Hi guys,

I've just bought a Century graphic and am just about to load it up with film.

I downloaded the instructions and am a bit confused.

The instructions are fairly easy to follow up to the point where it tells you to line up the start of the film with the arrow etc.

However, it goes on to say that for colour film you need to line it up with the white dot instead.

Why is it different for colour and black and white film?

What happens if I get it wrong - do I end up with 7 pictures instead of 8 or does the alignment get screwed up and I end up with the frames overlapping or something?

Thanks for your help.

Jeff

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What happens if I get it wrong - do I end up with 7 pictures instead of 8 or does the alignment get screwed up and I end up with the frames overlapping or something?

The only thing that will cause overlaping on a Graphic roll film holder is a dirty gear train.

Quote:

The instructions are fairly easy to follow up to the point where it tells you to line up the start of the film with the arrow etc. However, it goes on to say that for colour film you need to line it up with the white dot instead. Why is it different for colour and black and white film?

I just noticed the white dot. I checked an old roll of color and the leader is longer than B&W film roll.

FWIW, when I load Ektachrome in my RH-8 and line up the arrows, frame spacing comes out correct and I get 8 shots/roll.

Charles, take out a roll of scrap film and try loading it incorrectly. I've found that when I don't line up the arrows or use very thick ancient film (I have some, bought for the 620 spools its on) frames will overlap. The gearing sort of makes an assumption about the takeup spool's diameter when all's ready to start advancing the film.

Cheers,

Dan

Dan, I'm surprised that the "ancient film" was "very thick," given that really tiny diameter 620 spindle (axle, shaft, whatever it's called). Seems that would make it very difficult to wind on, at least for the early frames, not to mention film curl from the tight winding. BTW, I read somewhere that the original 120 spindle was made of wood, like a dowel, thus the larger diameter (which was continued with the switch to metal then to plastic spools).

Don't get me started on Kodak's marketing stupidity in developing 620, 616, etc., out of perfectly good 120, 116, etc., an act of arrogance if there ever was one (well, Sony Beta also comes to mind).

End of rant....

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Charles, take out a roll of scrap film and try loading it incorrectly. I've found that when I don't line up the arrows or use very thick ancient film (I have some, bought for the 620 spools its on) frames will overlap. The gearing sort of makes an assumption about the takeup spool's diameter when all's ready to start advancing the film.

Dan,
FWIW, I have only had my hands on 1 RH10 and 1 Graphic 22 and 1 Graphic 23. When loading B&W film correctly I was getting overlaping from middle to end of roll. Disassembling and cleaning the gear train solved the problem. Others that I have recomended the cleaning to have reported correct operation after cleaning. One can take a perfect working Graphic roll holder, remove the top cover and put a little thick grease on the gears and it will start overlaping the film immediately.

Once your roll holder starts overlaping reguardless of how you load it then try cleaning the gear train. One can test the operation using the backing paper only from a roll of film rolled on a spool and run it thru just as if it were a regular roll of film. When using the paper only remove the darkslide, wind to frame 1, mark the edges of the frame on the paper with a pencil, advance to the next frame and mark edges repeating this sequence until the end is reached. Film thickness has very little effect on the spacing.
Charles