Tel
Subscriber
These things are never simple. Not all "red window" cameras are the same. The cheapo point and shoot cameras like my old Brownie Starmite and my even older Brownie No. 0 Model A rely on the frame number to appear for each frame. Some more upmarket ones, like the Primo Jr./Sawyers Mk IV and the Yashica 44 rely on the red window just to set the film on frame no.1--the camera's mechanical frame counter takes over after that. The Yashica 44A was the cheap version, so it requires the red window for each frame. The Rollei Baby has a mechanical switch that senses the leading edge of the film and starts the count automatically--no red window required at all.
Edit: But to answer your question, all I need to do when I'm rolling up 127 film is to mark the position of frame number 1 on the backing paper, because I nearly always shoot with a Primo or a Rollei. (Obviously not necessary at all with the Rollei.)
The Brownie No. 0 shoots a 4x6 image. Oddly, the red window reads the same set of numbers (in the center of the backing paper) that the 4x4 cameras read. I don't recall now how that works! Here's an example:
station by terry, on Flickr
Edit: But to answer your question, all I need to do when I'm rolling up 127 film is to mark the position of frame number 1 on the backing paper, because I nearly always shoot with a Primo or a Rollei. (Obviously not necessary at all with the Rollei.)
The Brownie No. 0 shoots a 4x6 image. Oddly, the red window reads the same set of numbers (in the center of the backing paper) that the 4x4 cameras read. I don't recall now how that works! Here's an example:
