Loading IIIc

Hi. I have aquired a shooter IIIc and am having BIG problem loading the thing. I have visited Stephen Gandy's site, where he suggest removing the spindle by pulling it out. The problem is I can't seem to do this and I don't want to risk damaging the camera. Without removing the spindle, there is just no way for the film to catch round it. The sproket engages the holes but the film won't spool round and therefore will not load. I have no problem guiding the film in place through the lens mount when camera is in T, but the damn film just won't spool. Help please.

Hi, it's myself. Forget the question, I have finally figured out how to

remove the spool. This is after 2 hours of fiddling! For those who

complaint about M6 loading, myself included, this is a revelation. The

Barnack cameras make the M series look like child's play. I would

strongly advice M shooters to get a chance to play with a screw mount

Leica. You will appreciate your M that much more. Thanks and happy

shooting.

You need to cut your film lead to 21 sproket hools in order to load

the film properly. I believe new films have only 9 sproket hools.

 

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Hope this help!

You're not kidding. While the M body is no model of convenience

regarding loading - it's not really that bad, though -- I picked up a

model 'A' from about 1931 I believe and found it to be about 400

times more difficult. I spent several hours trying to figure out how

to load it. I have a bunch of the old Leica metal film canisters

which I thought were necessary. After wasting two rolls of film (the

film kept binding somehow and would not freely move when winding) I

_FINALLY_ said to heck with it and loaded a roll of Tri-X in its

original Kodak can and it worked perfectly. I never thought that

current films would so easily fit into 70 year old camera bodies.

The metal canisters have now gone into the rat hole.

Loading screw mount cameras:

 

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<a

href="http://www.mediakyoto.com/camerashopper/lrc_e/b_e/inde

x_e.html">

http://www.mediakyoto.com/camerashopper/lrc_e/b_e/index_e.ht

ml</a>

 

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Remember that film chips are the number one killer of

screwmount cameras.

 

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Cheers

Thanks for the mediakyoto site. I actually managed to re-align the

rangefinder for the IIIc just by following the step-by-step guide on

IIIf posted on this site. Thanks again.

An advantage of removable takeup spools, whether IIIc or M2/3, is

that the preloading of the film onto the spool, followed by insertion

of the spool and cassette simultaneously, ensures that the film will

be fully seated in the gate, without having to poke it home with

fingernails, little finger, etc.

I just loaded a new roll into my Leica II. It definitely helps to

have the long leader. It really isn't all that difficult, you just

can't be in a hurry. The last of the Barnack cameras have a

retractable knob on the takeup spool, which makes it a lot easier to

remove the spool from the camera body. The most important thing

about loading, however, is still observing the rewind knob for the

first several exposures, to make sure that it's turning backward.