Canon Rangefinder

Hi all--
I recently bought a Canon II D rangefinder, from what I can find online it seems to be from 1952-1954. It's a cool little camera, but there is one thing that I ran into that I am curious about. To get the film to load/advance properly, I had to cut the film down to have an extra long leader. Is this the case with all of the older ones? The pictures in the manual show that film was like that back then...about a 4" long leader (narrower) part. Anyone familiar with this era Canon have any knowledge on this?
Thanks!
Matt

Don't know your Canon, but it is almost certainly a copy of a Leica (probably IIIf), and this is the way all screw-mount Leicas load. A half-width leader 100 mm long, tolerance plus a few mm, minus zero, is required, and as you will have found, the loading technique is to pull out the take-up spool, attach the film to this and then insert the spool and cassette held as steadily as possible into the camera together. Then ALWAYS wind on one frame before you re-fit the camera base, and watch the rewind knob to see that it rotates while you make the two blank exposures to start the film.

Some people will claim to be able to load an old Leica without cutting the leader, the only problem is, if you get it wrong, the wind sprocket may abrade small particles of film from the sprocket holes and these particles are hard to clean out! All 35 mm film cassettes were sold with the half-width leader when your camera was current, IIRC this changed around the end of the 1960s when Leicas no longer dominated the market.

Regards,

David

The problem with loading short leader film in bottom loading cameras like early Canons and Leicas is that the edge of the film tends to hang up on the film gate. This can be avoided by first slipping a piece of thin cardboard into the camera to cover the film gate. Then the film is inserted between the cardboard and pressure plate. The cardboard is removed and normal procedure is continued. It's more convenient to trim the leader as previously described, but sometimes we have to make do with what we have.

David is correct

Carry scissors or swiss army knife and cut back to the 22 sprocket hole, buy 'abalon' or clone template. shards of film can damage the shutter, 22 holes is the offocial Leitz recommendation

Noel

As a footnote, I find that, as a man with relatively large hands, my index finger measures 100 mm from tip to knuckle. Saves carrying a ruler!

I made a template from heavy cardboard and use it & a sharpie pen to make an outline on my film,then cut it out.

David
If I used my index finger I might draw blood...
Noel