Absolutely correct. My apologies for slandering the Aaton 35. User error is usually the main culprit with most things and I failed to acknowledge that. Being that you work at Abel you would know much more than I about that camera. I?ve only worked with it a few times and my comments relied primarily on the reputation and ?horror? stories I have heard about the camera from other competent assistants. I was looking for something to post about because I got an email a while ago saying my membership would be ended if I wasn?t posting, I guess in order to make room for people who used the site to it?s full potential. Is that still the case? I like reading but don?t post anything. So, anyways, I was shooting from the hip to a certain degree, but my intention was to be helpful and maybe steer the questioner away from the Aaton 35 for his first 35 shoot. Personally I found loading it fun and everything turned out fine. But something you said should be taken into consideration "when loaded by a competent assistant"...not usually the case on student films. I think the Aaton 35 is still a bad idea for a student. Unless of course the student and or his assistant are well versed with difficult displacement mags you have to completely thread in the dark. I think I will lurk back into the shadows and only read these forums.