Newb question on inserting film holders.

On my Crown, it seems like the easiest way to load a film holder is to lift the ground glass up just enough to insert a couple of inches of the film holder, and then slam the rest home until it seats properly. Is this the proper way? Won't this tend to wear out the film holder and/or the felt strips along the top and bottom of the film gate?

Instead of slamming the rest home after inserting a couple of inches, I can, with some difficulty, grab the center of the back at the edges and lift it just a little more so there's less slamming and more gentle pushing. Kind of a PIA though, especially when standing.

So is slamming the thing home ok?

Slam away -- as a press camera, it was designed for non-delicate, fast operation.

That’s how I load my Speed Graphic

-Jason

That's how I did it when I had a Graflex camera (don't remember the model).

- Leig

After starting it on it's way you should be able to simply forcefully slide it home until the locking groove clicks over the ridge on the film holder,

Yep, got it down now. Just have to remember to remove the dark slide before clicking that shutter, and I'll it all together! Thanks for all the comments.

Using the 5x7 last week, I forgot to close the shutter before removing the darkslide -- alas -- I've been using LF cameras since 1979. I'll blame the people watching me and commenting on the 110 year-old camera I was using.

I wiped down all the friction surfaces to clean them, then wiped them down with a little furniture polish to make them slide easier. This worked for me.


Kent in SD