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The lab where you process the film will likely give you some cores for your shoot. You might want to look around anyway so you can find a good lab for processing your B&W film.<BR><BR>Dan Cordle <BR>(646) 235-8957 <BR><A href="http://www.dancordle.com/">www.dancordle.com</A><BR><BR><BR> <BR>
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Date: Thu, 19 Mar 2009 10:46:40 -0400<BR>From: bruinflight@gmail.com<BR>To: cinema@konvas.org<BR>Subject: Re: [Konvas] loading BW film<BR><BR>Ok, I think the 'dummy load' comment applies to me!!! <IMG style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: middle" src="cid:360@goomoji.gmail"> But seriously, I will follow these instructions and practice much before moving on. I have 7 cans of 400ft to load... no, it's not re-can or short ends... it's fresh from Kodak ($.35/foot) in good ol' Hollywood CA (no student discount either!!!)<BR><BR>I'm taking the plunge here, and doing all the research to try and avoid a train-wreck on the set.<BR>No splices in-camera then. I was wondering about that--how a splice would fit through those runners on the pressure plate. They don't! Ok, thank god, that was would have been a nightmare. I will practice on the dead film until my fingers get it down right, then off to the changing bag.<BR><BR>Anyone have a bunch of old take-up spools laying around they don't want? I think I need 5 or so. Haven't seen any on ebay lately. I suppose I could call a few local labs as well to see if they have anything.<BR><BR>Respectfully,<BR>B<BR><BR><BR>
<DIV class=EC_gmail_quote>On Thu, Mar 19, 2009 at 9:47 AM, t byrne <SPAN dir=ltr><<A href="mailto:vonat8@verizon.net">vonat8@verizon.net</A>></SPAN> wrote:<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=EC_gmail_quote style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex">Brandon,<BR>There are some serious misapprehensions at work here:
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<BLOCKQUOTE class=EC_gmail_quote style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex">I imagine one uses leader in order to squeeze as much out of the 400ft reel as possible-<BR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR></DIV>NO! Leader is only used in postproduction. Never try to run spliced film through a camera; it will jam and make a very big mess.
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<BLOCKQUOTE class=EC_gmail_quote style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex"><BR>Here is how I envision the process (I could be totally off here): you cut approx 1ft of throwaway from a "dead" reel (can you use throwaway still film? I read in recent posts the perfs are not the same though and may jam the mag...). Then you overlap the two by about an inch or so (it doesn't matter which goes on top ot the other? By top I mean the top is the exposed part facing the gate). You have to line up the perfs--this to me seems like it will be the tricky part, as well as making sure the two strips are _perfectly_ parallel. Then you use some kind of tape to affix the two together--and I am not sure which side the tape should go on to prevent jamming as well.<BR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR></DIV>Don't do any of that stuff (above). <BR>The references to leader, scrap film, etc. are all suggestions for practice loading (in the light). What you do is this: get a roll of scrap film (very old or lightstruck camera film that's worthless for shooting) only to practice loading the mag. Do this in the light many times until you are confident that you can load a mag by touch alone inside a changing bag. That's what the scrap film or leader is for--nothing else. <BR>
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<BLOCKQUOTE class=EC_gmail_quote style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex"><BR>Ok, probably got some of that right...<BR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR></DIV>Not really...let's rewind and start again--much of the way you envisioned this is wrong. <BR>First, study the tutorial pictures in the link Adam posted until it makes sense. (And ask more questions, because it can be confusing.) The references some people have made to cutting the film probably refer to the way you have to trim the leading edge of the film (we call it the tongue) so it will pass through the channel in the pressure plate (at the front of the mag where it mates with the camera). There should be a picture of this in the tutorial link. (The idea is that you cut off any sharp corners or ragged edges that you may find on the tongue of the film.) Often a short end may have been ripped in two or otherwise very sloppily cut and that can make the film hard--or impossible-- to thread into the channel of the Konvas mag. Ideally the film should be cut straight across--between perfs not through them-- and then a tiny triangle cut off each of the corners.) That's the only place you will cut the film, unless you don't shoot the whole roll and you want to save the short end. Your 400-foot mag will take a 400-foot roll, but be sure to use the "camera core" (it's called a core not a reel--a reel is used in post or on a projector--they're very different things) and not an edit core. Camera cores are 2 inches in diameter, edit cores are 3 inches.<BR><BR>One of the previous posts also seemed to be referring to loading the 200-foot mag. There are several big issues with the 200-footers that mean you should stick with the 400-foot ones on your first time out. One of these is the need to cut your roll down to 150-160 feet (in total darkness) so it will work in the 200-footer. But save that for later: get good at loading and shooting with the big mags and then try working with the small ones if you want to.<BR><BR>So, from the top, here's how I load up:<BR><BR>I lay out the mag and the can of film inside the changing bag and zip it closed. I open the can (I've already pulled the tape seal off before I put it in the bag) and remove the film from the light-tight plastic bag. I place the full roll of film on the feed spindle the right way around, so the film feeds correctly (see the tutorial). I feed the tongue through the upper drive sprockets (doing the press-the-button-and-turn thing with the drive roller) until the tongue protrudes past the little door at the top of the mag. Then I hold the drive roller release button down and pull several feet of film out. When I've done that, I put the lid on the mag and close it, open up the changing bag enough to pull out the tongue (most often I actually just pull it out through one of the sleeves of the changing bag) and then I trim the leading edge of the tongue so it'll pass neatly through the channel. Then I go back inside the changing bag, close it up and finish loading.<BR><BR>With the changing bag closed again, I remove the lid from the mag. I turn the tongue back toward the pressure plate and carefully feed it into the channel. (See tutorial pics again) On some mags, I push gently on the camera left side of the pressure plate to keep the film from binding as it passes into the channel. I slide the film along the channel, pushing slightly to the camera right side as I do--that helps it to ease into the channel and not jam. When I get to the end of the channel, I push in the little pin (see tutorial) and slide the tongue through and out the bottom (takeup) side. (Here is where I check the size of my top loop.) Then I turn the film around and engage it with the bottom drive roller sprockets doing the push-the-button-and-turn action again until the tongue emerges into the mag chamber. I slip the end into the slot in the takeup core (I never use tape of any sort inside the mag) and turn the core until I get at least two full wraps of film on the core. I check the size of my bottom loop now. Then I close up the two little doors at either end of the pressure plate and replace and lock the lid of the mag. I remove the loaded mag and tape up the lid.<BR><BR>This is the basic process. As you get this down cold, you will also want to make sure the loops look like they do in the tutorial pictures and you'll want to remember to slide the film in the pressure plate very gently unti the little pin (the one you had to push in at the bottom of the pressure plate earlier) pops into one of the perfs. This will make sure that the perfs are aligned with the pulldown claw when you load the mag onto the camera.<BR><BR>Let us know when you've got the mag loading procedure mastered (in the dark) and then we'll move on to loading it onto the camera. It's less tricky than loading the mag but there are some quirks you want to know about.<BR><BR>Terry Byrne
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