38 Frames Per Roll? How about 39?

[Galah]

Use an Olympus Pen half-frame and get 72 frames+

 

[nickrapak]

I routinely get to 38 on my OM-2 (I know, not a rangefinder), and I vaguely recall getting 40 once; it was probably on my Retina IIIc. However, whenever I am shooting B&W, I usually make frames 34, 35, 36, and E my "fun frames" (00 and 0 replace 34 and 35). If nothing good comes of it, they end up in the trash, but sometimes I find great shots that are taken with no thought whatsoever.

 

[softshock]

I get 39 frames no problem on all of the M's I've owned (M3, M4, M6 classic). I shoot on frames 0 to 38 inclusive, and thus get 39 images from a roll. Not sure what the M7 film counter dial looks like, if it differs from previous M's, where the frame counter stopped at 38.

Only thing to watch out for I've found, is that you cannot wind on after you shoot frame the last frame. I have to credit Ken Rockwell for discovering 39 frames were possible on an M. I doubt I would have tried it otherwise. Now I shoot 39 frames on all rolls put through my M3 and M4 (M6 sold), and contact sheet the rolls on 9.5x12 paper.

My DS M3 frame counter goes up to 45... Did they change the number at some point?

 

[snapshot2000]

What is this?????? Is this legit? Me want!!

Is this a recent roll? Back in the mid-eighties, Ilford had a roll called "Autowinder film" that gave 72 shots. I believe it was HP5 with a thinner emulsion to fit inside a standard cassette. I used it once, and had terrible tension marks along the sprocket holes. Never tried it again after that.

 

[softshock]

Is this a recent roll? Back in the mid-eighties, Ilford had a roll called "Autowinder film" that gave 72 shots. I believe it was HP5 with a thinner emulsion to fit inside a standard cassette. I used it once, and had terrible tension marks along the sprocket holes. Never tried it again after that.

That is what the photo is of, one of the old 72 shot Ilford HP5 rolls.

 

[Scheimpflug]

I am one who holds the opposite view. I find short rolls of 35mm annoying for most things.
...
I don't like changing film 1.5 times as often with a 24 exposure roll, nor do I like the difference in price per shot between 24 and 36 exposure rolls (with pre-rolled cassettes). I also do not like how short rolls make less efficient use of chemistry and increase lab costs per shot, when a lab is used. I find that filling a 36 exposure roll is easy...

I agree 100%.

It is also a much bigger deal on longer outings when space is limited, such as getting ready for a trip and dropping 12 24-exposure rolls into your bag, knowing full well that just 8 36-exposure rolls would have done the same job.
... and saved 4 rolls of developing costs as well.

 

[Scheimpflug]

Rollei 3000 series counters go to 72. To get that many shots one needs thin film. Ilford made some back in the 80s (as in post #38, .0035" thick). I have found some 35mm cine negative film that is also quite thin. Not thin enough to get 72 in a cartridge, but it will load around 60 shots.

Do you happen to have any more info on this cine film? Getting half-again more shots per roll would definitely be useful for me!

 

[Scheimpflug]

Why use cartridge at all? You could probably get at least a couple more frames with the space taken up by the cartridge metal. Has anyone actually loaded using only the spool?

I had given some thought to this as well. A while back, I wound up some developed film around an empty spool from a reloadable cassette, and to match the diameter of the cartridge, I think I ended up with around 60 exposures equivalent?

I didn't give it a go, as the camera I was using at the time (a Pentax SLR) would have required some modifications to avoid scratching the film. In particular, the slot for the cassette would have needed the big spring clip removed, along with the DX contacts... I was going to wrap the whole section with thin adhesive felt once those were removed.

I never went through with it, but it still seems worth investigating.

 

[ic-racer]

Do you happen to have any more info on this cine film? Getting half-again more shots per roll would definitely be useful for me!

The film I have came from a cardiac cath lab when they switched to digital. This was around the late 90s. They had quite a few stacks of the film but I just got one roll of 400 or 600 ft (I'm not sure exactly how long the roll is, there are no markings on the package or film.) I don't know what happened to it all (ie all the surplus cath film in the USA), I suspect it went to third-world countries. Over the course of about 5 years all USA cath labs switched to electronic imaging. A few years later I tried in vain to find any supplier of cath lab film to get some more and could find none.

 

[Dirb9]

For those of you shooting F2s, how about 750 exposures? http://www.cameraquest.com/nf2750.htm
Just throw in the whole 100 foot bulk roll.

 

[Obtong]

Without much effort, I routinely get 38 frames per roll of Tri-X on my M6. On my Canon A1 and AE1's I would sometimes get 37 pictures from a roll, never 38. My self-loading Canon A2e would always give me 36 shots per roll.

~Dom

 

[hpulley]

I accidentally got to 38 on my Canon TX today though it didn't feel like a full wind so I didn't shoot that last frame, I rewound from there in case 37 and 38 unded up overlapped. At first I feared I might have torn it off the roll but it rewound fine.

 

[Coffeehound]

You only get 38 frames, what a shame!

This was called HP5 "Auto Winder" if I remember correctly. I know that I shot at least one roll of this in Panama Jan-Feb of 1983. Really nice to keep going past 36!

 

[Rol_Lei Nut]

This was called HP5 "Auto Winder" if I remember correctly. I know that I shot at least one roll of this in Panama Jan-Feb of 1983. Really nice to keep going past 36!

I used it once "back then".
Apart from shotting "blind" past frame 40 or so, which I could have lived with, and cutting the roll in half to fit it on developing reels, which hurt miuch more, the film curled like crazy after developing: I wasn't able to make any contact sheets from it!

 

[brbo]

(old thread, I know)

How about 40?



Full 40 shots on a 36 exp. roll. And that's a Kodak roll which is just a bit shorter than Fuji pro 36 roll. Fuji consumer 36 rolls are shorter. I can get 21 shots on XPan with Fuji pro film and Foma, 20 with Fuji consumer or Kodak.

Even when loaded "in the wild" (not in darkroom), Contax T can reliably squeeze 40 shots on a 36 roll if you load it properly.

 

[Kodachromeguy]

Didn't film leaders become shorter once the industry stopped favouring rangefinders for SLRs, maybe early 80s? Seem to remember very long leaders when I started out mid 70s.

The long leader was for loading the film in Leica thread mount cameras. Under the bottom is a diagram of the length of leader needed for trouble-free winding.

 

[guangong]

Years ago I would shoot over 36 frames, but realized that the extra frames were a nuisance to file. So I stop at 36. Indeed, I have several cameras that refuse to advance film after 36 th frame.
There is also the problem that after shot number 38, when something interesting shows up, the shot is lost because film doesn’t advance to 39.

 

[Bill Burk]

@brbo Pretty amazing you hit the first frame right! I mostly got half a picture on my first shot.

 

[Huss]

(old thread, I know)

How about 40?



Full 40 shots on a 36 exp. roll. And that's a Kodak roll which is just a bit shorter than Fuji pro 36 roll. Fuji consumer 36 rolls are shorter. I can get 21 shots on XPan with Fuji pro film and Foma, 20 with Fuji consumer or Kodak.

Even when loaded "in the wild" (not in darkroom), Contax T can reliably squeeze 40 shots on a 36 roll if you load it properly.

Excellent! And you are correct, the ‘pro’ films are longer than the cheap ones. My Xpan gets 21 shots vs 20 w the consumer film, same as you.
The thing that bugs me about cameras like my F6 is no matter which 36exp roll I use, it will only give me 36 shots even though I see a massive blank lead that could have accommodated at least two more shots.
Here is 39 shots on C200 taken with my Olympus Trip 35

 

[benjiboy]

The pro way wen on assignment,was never to shoot more than 34 frames on a roll to avoid pulling the film out of the cassette.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Some of my camera will only shoot 36 exposures regardless of the length of the film. Others will shoot until the film runs out. I have gotten up to 40 exposures of occasion.

 

[ic-racer]

Picture from my post #13 above that is missing.

 

[AZD]

I wonder if you loaded the camera in a changing bag, would you be able to squeeze 40 frames?

Yes, I have tried just because. Also works with ortho film loaded under a red safelight. You have to cock the shutter before loading then proceed as usual.

 

[AZD]

Also, too bad the question was asked in 2011. I’m sure he figured it out a decade before I did… To knowledge!

 

[Helios 1984]

Tape an extra length of leader and you’ll get 2 more frames.