Re: filmscanners: OT: Film lengths was: Cleaning slides (PEC tips)

[Arthur Entlich <artistic@ampsc.com>]

Laurie Solomon wrote:

> Art,
> 
> Interestingly, I have been finding that the length of the film leaders on
> both ends of the film have gotten shorter and shorter as time has gone on.
> There use to be enough leader to allow for three extra frames plus room to
> put clips on the ends of the film; now in some cases there is hardly room to
> have an extra frame and room for clips.  My understanding is that the
> industry is attempting to save money in a competitive market by shortening
> the amount of leader they provide under the justification that the current
> batch of automatic everything cameras and processing do not require as much
> leader as in the past where things were less sophisticated and more manual.
> 

I think there is some truth to what you say, however, I think the camera 
manufacturers have gotten together with the film companies to make sure 
the autoload cameras waste a lot of leader.  My films from the Nikon 
801s come back with a huge wasted unexposed leader.  I once asked Nikon 
if there was anyway to adjust this to get an extra frame or two from it, 
but they claimed no way.  I'm certain all that film isn't required to 
thread safely.

My wife's Canon Rebel G gets 36 frames most of the time and occasionally 
37 (and it uses reverse loading... it preloads the whole film and then 
shoots backwards until the film is at the beginning), the Nikon 801s 37 
and occasionally 38 (always chopped by lab), the Nikon FM and FE, always 
38 sometimes 39 (usually chopped by lab).  Same film, same lab.

Now, those small autoload rangefinder cameras should have no problem 
getting 39, with current film lengths, but do they?

The thing with the autoload cameras is you barely have to pull any film 
out of the cassette before closing the back, meaning more unexposed film 
available.  The Manual loads usually require keeping the back open until 
you have rolled the film to the take up reel a few times.

People might think I'm crazy to worry about one or two or three frames a 
roll, but we're speaking about film and processing (and mounting 
sometimes) and 2 frames a roll for me can be 800-1000 or more frames a 
year... it adds up.

And now, having gone way off topic, I bow out of this discussion.

Art