Hello,

I have a rather interesting question, and I could not find any answer in the archives here or at photo.net.

In the Leica R and M cameras, how does the short edge of the frame align with sprocket holes (on film)?

I know my question does not sound too clear, so here is the issue: I shoot slides, mostly, and I mount my own in Wess AHX500 mounts. These mounts have pegs on the long dimension. The sprocket holes on film fit neatly into these pegs. The great advantage is that the film is held flat and slides don't 'pop' during projection. It is a great way of maintaining flatness without glass mounts. However, if the inter-frame gap intersects a sprocket hole, the slide cannot be aligned to the mount. In other words, the short dimension for any frame, when extended must pass through the gap between two sprocket holes.

My question is: Is this necessarily true for any of the Leica M or R cameras? FWIW, this is not true for the Canon AE-1, but is always true for a Nikon FM2. I am thinking about moving into Leica, but this is an important issue for me.

Here is a crude diagram where the short dimension intersects a sprocket hole. I need this to never happen.

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 |-----------------| | | | | | | | | |-----------------| 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Thank you for your time.

Regards,

-- Vijay A. Nebhrajani (vijay_nebhrajani@yahoo.com), March 15, 2002

Answers

Sorry - the diagram does not show correctly. It is the formatting engine; here is a representation of the top left corner...

0 0 0 0 0 0

|----------

-- Vijay A. Nebhrajani (vijay_nebhrajani@hotmail.com), March 15, 2002.

Vijay: Your diagram is not very clear. To paraphrase the question: Does the space between the frames pass through the sprocket holes or between them? Is this correct?

On my M6 and M3's, the space between the frames does not pass through the sprocket holes. This is the same alignment on my son's Nikon FM2. I believe this is the same on the R's but I have not shot enough with it to find a roll to confirm. I hope this helps.

-- Mark A. Johnson (logical1@catholic.org), March 15, 2002.

My apologies for the diagram, Mark. But yes, your understanding of the question is correct. And thanks for your answer.

-- Vijay A. Nebhrajani (vijay_nebhrajani@hotmail.com), March 15, 2002.

Vijay:

I just checked my R4 and the image alignment is similar to the M's.

-- Mark A. Johnso (logical1@catholic.org), March 15, 2002.

Thanks Mark. I take it that the alignment is always proper... that the alignment does not go out of whack sometimes...

-- Vijay A. Nebhrajani (vijay_nebhrajani@yahoo.com), March 15, 2002.