> 

Some while back, Tom Abrahamsson posted the following.  I warn you,
it is both long and funny... ;-)

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 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 
ength 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

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- -- 
Martin Howard, Grad. Schl. for Human-Machine Interaction,  |
HMI/IKP, Linkoping University, SE-581 83 Linkoping, Sweden.|    Just
Tel: +46 13 28 5741; Fax: +46 28 2579; ICQ: 354739         | say "DOOH"
E-mail: marho@ikp.liu.se; www.iav.ikp.liu.se/staff/marho/  +------------