"Liopleurodon" wrote

Has anyone found a way of [handling film] not doing
this in complete darkness

Doing it in the dark is no problem after you get the knack,
there is a bumper sticker there somewhere. Get a few rolls
of expired/trashed/cheap film and practice in the daylight/
with eyes closed/in the dark until you get it. If it is
not going well, put it away and try again in a few hours/days
- sometimes the film, she justa don' wanna go.

Sweat will mark the film: keep a towel handy to keep hands
dry. If it is hot and sticky a fan can be a help.

With 35mm film there is _no_ reason to have to touch the
film face.

Most find the plastic Paterson reels to be easier to load
when starting out.

Some find that keeping the film in the cassette when loading
helps. Pull the tongue out with a 'leader retriever' or by
popping the cassette open, pulling the tongue and slipping
the spool back into the opened cassette.

If your camera winds the film 'backwards' [most manual
load 35mm cameras] and the film has been in the camera
for a while then it will take a reverse set and be hard
to load and handle. You may want to let the film rest in
the cassette for a few days or load the film from the
cassette

There are a few gadgets around to make loading film on
the reels supposedly easier. I have never tried them.

--
Nicholas O. Lindan, Cleveland, Ohio
Consulting Engineer: Electronics; Informatics; Photonics.
To reply, remove spaces: n o lindan at ix . netcom . com
Fstop timer - http://www.nolindan.com/da/fstop/index.htm