RELOADING LURE CAMERAS

1. Memorize these instructions since you can't refer to them in the dark; better yet, run through the steps with the lights on with scrap film.
2. Gather all your items together -- 16mm film, scissors, and film template.
3. Wash your hands thoroughly, or use film gloves (obtainable at most camera shops) in order to avoid getting oil or dirt on the film.
4. The front and back of the camera -- the camera shell around the "guts" -- is held onto the "guts" with plastic tabs.  The front has two tabs and the rear has only one.  To get the camera apart, you need to squeeze your finger tips into the seam along the front of the camera while pulling the back away from you.  It takes quite a bit of pressure to accomplish this.  You can use a screw-drive or other implement but you'll end up chipping the plastic.  Part of the difficulty is that you have to do this in dim light -- so as not to expose the film in the camera.  The front and back pieces tend to stick -- even though they are not glued -- and there is no way of knowing what will come off first -- or at all.  And when they do come apart, they come apart quickly with pieces flying across the room.  But to change the film, you have to get the back off -- at least.
5. Once the front and/or back is wiggled and pulled off, remove any loose items for later reuse.   You need to make sure you don't lose any of the pieces that might fall out.  The pieces that are most likely to come off are the viewfinder glass (front and read), the shutter release, the front lens element, and the film-feeder-chamber cover. A little bit of glue will keep these in place in the future -- don't glue the film-feeder-chamber cover.
6. Next, if the "guts" of the camera it still attached to the front of the camera, try it undo it.  This will take some tugging and twisting, but nothing is glued.  Once again, "watch" for loose pieces to fall off.  The most likely items are two shutter release items on the bottom.  So hold the camera upside down when pulling out the "guts".  If you can't get the front to detach, it's still possible to load the camera.  
7. Turn the lights off and remove the film that's in the camera by pulling up on the film advance knob.  It's one sealed unit with a slot for the film.  If the front of the camera is still attached, you need to bend the advance knob backward, but the plastic is pliable and will not break.  Also remove the cover on the film feeder compartment  -- a little plastic disc.
8. Unwind the film and paper backing and place the film in a light-tight container for later processing.  Be careful not to pull the paper too far or fast -- it's attached to the film advance knob on one end.  If it tears or separates, reattach it with some tape.
9. Cut a 16.25" length of film, using a template, ruler or whatever you can device. A yardstick with a notch or piece of tape at 16.25" will work fine. (The Lure is designed to use ISO 40 film, but you'll get the best results with a film in the ISO 100 range.  And although any type of 16mm film, regardless of perforations, will work, you will get image cut-off with perforated film.)
10. The film is a litle shorter than the paper backing, so that when they are rolled up together they will fit.  First attach the film to the take-up spool with some of the tape that attached the paper backing.  Then match up the end of the film and the end of the paper backing.  Wind the film and paper tighly into a roll starting at the end. Make sure that the emulsion in wound in toward the center of the roll.
11. Slip the film roll into the feeder compartment of the camera. TEMPORARILY attach a piece of tape over the cover so that it does not fall off.  
12. You can turn on a dim light at this point.  
13. Feed the film around the film plane and drop the film advance mechanism back into its compartment.  If the front of the camera is still attached to the "guts", this is the hard part.  You've got to pry up the two tabs on top of the spool chamber and slide the tabs into the slots on the film advance knob.  The slot on the advance knob is just below the arrows on the sides of the knob.  It helps if you have three hands and/or a screwdriver.  Just be patient and keep trying.  You'll get it.  
14. Take the tape off of the feeder compartment.
15. Press the front of the camera back on (if it is detached).  Make sure all of the parts are in the right place.
16. Press the back of the camera back on .  Make sure all of the parts are in the right place.
17. Make sure the shutter mechanisms are set correctly (carefully turn the film advance knob and release the shutter to make sure everything works).  If not you, get to take it apart and start all over.

Not the easiest camera in the world to reload, but if you can do it, you'll be the only one on your block using a Lure!  P.S. That little clear window/tab on the front of the camera?  It exposes a little dot on the bottom of each exposure.  It's not important to you.  Maybe it was used by the manufacturer's processing.  So if you loose that tab, it's no big deal.

FRONT DESK.

COPYRIGHT @ 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 by Joe McGloin. All Rights Reserved.