Top speed for loading film into your M

[arthuryeo]

Just wanted to have a feel for how fast you guys can load films into

your M ...

 

under 5 secs

 

under 10 secs

 

under 20 secs

 

under 1 minute

 

occasionally above 1 minute ?

 

 

In short, are you able to say to yourself that you can load film into

your M in under 10 secs consistently. How do photojournalists of the

past handle timing-constraints when they finished their roll in the

camera while events are happening while they load film?

[Troll]

About once a year. Slightly more with the IIIf and CL.

[andrewlamb]

"How do photojournalists of the past handle timing-constraints when they

finished their roll in the camera while events are happening while they load

film?"

 

They had more than one camera?

[james_lai]

I'm not a PJ and I've never timed myself, but I think I can load my M4 at least as fast if not faster than one of manual-loading SLRs. I wouldn't try getting into a speed contest though, I'd probably end up putting a finger through the shutter.

 

I believe PJ's handled the issue in a number of ways: multiple cameras, reloading when they have a chance even if the roll isn't done, or using cameras fitted with a bulk film magazine.

[frank uhlig]

Sagado apparently happened to be at Reagan's assassination attempt and shot off - I think - six rolls - with his Leica in the time it took place, in roughly 1-2 minutes until the Secret Service cleared the area.

 

Now go figure. And feel like an amateur. Sorry. Have you ever been to a Chinese acrobats performance. Then you would know what the human body is capable of.

[paul_holland1]

Ahh, big can of worms there, i'm a relativle new boy having only had a moderen M for 5 years, of which i've traveled quite a bit with. I think the main trouble is what to do with the baseplate, for me it usually ends up in my mouth. Not sure what my time is but i'll give it ago tonight and see.

[socke]

See <a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=002cZP">here</a> for an older thread on this topic :-)

[ken_hagler]

It'd say it takes under 20 seconds, unless the leader has a kink in it, in which case it can take over 1 minute as I try to get the film all the way down into the camera.

[Rich B NYC]

Under a minute with my M2 and a little faster with the M6...maybe 30 seconds.

[h._p.]

I don't think I can swallow the Salgado story. I used to do press work and the best I ever managed with a manual wind camera was around one frame a second for half a dozen frames. I don't think any of my colleagues were noticably faster. With a motor wind, of course, it goes up to 3 frames or so per second - faster with the Canon or Nikon high speed drives. Even if you roll through your whole film in 10 seconds, you've still got to rewind it, and that takes around 15 seconds.

 

Then you've got to get the film out and drop in the new one, say 6 seconds on a Canon with fast load, slower with a Leica. So the fastest you can get from the start of one film to the end of another seems to be 1 minute with a high speed motor. Thus far the story holds up, if he was using three high speed motorised cameras. However, that doesn't leave any time for changing from camera to camera, looking around to see where the action is, getting into position and avoiding the police and others doing their work.

 

I could easily believe the claim if he was supposed to have shot 3 rolls in two minutes, in 3 cameras, but 6 doesn't really sound right to me.

[billsr]

If I ever tried to load my MP in 10 seconds, I would most certainly drop it! Best regards, Bill

[jim_jeblee]

With extra spools preloaded & rubber banded I can get a roll into my M2 very fast, even in the dark. But getting the film rewound & out seams to take a minute or more. The M6 is slowwer to load (only if the M2 has spare spools already set up), but much faster to rewind.. So go figure. When I try to rush something usally goes wrong & ends up being slower. Jim

[rover]

The slower I go, the quicker I am. It is that simple.

[bob haight]

The faster I go the more I tend to misload so speed is not important to me.

[terence_mahoney]

It all depends upon me imbibing the exact amount of spirits to quell the tremours yet not so much as to impair my co-ordination, then maintaining that precise level of intoxication throughout my shooting session. A bit like controlling temperature for colour processing.

[johnny massey]

To finish first, first you must finish.

[paul_g1]

I never understood the big deal about loading film in to M bodies... unless my M6TTL is particularly 'easy' for some reason ... but under 10 sec is no problem!

[35mmdelux]

is that while changing lenses?

[sprouty]

<I>"Sa(l)gado...shot off - I think - six rolls - with his Leica in the time it took place, in roughly 1-2 minutes..."

<P>

"...what the human body is capable of."</I>

<P>

I do time studies of body motions (assembly operations) for a living - that Salgado story is a load of crap.

[al_kaplan1]

The M bodies are ALL easier to load if you pretrim the leaders to the older longer length. It has less tendancy to hang up in the film gate. The PJ secret method was less depending on rapid film loading as on multiple bodies and rapid lens swapping. Grap a lens in each hand, push the lens lock buttons on both cameras with your thumb knuckles as you twisted the lenses off, swap lenses so the one you've been using is now on the body with a full(er) roll of film. Change film if things slow up even if it means changing a roll that might have only 30, sometimes less, exposures on it. Years before anybody even dreamed of digital the mantra was "Film is cheap". Better to waste a few frames than miss The Picture!

[Jochen_S]

I might be above one minute, with my M3 without additional crank or practice and films boxed. I don't mind; I have a 2nd body and thinking about burning another roll doesn't hurt.

[arthuryeo]

Good discussions, guys! I guess a one-M-body setup is more likely to fail when the action is fast and you're running out of film.

 

Al,

How short is the leader supposed to trimmed to? Are u saying the modern film leader is too long?

 

Thanks for all of your inputs. I appreciate your time.

[mozart 2]

Arthur:

 

Quite frankly, I am surprised at the extensive discussion on this question.

 

The answer is quite simple.

 

With regard to my M-4, I have always loaded it with the speed of Leitz.

 

Sorry about that one, but I couldn't pass it up!

 

Bill

[hil3]

Takes me a very long time. I usually develop the roll I just shot before I put the next one in ;o) Now, if there's anything worth printing...could be days, if not weeks!

 

Who was it that said "...if there's no film in the camera, there are no pictures worth taking?", or something to that effect. I know I've seen that quote in this forum before.

 

hil

[frederick_muller]

You have to be clear on when you start the stopwatch. I would reasonably start the stopwatch at the moment you finish one roll and flip the rewind clutch and start rewinding. I haven't timed myself, but I would guess under pressure, I could do it in maybe two minutes. Rewind, pop the baseplate, and so on. That's on an M4 type loading mechanism. Longer for an M2.

 

I'm not usually in that much of a rush. And I get around having to rush by carrying more than one loaded body. So when I come to the end of the roll, I switch bodies rather than reload film. Then I reload the film at a quieter moment.