35mm Bulk Film & 250 Exp Backs

[aoresteen]

In the late 80's I used a Spotmatic Motor Drive camera & the 250 Exp back. I'm thinking about getting the Olympus Film Back 250.

1. 35mm Bulk film used to come in shorter rolls. I can't remember exactly but 27 feet or 31 feet comes to mind. An entire roll would fit in a 250 exp cart. Anyone know what the Kodak and Illford short roll lengths were?

2. How much film will a 250 exp cart hold? I'd need to cut it from a 100' bulk roll.

3. Anyone konw of a Nikor 250 exp tank & reel that might be available?

Thanks!

 

[Xmas]

17m or 30.5 m are the normal bulk lengths

 

[cmacd123]

I recall that Kodak made 50 ft rolls back in the 1960's - PX 402 and TX402. The 100ft rolls are TX401. Illford and Agfa made 17metre rolls. There was also a 417 roll, which was 100ft on a daylight spool and with Movie perforations with a leader and tail.

Kodak also listed but I never actually saw a TX410 roll which was 27.5 feet but already punched out with leaders and tails for loading as 5 36 exposure rolls, so would not be useful for the film backs.

250 Exposures is 31.25 feet, plus whatever leader and tail it needs to be loaded and processed.

 

[aoresteen]

Thanks Charles & Xmas!

I had forgotten that the 27.5' rolls were pre-cut for 36exp loads. I sold them in 1977 working in a camera store.

I must have cut 31' lengths to load into my 250exp Pentax back. I sold both 250exp backs and the Spotmatic MD camera to a collector in Germany in the early 90's IIRC.

 

[frobozz]

I've never seen 250-exposure lengths of bulk film sold like that. You just have to wind off about a third of a 100' roll directly into the cartridge using the winder that's available. (Just about all those 250 exposure backs were made by the same 3rd party company, tailored to each specific camera manufacturer, so most of the parts don't actually interchange, but I believe any branded 250-exposure winder is as good as another Nikon/Canon/Minolta/etc.)

I always put generous leaders on mine and still got three full cartridges out of a 100' roll, so right about 33.3 feet is full length with leader. 31.25 is I believe just the length of film that holds the 250 images.

I have the big Nikor tanks and reel that I believe hold a full 100' (no they're not for sale!) They made smaller versions but I've never seen them in real life or on ebay. I guess the 50' one would be easier to use for 250 exposures. When I had a 250 exposure back (original Canon F-1) I was shooting slides and got them professionally processed in a roller transport processor. I've now got the F-1n and the FN-100 back and I can do B&W in a big Jobo tank (forget the numbers) designed just for that. I popped off the cog and use a normal orange rubber lid and just inversion process it. Uses a lot more chems than roller transport, but they're cheap. I also purchased some of the Hewes reels meant for FN-100 film lengths (15-ish feet), plus the loader but have yet to find a tank they'll fit in. The Nikor long-roll 70mm tank is sooooooo close, but no cigar. With the proper winder you could easily load your 250-exposure carts with just 100 exposures if you wanted to use something like that. Buying them from Hewes is an adventure, but I'm sure it could still be done.

(I actually load 108 exposures, so it's an even 3x36, and that fits just fine in the cart with generous leaders. I guess FN-108 wasn't as cool a product name!)


Duncan

 

[mrred]

What I do to load my 16mm carts, is to have a premeasured string. In a dark bag I just run the film against the string and cut as appropriate.

 

[mopar_guy]

Tony, I have the Olympus 250 Film Back 1 and I use it occasionally. I don't really try to process 10 meter lengths of film.

There are a few options to consider for processing:

1. Use regular reels and tanks and cut the film randomly into about 40 exposure lengths. You end up wasting a few frames.
2. If you have several extra magazines, you can shoot and then stop midway through the full loading and take the half filled magazine out for processing and use an empty one for the take-up spool and continue shooting.
3. There was a long time ago a "Morse" film developing tank for use with 16mm or 35mm cine films that turn up occasionally.
4. The Lomo tanks that will hold 10 Meter lengths of film.

 

[aoresteen]

Tony, I have the Olympus 250 Film Back 1 and I use it occasionally. I don't really try to process 10 meter lengths of film.

There are a few options to consider for processing:

1. Use regular reels and tanks and cut the film randomly into about 40 exposure lengths. You end up wasting a few frames.
2. If you have several extra magazines, you can shoot and then stop midway through the full loading and take the half filled magazine out for processing and use an empty one for the take-up spool and continue shooting.
3. There was a long time ago a "Morse" film developing tank for use with 16mm or 35mm cine films that turn up occasionally.
4. The Lomo tanks that will hold 10 Meter lengths of film.

That's an option for sure. I have done 15' of 70mm film and have some spare 70mm reels. I might cut one down and do 15 feet at a time.