Leaving the leader out...

srichards

srichards

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Suz
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With a manual wind 35mm camera is it a simple matter of either winding back a fixed number of rotations for a 36 exp film or just winding back until the S is in the window then winding back a specified small amount more or not any more? I'm assuming pressing the rewind button doesn't reset the film counter but opening the back does instead.

Is this the right way to make sure there is some film leader left out?
 
Neither, I generally wind back until you hear/feel the click which is the film coming off the take up spool then wind back another 1-2 turns. Also, it's generally a sprung latch under the rear door (top right, blow the winding knob) that resets the counter to zero.
 
I may have to count the winds. Assuming the spool diameter in the cartridge is the same in all film makes then you'd think it would always be a specific number of turns to wind it back. Unless some films are thicker or thinner I guess.
 
You generally just feel the tension go when you wind back meaning it's off the spool now, a couple more winds to put it in the canister
 
You could always stick a roll of vista in practice till you get the feel for it.
 
As said above, you can generally feel the winder go noticeably slacker, and often hear the leader leave the camera's spool too (depending on the camera), it's just a question of getting a feel for it. Why do you want to leave the leader out? If it's so you can get to the film to develop it, you could always just rewind it fully into the canister then, when you are ready to develop it, open the end of the film canister (attacking the opposite end from the part of the spool that sticks out) with a suitable 'old fashioned' beer bottle opener in your changing bag, then just slide the roll of film out of the canister. You probably know this already, or it's not relevant, but thought I'd mention it to save making two posts! :) Mind you don't cut your fingers on the edge of the metal canister if you try this, I can't remember if it leaves a sharp edge or not! (y)
 
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The advice used to be to leave a portion of film sticking out to improve the light tightness -- no idea if this was actually true I'm pretty sure most people did it that way otherwise there would have been no reason to sell those doodahs for fishing out film that had been wound in too far.
 
I agree with the others above that when paying attention it is easy to tell when the end of the film has come off the takeup spool. I find the rewind gets gradually stiffer as more is rewound inside the cassette, and then suddenly frees up when t comes off the other spool. I've only missed when I've been thinking of something else!

In case of forgetfulness, you may want to invest in a film leader retriever. I have tried two types; the first was rubbish, unbranded IIRC, the second was a MATIN Film Picker 7 Camera Leader Retriever Film Extractor for a tenner, it's more robust and has worked every time.

I presume you are doing this because you're going to be using the Rondinax?
 
You guessed it. I have Rondinax plans :). I was looking at the matin film picker as plan b funnily enough.
 
As far as I remember, there used to be two schools of thought on this: 1, Leave the leader outside the canister (or fish around and hope you can catch its tail if you rewind too far!), or 2. rewind all the way and use an opener on the canister. The open the canister method was meant to reduce the likelihood of causing scratches on the film due to it having to travel through the felt light seal one less time than if pulling the film out again via the leader. I imagine there'll be pros and cons to either method, but just how significant they'll be will remain to be seen (or not) as the case may be. :)

Edit: Oh, and the other reason for rewinding fully was so the film wasn't mistaken for an unexposed one. Probably more of a problem in the old days when several rolls of film might be shot during the course of a session. It's all coming trickling back now! :D
 
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If Suz is going to use a Rondinax daylight tank she needs to have the leader sticking out of the canister is it's loaded in daylight by clipping a tail onto the leader that's then pulled through the tank.
 
stevelmx5 said:
If Suz is going to use a Rondinax daylight tank she needs to have the leader sticking out of the canister is it's loaded in daylight by clipping a tail onto the leader that's then pulled through the tank.
Click to expand...

I see, thanks for explaining, I've only ever used a Patterson type tank where it had to be loaded in a darkroom or changing bag, hence me waffling on! :sleep: A tank you can load in daylight... whatever will they think of next?! They'll be making self-developing instant film or something! :coat:
 
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Just don't try any Rollei Retro or similar polyester-based films, @srichards as I found the guillotine had trouble cutting the film off the cassette. And if you can't cut, you can't wind, which means the whole thing is stuffed! I had to go under the stairs with a winter coat over my head and a pair of scissors, and open the Rondinax to cut it. Got a dark bag now!
 
Hope rollei rpx is ok. i suspect it's all going to go Pete Tong somehow...
 
I took it out of the box and it seems normal. I've had the funny films before. I went for the 400
 
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