More From The Blind Pig (04840017/04840019)
28 taps, a camera and a pretty girlfriend. Is there more to life?
In other news, after two weeks and half a dozen rolls of false starts, curses and sitting down on the side walk to load the damn thing, today I managed to load my Leica on the very first try. w00t!
Is there more to life?
Um, maybe three bricks of TMY or HP-5+? or 500 rolls of Panatomic-X that’s been stored in a cryogenic lead vault in a salt mine all this time…
Congrats on loading the Leica. Do you know about Tina Manley’s trick of folding little pleats in the leader?
See http://www.butzi.net/reviews/pleated.htm
I think there is definitely more to life after looking at The Blind Pig’s beer list. The pretty girlfriend definitely tops the list though :)
Re: loading film into the Leica M6. First time I tried to use mine, I shot 40 void frames before noticing the film wasn’t being pulled by the lever. Doh. Second time, I used Tom A’s trick:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEyt94xMNUY
Cheers,
More perhaps, but those are certainly highlights.
And cameras - at least Leica M cameras - last a lifetime.
Paul, I’d been wondering what you meant by pleated. I’ll give that a try. I stumble on something like the method Tom A demonstrates in the video linked by Cos (thanks to both of you, BTW).
As for the three bricks of TMY, well I just ordered some of the new TMY, and FP4, and Delta 400, and a couple of rolls of XP2. It’s not quite as impressive as the Pig’s beer list, but it’s as much as I can handle.
‘I think there is definitely more to life after looking at The Blind Pig’s beer list.’
The Pig competes with the place across the street for who can have the most and best beers on tap. Competition is good for the consumer ;-)
Matt, another batch of lovely portraits of Kate. Were these with the 35mm lens? Are you still going to shoot with the Hexar?
Graham, these and the photos in the previous post were all shot on the 50 Hex. I would imagine that I will continue to find uses for the Hexars; they were just getting a little to beat up for everyday use.
Tom A’s video is okay but THE best way to load a Leica is to follow the instructions in the manual (if you have it) exactly, and TRUST that it is loaded.
Works flawlessly every time!
I’ve got a pdf copy of the manual, and I did follow the instructions, and it does work as long as your film has exactly the right bend to it. Otherwise the bend of the film can lift it off the rails enough that the teeth don’t engage.
I tried Paul’s pleated technique this morning, and it worked on the first try.
Hi Matt. I have tried all the pleating tricks with limited success on my M6. One day I discovered that if I wound the film up snug in the film canister first, then loaded the film per instructions on the back plate (no other tricks necessary)the rewind knob would begin turning right off. What happens of course is that the slack inside the film canister must be taken up first before the film starts to wind on to the camera. There can be a lot of slack and it can take a lot of winding before it will catch. Pleating the end can be a real pain in certain situations (such as a mosh pit at a rock concert). This method has worked very well for me, even with a beer in one hand. Good luck.
Matt,
Pleated leader is easiest way to load. Try loading advance without the bottom on until you have wound on…open the back door to engage the teeth. You will lose one frame but not 37. If the rewind knob isn’t spinning it isn’t loaded.
Speckled Hen is one of my favorite ales…now if they had Old Peculiar on tap I would consider a road trip. Much closer than Theakston…although their seasonal Grouse Beater Ale is worth the trip.
Bob
Ok, for the record, the pleated leader thing is something I got from Tina Manley, and it made my life a lot more pleasant. But it’s not Paul’s Pleated Leader trick (despite the pleasant alliteration), it’s Tina’s Pleated Leader Trick.
Oh, the other tip is that when you take the bottom plate off, you hold it in your mouth. Seriously. Although I saw one guy who had a little tether that went from a 1/4″-20 stud in the tripod socket to the clip on the strap lug, and he just let it dangle, which seemed like a good idea but I never got around to making a tether.
I flip open the rear flap and give the film a nudge to make sure the sprocket catches the perforations in the film before I put the bottom back on, then make sure the rewind lever is spinning as I wind on a couple of frames. The only time I get into trouble is when I haven’t used a Leica in a while and forget to check that the sprocket is engaged before closing the camera.
Happened to me this past week. :-)
‘now if they had Old Peculiar on tap I would consider a road trip’
The beer selection rotates, and I believe they have had Old Peculiar on tap in the past. I’ll have to look out for Grouse Beater later this summer.
‘Tina’s Pleated Leader Trick’
Attribution duly noted; thank you Tina.
I’ve just been sticking the base plate in either my back pocket or shirt pocket, although I think I could manage to hold it in my left hand while loading. The tether idea is interesting, but I can see it getting caught up in things.
‘then make sure the rewind lever is spinning as I wind on a couple of frames’
I’ve been doing this too. It’s an old habit from ten years of using an FM2. Another habit from the FM2 keeps tripping me up though; when I finish rewinding, I keep trying to pull up on the rewind crank to pop the back open. It’s funny how tenaniosly that muscle memory holds on.
Just wondering what film/dev combo this was and how it was rated and shot. I really like the balance of skin tones and contrast in these photos. I’m also looking into getting a nikon 5000 film scanner and I’m curious as to your scanning technique.