Any trick to re-spooling 120 to 620

Jim Andrada · Aug 18, 2016

I have a Kodak Medalist that I've brought out of "retirement" and have re-spooled a few rolls of 120 onto 620 spools (which, I was surprised to discover can still be bought new)

I first re-spool the film to get it "back to front" and then re-spool again onto the 620 spool. I have a hard time keeping the film from "creeping" a bit as I get close to the tape at the front. Anyone have a trick up their sleeves?

Along the same line, has anyone modified the camera to take a 120 spool on the supply side?

Thanks much.

ozphoto · Aug 18, 2016

I had a few problems when I respooled my first few rolls too. If you can practice with a dud roll, you'll get the hang of it and see what tweaks you can implement to make it easier - being able to see what you're doing in the light, helps a lot!!

For me, I just ensure to keep some tension as I rewind it back onto the 620 spool. If it has a slight "bulge" at the tape end, I've gently lifted the tape from the backing paper and resealed it flat.

So far no problems, but I'm sure there will be someone else who can advise a better method than mine.

cb1 · Aug 18, 2016

I understand that if you have extra 620 rolls it is easier to roll the film onto a 620 roll and then back onto another 620 roll. it helps keep the taped end aligned. (120 to 620 to 620) instead of unrolling a 120 and then winding it on a 620.
I have not done it yet, but I read about it.

John51 · Aug 18, 2016

My bathroom doesn't have a window so is ideal for respooling. Although toilet seats are made to be sat on, not so the lids. Learned that the hard way. So now I sit on the side of the bath.

I have an offcut of 1" chipboard, about 18" x 4" that I rest on my lap while sitting on the edge of the bath. I wind the roll as tight as I can onto a 620 spool. Then do it again. No need to retape the film so far. The 2 spools are never more than 4" apart. Most of the time they're about 1" apart. Having the offcut on my lap helps a lot.

I only do one roll at a time so I put tape on the respooled film in the light.

kenj8246 · Aug 18, 2016

For me--and I also wind 120-620-620--the 'trick' was in getting the free end of the film onto the spool and tight on the final rewind. I keep the two spools very close together which allows me to spool straight, keep tension on both and ensures little to no 'lump' at the taped end. It helps--a LOT--to sacrifice a roll and figure all this out in the daylight.

Rick A · Aug 18, 2016

Spooling onto an extra rel is the trick, the intermediary spool doesn't necessarily need to be 620, but the final spool does. I spool onto a spare 120, then onto the 620. The real trick is keeping the film tight on both spools. You'll know if you got it right when you get to the "beginning" of the film on the final spool. It either rolls on smoothly, or you get the dreaded hump in the film at the tape. It takes a bit of practice, but really is simple.

mbmoehl · Aug 18, 2016

There's an Instructables post out there showing how the plastic 120 spools can be modified, trimming the lip down and sanding them thinner. I did this for one roll to shoot it in my great grandfather's Argus 40 and it worked great. I was really worried that dust from sanding the spool ends would wind up on the negative, but i was careful. The film seems to be wound tightly enough with plenty of extra paper wrapped around it that no dust got on it. I would consider doing this again over trying to re-roll it. But that's my only foray into medium format film.

Paul Howell · Aug 18, 2016

Same as above rather than respooling I have luck with using nail clippers to clip the edges of the 120 spool and using sand paper to sand the top and bottom of the spool until it just fits the camera. I use a couple of old all metal 620 spools for the take up spool. I have a Tourister so not sure it the same process with work with a Metalist but may be worth a try.

canvassy · Aug 18, 2016

I also trimmed the edges down on a 120 spool to fit. My camera is a Kodak Vigilant Six20, and there's some sort of light leak because almost all of the film was black. Trimming the spool worked to fit it in there tho

Jim Andrada · Aug 18, 2016

Thanks much! I tried re-spooling first onto a 120 spool then to a 620 spool and also using two 620 spools - for some reason this seemed to work better. I found out that catching the film at the untaped end and getting it seated well onto the new spool was pretty important and now I'm not getting so many humps - maybe a tiny bit but practice does seem to help! I had actually thought of using a film back to do the first 120 - 120 re-spool to keep the tension correct - maybe I'll try that tonight. Tension does seem to matter!

BobMarvin11225 · Aug 18, 2016

Before I had Ken Ruth convert my Medalist II to 120 I would run the film through a 120 camera first, so I only had to manually spool it one way. I used my Rolleiflex, which lets you crank the film through without stopping if don't put it under the roller, but any camera would do.

MattKing · Aug 18, 2016

BobMarvin11225 said:
Before I had Ken Ruth convert my Medalist II to 120 I would run the film through a 120 camera first, so I only had to manually spool it one way. I used my Rolleiflex, which lets you crank the film through without stopping if don't put it under the roller, but any camera would do.

A Mamiya C series camera is ideal for this, with its straight film path.

Andrew O'Neill · Aug 18, 2016

I'm not familiar with this camera, but for my Hawkeye, I trim the edges of the 120 spool every so slightly, otherwise you'll get edge exposure on the film. It rotates more freely in the supply slot. A 620 spool takes up the film in the take up slot.

Jim Andrada · Aug 18, 2016

I have a few Mamiyas - 645, 7II and RB67. I think I can wind the film through the RB67 - will try tonight. Got my first 2 x 3 sheets back from the lab today. A couple of screw-ups but the good neg looks really nice. I have a roll loaded and will give it a try tomorrow. Ballpark, what does it cost to convert the camera to 120?

Dan Fromm · Aug 18, 2016

Jim, I'm not sure Medalist conversions to 120 are still available. Ken Ruth has announced that he's retiring at the end of the year and is taking on no more projects. Who else does this work?

Jim Andrada · Aug 19, 2016

Grimes/Adam Dau might do it I guess. I'll send him an e-mail. I think it's easy to modify the supply side, maybe trickier to do the take-up side, but supply side only would be fine since new 620 spools are readily available.

LAG · Aug 19, 2016

Excuse me

No special trick here! but i must say that i always (and only) wind 120 to 620 once (when using my Kodak Brownie Flash IV)

John51 said:
My bathroom doesn't have a window so is ideal for respooling. Although toilet seats are made to be sat on, not so the lids. Learned that the hard way. So now I sit on the side of the bath.

Two lessons for the same price, that hurts! Anyway, even without window be careful not to have more surprises! It's much better a changing bag

Darko Pozar · Aug 19, 2016

I purchased 120 to 620 Custom 3D Printed Spools from www.holgamods.com and chose from an array of colours (my preference was black), and never looked back at re spooling 120 film
to 620 spools.
They also offer different size adapters for different film formats...
You can find them on the bay as well!

John Wiegerink · Aug 19, 2016

Darko Pozar said:
I purchased 120 to 620 Custom 3D Printed Spools from www.holgamods.com and chose from an array of colours (my preference was black), and never looked back at re spooling 120 film
to 620 spools.
They also offer different size adapters for different film formats...
You can find them on the bay as well!

I don't really understand this 120 to 620 custom 3D spool? I checked the link out and didn't see that. I like the spool adapters they have for other formats to 120 film, but saw nothing for 620 and cannot see how it would be possible to even make any kind of adapter for 120 to 620 since the spool sizes are so close.

John51 · Aug 19, 2016

fwir, trimming down 120 won't fit in a Medalist. Even the new plastic 620 spools can jam.

I can't see how 120>120>620 can avoid the hump. The larger diameter of the 120 spool means that the non taped end of the film is going to be in a slightly different place than if 620 was the intermediate spool. If you've got an extra 620 spool, why bother with 120>120?

John Wiegerink · Aug 19, 2016

Darko Pozar said:
I purchased 120 to 620 Custom 3D Printed Spools from www.holgamods.com and chose from an array of colours (my preference was black), and never looked back at re spooling 120 film
to 620 spools.
They also offer different size adapters for different film formats...
You can find them on the bay as well!

I don't really understand this 120 to 620 custom 3D spool? I checked the link out and didn't see that. I like the spool adapters they have for other formats to 120 film, but saw nothing for 620 and cannot see how it would be possible to even make any kind of adapter for 120 to 620 since the spool sizes are so close.

John51 said:
fwir, trimming down 120 won't fit in a Medalist. Even the new plastic 620 spools can jam.

I can't see how 120>120>620 can avoid the hump. The larger diameter of the 120 spool means that the non taped end of the film is going to be in a slightly different place than if 620 was the intermediate spool. If you've got an extra 620 spool, why bother with 120>120?

Yes, I tried the trim method and gave up on that real fast. The tolerances on the Medalist are so tight you just spend far to much time trying to get that 120 spool down to 620 size for the Medalist. The first time I tried it it was so tight that I got two or three frames then my counter went wonky cause the toothed roller was stripping the film. I then went to re-spooling, but not without beginners error. The first two or three spools went fine and the results were fine also. Then disaster hit! My son was playing Rocket Football and it was team picture day. Well, I thought I'd bring my Medalist along and get some shots of the team also. I re-spooled some Fuji Velvia onto 620 spools and headed for the practice field. I thought I got some great shots until I got the film back from processing. Most of the shots were fantastic, but there were two that showed my re-spooling error. One was the team photo and all the player were fine except the two on the end. That's where the film hump/bulged was. Their face had the right perspective, but their shoulders were about 50" wide. They looked like boys heads on pro-football players bodies. One of the boys was a friend of mine down the road. When I showed him those transparency's he said he absolutely had to have a print made of that one shot. He loved it and said he was going to put one on the wall of his office at work. I just cut the frame and gave it to him since I didn't even want to mess with it. That was around 25+ years ago or so and I've learned much since then. When I got my first Madalist I could still buy plenty of 620 Kodak in both B&W (Verichrome was my favorite) and color. I now re-spool using the re-tape method and have never once had a problem since. I have hundreds of cameras (yes, my wife tells me I'm a camera hoarding idiot), but the Kodak Medalist II is my No.1 favorite of all of them. Of course the Kodak Monitor 620 isn't bad either.

Hatchetman · Aug 19, 2016

A little practice makes perfect. I am far from being Mr. Coordination with my hands but I've not had a problem after the first few tries. Just keep those two rolls tight as can be as you roll one to another.

Jim Andrada · Aug 22, 2016

Just heard back from Adam at S. K. Grimes. He said that they don't work on Medalists, so no idea where to get it modified for 120. Oh well... not the end of the world.

JohnMeadows · Aug 25, 2016

cb1 said:
I understand that if you have extra 620 rolls it is easier to roll the film onto a 620 roll and then back onto another 620 roll. it helps keep the taped end aligned. (120 to 620 to 620) instead of unrolling a 120 and then winding it on a 620.
I have not done it yet, but I read about it.

This is what did it for me!

trythis · Aug 25, 2016

New injection molded spools are alao available here.
Dead Link Removed

Any trick to re-spooling 120 to 620

Jim Andrada

ozphoto

cb1

John51

kenj8246

Rick A

mbmoehl

Paul Howell

canvassy

Jim Andrada

BobMarvin11225

MattKing

Moderator

Andrew O'Neill

Moderator

Attachments

Jim Andrada

Dan Fromm

Jim Andrada

LAG

Darko Pozar

John Wiegerink

John51

John Wiegerink

Hatchetman

Jim Andrada

JohnMeadows

trythis

Any trick to re-spooling 120 to 620

Moderator

Moderator

Attachments

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency