Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/02/24
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]To all who actually do your own film processing, This thread should have never started. Those who process more than one roll at a time and use a darkroom more than once a year, have, I'm sure, figured this all out by now. But I will explain it carefully anyway! And while you are reading this, wonder why Leica, Nikon, and others made touchless cassettes that open in the camera to let the film out, and open again in the darkroom to let the film out. Touchless. If your film does NOT make that "one more trip" through the felt lips, then it is guaranteed that any grit in the lips CANNOT scratch the film. It is not a matter of cleaning everything, not putting film in your pocket or beach bag, it is simply AVOIDING the POTENTIAL problem all together. AVOID THE POTENTIAL PROBLEM. Why make extra useless work attempting to avoid a problem when not doing this extra useless work, and DOING THE JOB CORRECTLY, will COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY AVOID THE POTENTIAL PROBLEM! How many experienced darkroom workers, pro's pro labs, etc do you know that pull the film back out through the felt??? In my fifty years of photography and darkroom work, the ONLY folks that I have ever known who pull the film out through the felt lips are the HAPPY SNAPS folks. The one hour labs in the malls where the machines are daylight loading, hire high school kids to run, and because of no darkroom, cannot open the cassette and remove the film as everyone with a darkroom does. Serious photographers, pro's, etc., do not always have the luxury of storing film in a sanitary environment. In a situation that the light is changing quickly or your subject is changing quickly, you rewind, rip out the old, throw in the new and keep on shooting. This scenario has happened to me thousands of times. And Ted. And Harrison. Etc... Where does the film go? Pocket, thrown five feet into an open bag, etc. Leaving the leader out and marking the cassette "exposed" with a Sharpie... not a chance. Wind the leader all the way in. AVOID PROBLEMS! And the film you are using... who has time and space, in these situations, to keep your new film in its cartridge? Not me. Not anyone I know who is a serious photographer and working a situation, whether a riot, a parade, or a fading sunset. It comes out of, and goes into, my pocket. Or open bag. The very best practice is to simply follow the guidance of those who make their living at photography, the pro labs, and those who are serious photographers and do their own darkroom work. Use a church key, rip open the cassette, take out the film, throw the cassette away, wind the film onto a reel, cut off the spool and throw it away, put the reel into a tank, repeat for n rolls, and process. The advice of someone to fish the leader out of the cassette and load reels by pulling the film back out through the felt lips is amateurish and will eventually bite you in the ass with scratched film, not to mention the absolute hassle of attempting to load reels this way. Especially if you have more than one roll. I processed twenty last Monday. I can not remotely imagine fishing and pulling and dealing with that damned cassette banging around. Good f***ing grief!!! I would not do it. It is simply stupid with a capital "S"! Jim NO BULL !!! At 09:46 AM 2/24/01 -0500, Dan Post wrote: >Mark (and Marc!) >I have always kept the little film cans- I even have some of the metal ones >left, and keep my film in it before and after it goes through the camera. >Since I had for years, and still occasionally reload my own cartridges, and >re-used them, I spared no effort to keep the felt clean and even today, blow >out the cartridge and the felt lips before I reload, and have never, so far >(and knock on wood) had a scratching problem. >When working in the lab, since our machines drew the film from the cassette >directly, I would also warn my customers to keep the film insde thcan when >exposed, and that it would be less likely to pick up grit and dirt from the >bottom of a camera bag or pocket! >I have seen a few rolls of photos to the beach and Disney World scratched >because the camera or film was idly tossed into a beach bag, and the felt >picked up enough grit to make very noticable scratches on the film! >Also- since film can be sensitive to hydrocarbon fumes- very prevealent >around the cars we use, the airtight can serves another purpose as well! > >Dan (right down to the real nitty-gritty!) Post >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Marc James Small" <msmall@roanoke.infi.net> >To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us> >Sent: Friday, February 23, 2001 5:37 PM >Subject: Re: [Leica] Tricks to loading reels > > >> At 11:30 AM 2/23/2001 -0800, Mark Rabiner wrote: >> > >> >One more trip through the felt which has been in my pocket so there could >be >> >grit in it. >> > >> >> Mark >> >> I'm surprised you don't carry your spare film about in your navel, so that >> the felt light-traps can get gummed up with lint ... >> >> Marc >> >> msmall@roanoke.infi.net FAX: +540/343-7315 >> Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir! >> >> >