Are HEWES reels THAT much better?

[J N]

Since my loading technique for stainless reels involves a little bit of gentle 'push & pull'.....the 'push' tends to push the film off of the Hewes reel 'prongs'....
(which makes me ululate my plight in an unseemly, churlish manner after the third time).
So no...not a fan.
But I do appreciate the build quality.

Practice loading without attaching the film to the hub at all. I used to do this all the time when using crappy reels if a particular roll wasn't in the mood to center well (generally because it was too curled). You don't need to have the film attached to the hub and you might find you prefer skipping that step. My periodic "push and pull" (to check whether the film is centered and moving freely between the wire spirals) is probably at most 1/4" though.

 

[Philippe-Georges]

Agree.

Especially for 120 in my experience.

I find good steel 120 reels (like Hewes, Nikor and Kinderman) much easier to load than plastic reels especially if you avoid the clip.
I never clip it to the inner core, just hold it with my thumb for the first rotation, and "place" the film in the rails, as J N says.

I find starting with the taped end of 120 towards the core makes things smoother for me when employing above method.

Agreed, the taped end clamped in the center core of the reel is the best way to go, particularly with the LPL reels.

And yes, plastic aren't that 'nice' to use for 120 film, not Paterson's nor JOBO's.
Pushing the 120 film into plastic reels, even when the reels are really clean and dry (which is a must), can be 'enervating'

Anyway, of all the SS reels I tried, I find the LPL ones stil to be the best!

To my experience, the advantage of the LPL is that large clamp in the center.
One can put the film's taped end onto the opening of that clamp without closing it. Then very slightly pulling, unrolling, the slightly bended film towards the end of the reel so that it centers its selves in between the flanges of the reel, and then locking the clamp just behind the taped end.
Then unrolling, loading, the film into the reel goes as twice as nothing!
The secret lays in the fact that the film must be perfectly centred, and clamped alike, in the reel before loading it...

 

[eli griggs]

I have a mix of Hewes and other steel reels as well as Paterson plastics and I like the Hewes pattern reels, simply because they feel more 'solidly' built with heaver wire, or that's what i imagen, though I've really never felt the need to sort any brand out because they are all, knock on wood, equal to the simple job they are made for, so a four or five reel tank can have a mix of brands, andusual for me.

 

[darkroommike]

I saw some ilford hp5 reels that were on ebay recently, they looked like hewes(the center stamped metal thing) they were apparently for 72exp rolls from the late seventies and were probably too big to fit in a "standard" tank any one ever used those?
Yes hewes reels are worth it

The were two versions of the "72" I'm sure the stainless steel one was a Hewes reel. I think (and it's been a long time) that the metal one would fit in a regular tank but that the plastic reel needed a tank with a larger diameter. It's been 20 years, so my recollections might be wrong. The "winder" film was a great idea pre-digital. Some reporters had been doing that for years with Estar based fast Kodak films.

 

[darkroommike]

Philippe, I see that LPL products are still available new, but more than 30 yrs ago when i bought my assortment of tanks (Kinderman & Nikor) they weren't readily on the shelves in Canada. & I've never had to replace any. The best thing i did was to give away the first Paterson tank i had.

LPL made a pretty good knock-off of the 35mm Hewes reel at one time. The metal finish was much more matte and it had both two hooks and one hook so you didn't even have to cut the leader off.

 

[darkroommike]

My Pen F's 72 exposure rolls fit just fine on a regular 35mm reel.

Those of you who have shot 72 exposure rolls will know the feeling that they are like 4x not 2x as long as 36 exposures. Will this roll never end?!?

But wait.

What size reel do you need for a Nikon MF-2?

Nikor made one for 100 feet in both 35mm and 70mm. You definitely wanted the winder to load that bad boy.

 

[eli griggs]

Nikor made one for 100 feet in both 35mm and 70mm. You definitely wanted the winder to load that bad boy.

Do you or anyone else know of other steel reel makers that made the 70mm?

When I bought my first Hasselblad kit back in the early 1980's, I bought a Jobo tank and reel, which was a brittle looking clear plastic reel.

I wish I still had it and a loader, just because though a stainless reel for 70mm is more appealing than the plastic Jobo, IMO.

 

[Randy Stewart]

I have a few Hewes reels but my favorites are old Nikkor reels for 120 and Kindermanns (with their loader) for 35mm.

The old Nikor reels seem to have used a much thicker wire diameter than the no name reels. This makes them much easier to load in my experience. I have not tried a Hewes. I started to make an impulse purchase of a Hewes 120 reel at my local store, and nearly dropped it when informed of the price. If didn't already have a wealth of old Nikor reels in various sizes, I probably would have purchased it anyway. (Yes, we still have a few good brick and mortar photo stores in the Portland, Oregon, area.)

 

[Patrick Robert James]

I've used pretty much every type of reel at this point. I think Hewes are the highest quality/most durable. Kindermann reels are good too but it depends which ones. The one with the resin center can go out of round because the spiral part is inserted into that, but they can also be adjusted for the same reason. For loading Hewes reels I've found that after I insert the film if I kink it on the end then the sprockets don't disengage when I do the slip test to make sure the film is loading correctly. That makes a big difference. After I started doing that, Hewes are probably my favorite. I suppose if you combined Hewes with the Kindermann clip I'd be happy. Kindermann also has the loader which I guess is a plus. I have the loader but I don't think I've ever used it.

I also have JOBO reels. Those are easiest to load (as long as they are clean) by just pushing the film on them. If you do get a snag it is almost always at the indent part of the reel so just pinching it there takes care of it. Loading 120 on JOBOs is a piece of cake once you get the film started. Just hold the film and spin the reel. Super quick. JOBOs also hold two 120 rolls per reel (1500 series) so they are great if you have a lot of film to develop. Not so great though are the bubbles that almost always get stuck along the reel edge with 120. They were the main reason why I switched to stainless. If you are using JOBO with rotary agitation though the bubbles shouldn't be a problem.

I think overall though you get a better flow of chemistry through stainless reels versus plastic reels.

 

[Vaughn]

...

I think overall though you get a better flow of chemistry through stainless reels versus plastic reels.

Agitation methods with SS reels are a whole different and extensive topic. I prefer the throw-it-over-the-shoulder technique (twice over each shoulder) with a bit of a thunk on the counter after. Good exercise with a double 120 SS tank!

 

[eli griggs]

I've never used two sets of agitation methods with SS or Patterson reels/tanks, EXCEPT, for a slightly less powerful 'rap' on the bottom of the jug/tank.

5:30 sec, or 10:60 sec, the agitation is the same vigorous flip/drop/figure 8 with a sharp rise, and second flip/drop/figure 8, repeat, about three times in five seconds or five to six per ten seconds of development time, wash, fixer initial agitation, etc.

Negitive and E-6 (which I've not done in years) density is good with both methods so I'm happy with both types of reels and tanks.

About the Paterson reels, I've mentioned it before but any dampness in the ball bearing feed mechanism will jam the feeding action, and cut sprockets can do the same thing, leaving broken 'tabs' in the tank and reel.

It might be that, Jobo reels are more 'tightly' spaced, as I recall, than Patterson and ss reels, and impreed liquid flows, which would demand longer inversion and upright return times to get the same volume of chemistry moving over the film.

When I started out with developing negitive's and slides, I used Paterson kit, however, when I started freelancing, including B&W darkroom work, I switched to ss only, as it was faster to load and I rarely ran out of dried reels and never had to cope with wet bearings.

Does anyone using any type of reel and tank not tape the closed lids in place?

IMO.

 

[mshchem]

I started using Jobo machines, in spite of better judgment, about 10 years ago when I got a deal on a bunch of equipment. I like Jobo, it's really neat.

I used nothing but Paterson for decades, color black and white, used water bathes etc. So simple.

I love darkroom gizmos, I have Hewes reels, easiest SS 35mm reel for me. I even have a few Hewes reels for Jobo I bought before I learned how to load Jobo.

I would recommend Hewes reels to those who want to use SS

 

[GregY]

I've used pretty much every type of reel at this point. I think Hewes are the highest quality/most durable. Kindermann reels are good too but it depends which ones. The one with the resin center can go out of round because the spiral part is inserted into that, but they can also be adjusted for the same reason. For loading Hewes reels I've found that after I insert the film if I kink it on the end then the sprockets don't disengage when I do the slip test to make sure the film is loading correctly. That makes a big difference. After I started doing that, Hewes are probably my favorite. I suppose if you combined Hewes with the Kindermann clip I'd be happy. Kindermann also has the loader which I guess is a plus. I have the loader but I don't think I've ever used it.

I also have JOBO reels. Those are easiest to load (as long as they are clean) by just pushing the film on them. If you do get a snag it is almost always at the indent part of the reel so just pinching it there takes care of it. Loading 120 on JOBOs is a piece of cake once you get the film started. Just hold the film and spin the reel. Super quick. JOBOs also hold two 120 rolls per reel (1500 series) so they are great if you have a lot of film to develop. Not so great though are the bubbles that almost always get stuck along the reel edge with 120. They were the main reason why I switched to stainless. If you are using JOBO with rotary agitation though the bubbles shouldn't be a problem.

I think overall though you get a better flow of chemistry through stainless reels versus plastic reels.

I've got a stack of Kindermann reels in 120 & 35mm. I've never had one go out of round.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I've got a stack of Kindermann reels in 120 & 35mm. I've never had one go out of round.

For the less expensive reels, one drop from the hands or table to the floor is all that it takes to make reels out of round or no longer parallel from one side to the other.

 

[MattKing]

For the less expensive reels, one drop from the hands or table to the floor is all that it takes to make reels out of round or no longer parallel from one side to the other.

this is true for some less expensive reels. On the used market, it is hard to differentiate between the good quality, less expensive reels and the poor ones. I've got a number of no-name reels that are excellent, but unless you can actually handle them, it is hard to know.

 

[GregY]

For the less expensive reels, one drop from the hands or table to the floor is all that it takes to make reels out of round or no longer parallel from one side to the other.

I agree....but Kinderman aren't among those....

 

[Patrick Robert James]

I had a couple Kindermann that were out of round. Because of the way they were made though they were an easy fix.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I have taken some of the non Hewes reels and gotten them back to round again or gotten the two sides parallel again so that they work but generally I was much happier with the Hewes reels.

 

[GregY]

Anything you drop from a height is subject to the laws of gravity & impact forces. Has anyone ever cracked a Paterson tank or reel or dropped a lens??

 

[eli griggs]

Anything you drop from a height is subject to the laws of gravity & impact forces. Has anyone ever cracked a Paterson tank or reel or dropped a lens??

My favorite zoom lens in my small Canon bag took a tumble of three feet on my F-1N and an plastic ring just behind the back mounting ring broke a 'pin' off, the only real damage I've ever had with a FD lens.

I've also cracked a plastic tank, when it was unloaded and dry, it happens.

However one thing I believe, the better makes at the least, that helps mitigate ss reel drops, is they are made of spring steel, thus fewer good reels go out of square within reasonable drop limits of three to five feet, IMO.

Does anyone else know if non- spring steel being used by anyaker, past or current?

 

[eli griggs]

I also, in an older post, described the simplewood form I used to re-extend reels that have a crushed down winding fixture

 

[GregY]

I also, in an older post, described the simplewood form I used to re-extend reels that have a crushed down winding fixture

I didn't see that post, but my Nikor, Kinderman & Hewes have all survived decades of darkroom use unscathed.....

 

[J N]

Agreed, the taped end clamped in the center core of the reel is the best way to go, particularly with the LPL reels.

And yes, plastic aren't that 'nice' to use for 120 film, not Paterson's nor JOBO's.
Pushing the 120 film into plastic reels, even when the reels are really clean and dry (which is a must), can be 'enervating'

I'm 99% sure you know what you are talking about and this is just the way you phrased it, but "pushing" film into the plastic reels is not how it works. Twisting the halves of the reel back and forth "ratchets" the film in. It works extremely well in a darkroom and is pretty close to foolproof. In a changing bag, claustrophobic but doable. I do 100% of my film in a changing bag these days as I no longer do anything that involves a darkroom. (My chemical printing, when I do it, is salt prints or other alternative processes.)

But I've always preferred metal reels as they are compact and simple and easy to clean, and I enjoy the precise, tactile process of loading.

 

[J N]

Nikor made one for 100 feet in both 35mm and 70mm. You definitely wanted the winder to load that bad boy.

I don't think I've ever in my life even seen a 70mm still system (and I have cameras from Tessina to 8x10), but here's a guy who has ....

Photographing On 70mm Film in 2020

Hasselblad & NASA I have long held an interest in those NASA space flights that culminated in the Apollo 17 landing in 1972. I never tire of reading and learning about the Mercury, Gemini, and,…

tasmanianfilmphotography.wordpress.com

 

[Philippe-Georges]

I'm 99% sure you know what you are talking about and this is just the way you phrased it, but "pushing" film into the plastic reels is not how it works. Twisting the halves of the reel back and forth "ratchets" the film in. It works extremely well in a darkroom and is pretty close to foolproof. In a changing bag, claustrophobic but doable. I do 100% of my film in a changing bag these days as I no longer do anything that involves a darkroom. (My chemical printing, when I do it, is salt prints or other alternative processes.)

But I've always preferred metal reels as they are compact and simple and easy to clean, and I enjoy the precise, tactile process of loading.

Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't that 'ratchets' action somewhat 'pushing' the film into the reels grooves?