misloading a m6

[stefan www.randlkofer.co]

finally i did it! after nearly two months of owning a leica m i managed to misload and jamm it. pretty cool. it took me about 40 films to achieve that. finally i can write and complain about that unusable film loading mechanism that turns some people away from the m system.

[john_chan2]

Congrats stefan,

 

<p>

 

That means your a "made man". Me, I'm still a greenhorn.

Unfortunately, fate has not yet blessed me with the experience of

jamming my Leicas yet.

 

<p>

 

;-)

[tony_rowlett2]

That's pretty funny! It'll happen to the best of us. I guess the

best advice to follow, without listening to anyone, is that which is

printed right on the inside bottom of the camera.<p>

By the way, I complained a while ago about my M6 (classic) not winding

properly and thus "stacking up" most of the exposed frames on top of

one another in roughly the first half of the length of film. This

happened on two non-successive rolls with two rolls in between that

seemed to have run perfectly. All rolls of late have been shot with

the new Leica Motor M. Today I developed another roll, and again the

frames are all perfectly spaced -- all 35 of them.<p>

Now I'm beginning to recall that a couple of times I tensioned the

film with the rewind crank a little bit after loading it. My new

theory: If I keep some looseness in the film when loading and ignore

the urge to take up the slack, my film will always travel through my M

as expected. OR, I'm just trying to avoid sending in my M for a CLA.

Which is it?

[jay_.]

I have always tensioned the rewind crank, that's how I can tell if

the film is winding correctly; otherwise if the crank doesn't turn

you can't be certain.

[dennis_couvillion]

Stefan:

 

<p>

 

Maybe you were just temporarily blinded by those ultraviolet rays

splashing all over your girlfriend on the tanning bed.

 

<p>

 

Dennis

[yip2]

All went well for many rolls.

Then one day after what I considered some memorable shots

I found the flim had not advanced at all despite the counter

counting down to 36 . This was discovered only after trying to

rewind the film and that somehow did not feel as normal !

 

<p>

 

I think after a period of normality, we get complacent and do not

do proper checks or load badly in the first place. As with most

things we take things for granted until given a wake up call !

[john_layton]

While I haven't actually managed to jam an M (yet!), I occasionally

have a problem with my "Classic," basically amounting to the

film running too low in its track, so that the sprocket-holes on

one side run right against the image. This can wreak havoc

when I want to print with the black line of the frame-edge

surrounding the image. Maybe this is because I load my own

film and don't cut the leader to "factory specs." But my other M, a

TTL, doesn't do this, so maybe its the camera. I can cure it

reliably by taking some extra time and winding on a tad, making

sure the sprockets engage before closing the base, but time

isn't what I always have. Anyone else out there with this

problem?

[ray_moth]

I always push the film into its correct position, so that it sits

between the guide rails, before closing the camera. Other than that,

I simply follow the instructions - in particular, I DON'T attempt to

wind on the film before closing the camera. Seems to work OK.

[msitaraman]

I have an M6 and an M6TTL. The older M6 occasionally misloads (jams).

The newer TTL has not misloaded even once in 3 years. Seems like they

quietly fixed a design problem.

[Rob F.]

"I always push the film into its correct position, so that it sits

between the guide rails, before closing the camera."

 

<p>

 

--So do I. I use a fingernail to shove the film into place. One

advantage of the otherwise slower-to-use M2/M3 system, is that the

removable takeup spool serves to guide the film right up there where

it belongs. Otherwise, no real problem. Like Ray, I resist the

instinct to wind the film slightly with the back open, to watch the

sprocket teeth engage--simply because Leica says not to. I still do

this with my M2 or M3, though. Also, on the M6, the rewind crank

won't maintain back tension on the film, the way the earlier Leicas

(and many other brands) will. I miss the reassuring feeling

that "everything is OK" when the rewind knob turns every time the

film is advanced.

[andy_piper2]

"I have an M6 and an M6TTL. The older M6 occasionally misloads (jams).

The newer TTL has not misloaded even once in 3 years. Seems like they

quietly fixed a design problem."

 

<p>

 

Someone (John Collier?) has mentioned in past "Loading" threads that

one of the M6 film rails was manufacturered squared off, while

nonmeterd bodies had always had a chamfer - and that the square edge

caught film and made the M6 slightly more difficult to load.

 

<p>

 

I tested this last week in a shop with 2 different fresh-from-the-box

M6 TTLs and my semi-patented loading technique (derived from Andrew

Nemeth's advice on his web site) worked fine - 5 loads with each body

without a misload, and without pushing the film into place or bending

the tip over or anything.

 

<p>

 

I'll post my step-by-step if anyone's interested...

[steve_hoffman4]

Please do, Andy!

 

<p>

 

Thanks...

[andy_piper2]

Steve (and others)

 

<p>

 

I posted my technique as a separate thread so we won't drown Stefan

with your critiques. 8^)

 

<p>

 

<a href="http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=

007Xlu">HERE</a>

[godfrey]

I don't think I even want to read about a Technique ... I have not

yet misloaded any M4 or later camera with the rapid load system

and don't want to risk learning how to do it "right"...

 

<p>

 

<B><I>grins</I></B>

[robert_jones14]

Here's a link using _yalm_ (yet another loading method) that

seems pretty fool-proof: http://www.butzi.net/reviews/pleated.htm