>Of course it could be that they are making _absolutely_ sure that no
>pictures are being fogged by the loading process being a bit too short.
I suppose that could be used as a rationalization; but for years, the
preferred procedure in the instruction books for manual loading cameras was
to attach the leader and click of three frames before shooting wherein after
the third frame was clicked off you usually would up with the good frames
beginning on edge number 1 or 1a. There is no reason why the automatic
loading cameras cannot be set up to do the same, there would be no need to
shorten the leader. In fact most, automatic loading cameras, once the film
has been placed on the spool and the back has been shut, will automatically
wind off a couple of frames so as to get beyond the film frames exposed
while loading before allowing the shutter to be used. If by accident one
has used too much film in the process of loading these cameras, the
automatic winding off of a few frames still takes place; but the result will
be fewer possible exposures for that roll than what was suppose to be its
capacity. Thus, there is no reason why any frames at the beginning of the
roll should be fogged unless one opens the back.
However, this begs the question when it comes to the leader at the end of
the roll which has no occasion for getting fogged during loading and
unloading; they have also shortened this leader as well which is usually the
end that the spare frames get shot at. During processing, there are all
kinds of reasons why processors and lab personnel need leaders of two to
three frames in length at each end that either do not contain any images or
contain unusable images which can be damaged.
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-filmscanners@halftone.co.uk
[mailto:owner-filmscanners@halftone.co.uk]On Behalf Of B.Rumary
Sent: Wednesday, May 02, 2001 7:03 AM
To: filmscanners@halftone.co.uk
Subject: Re: filmscanners: OT: Film lengths was: Cleaning slides (PEC
tips)
In <3AEF6578.1010806@ampsc.com>, Arthur Entlich wrote:
> What I see mainly is wasted
> leader due to too much of it being "used" during the autoload process.
> The autoload feature should actually allow for extra frames is anything.
> This, I believe, is an "agreement" with maybe both film manufacturers
> and labs.
>
Of course it could be that they are making _absolutely_ sure that no
pictures are being fogged by the loading process being a bit too short. If
the first frame was partly fogged for this reason, you can be sure someone
would start suing for the usual 20 billion dollars for mental distress,
etc., etc.!!
Brian Rumary, England
