Darkloading (was: Ilford SFX 200)

["Willem-Jan Markerink" <w.j.markerink@xxxxx>]

On  9 Sep 96 at 18:26, Bobbie Doyle wrote:

> So, here I am, with both hands in a black changing bag, sweating profusely
> in the 90 degree weather, with several species of insects swarming my
> head. I just said a few choice words, pulled the camera out of the bag
> into broad daylight, proceeded to try and load the film and never got the
> darn stuff to load even in full view. So, I got the second roll (the
> expired one) threw the changing bag in the back of the car and proceeded
> to load the expired roll in daylight for God and all to see.

I bear with you....
But: no pain, no fame....;-))

Just keep thinking about how photog's had to struggle in the past,
without self-loading motorized cameras. My old Minolta 9000 gave me a
good impression of that, and my Horizon panorama camera is an even
worse night mare. There are only three solutions to this problem:
practice, practice, practice. Start off loading your camera with your
eyes closed, *everytime* you load it, no matter what film. If you are
a real sadomasochist, you even grab your darkloading bag everytime
you have time to use it, just to get the hang of it. Keep doing it; a
few months lack of exercise is sufficient to forget the essentials
on the worst possible moment. Murphy says hi....;-))

If it comforts you: I once poked my finger through the shutter of my 
EOS-1 while darkloading it. I was hanging in my skiboots, on a steep 
slope, on a mighty cold day. I couldn't feel shit with my frozen 
fingers, and I thought I grabbed the film....when my finger was 
halfway through the shutter, I realized things didn't feel like they 
supposed to feel....8-))
(although I had a second body with me, my subsequent ~!@#$%^&* was
later reported to be the cause of a major avalanche) 

The good part of the Horizon darkload nightmare is that I can't ruin 
anything inside; the shutter is a metal cylinder with adjustable slit 
width....but it took dozens of film to get the hang of it!

Have patience....and practice!

--
Bye,

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The difference 
between men and boys
is the price of their toys

<w.j.markerink@xxxxx>
[note: 'a-one' & 'en-el'!]

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Topic No. 7