What film is in your camera?

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I sometimes have to ask myself this question. I know it sounds silly, but with two M6's one very often having color and the other loaded with B&W, I'm not always sure which film is in my camera.

I've even gone so far as to simplify the situation by narrowing down the films I use to two color and two b&w, so I have about a 50/50 chance of guessing based on film speed alone.

Any tips or tricks to keep track of what film is in your camera?

This is my first time posting here, so forgive me if this has been answered before.

Thanks b~

-- Bob Flores (bobflores@attbi.com), April 13, 2002

Answers

Well I do not mix b&w with color, my Ms are exclusively b&w. But since I normally carry two bodies, either an M2 & M3 or two M6TTLs, .72 and .85. What I do, mostly so I can tell them apart in the camera bag, is for the M3 and M6 .85 I wrap a piece of red tape at the base of the camera strap. Cheap, simple and fool proof. You could also put a piece of tape on the back of the body and write what kind of film is in the camera. The other way I know is the M6 .72 and M2 have short camera straps and the M6 .85 and M3 long camera straps.

-- Steve LeHuray (steve@icommag.com), April 13, 2002.

Bob, when shooting things like weddings with all the hub-bub, it's easy to mix up which is which. One way I've used is a black Soft Touch on the camera with B&W, and a red one on the color camera.

-- Marc Williams (mwilliams111313MI@comcast.net), April 13, 2002.

Bob, Great new invention--Masking Tape.

: )

-- Charles (c.mason@uaf.edu), April 13, 2002.


This is exactly why many cameras designed in the last ten or fifteen years have a little window on the back.

-- Jeff Spirer (jeff@spirer.com), April 13, 2002.

The best way to do this is to only use one kind of film.

I use Tri-X.

Modern cameras with the little windows also help.

-- Pete Su (psu@kvdpsu.org), April 13, 2002.



Lutz has an "S-???" filmreminderthingie that you can stick on the back of your M.

-- Jack Flesher (jbflesher@msn.com), April 13, 2002.

Another way is to keep a chrome body for one kind of film and a black body for the other kind of film.

-- Doug Landrum (dflandrum@earthlink.net), April 13, 2002.

My M4 has a film speed setting on the back with 3 icons. B&W color print and slide. The M3 has something similiar. I guess you lose things when you get a light meter.

-- Chad Hahn (thehahns@cornhusker.net), April 13, 2002.

Since I usually always carry my TTL in the lower half of Leica's own never-ready case, I just shove the film's cardboard box leaf in behind the case's backside, which also has the big hole in it (oops...) for the ASA-dial. Apart from all that, I always note the same -- apart from other goodies -- in my tiny film notebook.

-- Michael Kastner (kastner@zedat.fu-berlin.de), April 13, 2002.

Reminds me of the two (pick despised ethnic group of your choice) who were traveling cross-country on horseback. When they made camp the first night out, they got into a discussion about how each would identify his own horse in the morning. Finally, they agreed that each would tie his horse to a tree close to his tent. Unfortunately, both horses got loose during the night, but fortunately they didn't go far and the two men were able to catch them easily in the morning. But now the arguement began in earnest: which horse is mine and which is yours?

Finally, one of them said, "Look. Let's quit wasting time on this. You take the white horse and I'll take the black horse and let's get out of here."

-- Dave Jenkins (djphoto@vol.com), April 13, 2002.



Bob, there are some very good suggestions here, but can I ask a question? Why shoot black and white and color, why not just color print film? Modern color print film is incredible and can give you a lot more than black and white in my opinion. That way you can have the right lens on each camera to make your work/fun more fun. If you don't already have one, get yourself a good negative scanner, a very good printer and make your own prints, both black and white and color at home on a computer. Most scanners and printers come with a version of Photoshop that is perfect for this. My two cents. DAYTON --------------------------------------

-- Dayton P. Strickland (daytonst@bellsouth.net), April 13, 2002.

You could make a habit of always loading color in the camera with the higher serial # and b&w in the one with the lower #. Or you could use different kinds of straps (or mark the straps) on the two cameras.

If you're forgetting which type of film because it's been loaded in the camera so long that you've forgotten what you put in, then you need to shoot more! : )

-- Mike Dixon (mike@mikedixonphotography.com), April 13, 2002.


I shoot Tri-X 98% of the time, so this isn't a huge issue for me. But I can usually tell what film is loaded by the ISO the camera is set at. I shoot tri-x at 400 (dev in rodinal) and T max p3200 at 1600 or 3200. On the rare times I shoot color, it's most likely Kodachrome 64 or 200. So I can always tell what film is loaded just by looking at the speed I set since all the films I use are different speeds. Of course, it only works if you remember to set the speed correctly. ;)

As far as using color neg for BW prints, I've found that with proper scanning and conversion in photoshop, you can get an incredible tonal range. HOWEVER, the work has a very different look from shooting on real BW film. IMHO, it's too smooth, and when enlarged, the grain structure is not as pleasing. I like the texture I get from Tri-x. But of course that's just my opinion and you should experiment to see if it's right for you. If you like a smoother look, color neg is great.

-- Noah Addis (naddis@mindspring.com), April 13, 2002.


I have an black M4-2 and an chrome M2. The first ALWAYS has B&W, and the second ALWAYS has color. When I was using one camera, I'd make little masking tape labels for the tops of my film cans ("TX", CN400, etc.) so I'd know what was in them, and when I loaded the film I'd transfer the tape from the top of the can to the top of the camera.

-- Michael Darnton (mdarnton@hotmail.com), April 13, 2002.

Just a suggestion. Try quick release painters tape; works well. Mine is something like puce in color. Not my favorite shade but that is what I could get. ;<)

Art

-- Art (AKarr90975@aol.com), April 13, 2002.



There are at least two good answers. First, Lutz's slide:

http://www.konermann.net/slide.html

(sorry, I don't know how to make it a clickable link).

Second, Tom Abrahamsson's softies, which come in a number of different colors. You use a specific color for a specific type of film.

http://www.rapidwinder.com/#softrelease

-- Rolfe Tessem (rolfe@ldp.com), April 13, 2002.


Interersting tricks, everybody. What I do is write the name of the camera (for me the two bodies are Leica M and Minolta CLE) on the little film plastic film box. Silly, because I have to carry them with me when I load my cameras at home before leaving, but it works. I'll try some of your tricks, guys. This discussion prompts me to make a comment: isn't it a shame that film manufacturers have almost entirely abandoned the cardboard box, off which you could tear away the top and slip it in the slot at the back of your camera (I also shoot with a couple of manual Nikon SLRs.) What cost-cutting will make you do!

Olivier

-- Olivier Reichenbach (olreiche@videotron.ca), April 13, 2002.


Fuji Superia 100. The good color film of course. I prefer Tri-X or T- Max for my black and whites and yes, T-Max is the bomb (Selgado stuff) no diggity.

-- Alfie Wang (leica_phile@hotmail.com), April 13, 2002.

Bob

I use a childish way to ensure that my earlier Ms (no meter) like M3 and M4 are always loaded with B&W and my newer Ms (with meter) 2x M6 bodies always loaded with color films. Regarding the type of films, I use Afga APX 100 or 400 or Kodak T400 for B&W and Kodak PJ100 or Gold 100 for the color. Hope it helps.

Greg

-- Greg (greg_choong@yahoo.com), April 13, 2002.


Thanks for the suggestions guys. I do have a chrome and a black so I spose I could always keep color in the chrome and b&w in the black, but it's usually a matter of what I reach for first. I shoot color (Kodak VC) pretty rarely except on those occasions when I'm asked to, or get the William Eggleston itch and just need some color. Other than that it's either Tri-X or Acros.

I don't think I'll be giving up "real" b&W for the forseable future. Got too much invested and love my b&w darkroom too much to give it up for anything digital. Guess I just love the smell of toner and the stink of fix too much.

Think I'll try the painters tape for time being until I can get my hands on one of these slotty-filmy-holder thingys.

Thanks again. b~

-- Bob Flores (bflores@attbi.com), April 13, 2002.


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