Bulk and film

[Graham.b]

Afternoon, who out there uses the above method. I am thinking of doing so.
After pricing up it dose start out to be a little shade less than a 100 (£), is there a saving after the first out lay, what other advantages are there. To re use the cass, is there a chance of damage to the light trap.

Regards
Graham

 

[Nick Zentena]

100 pounds for what? Used bulk loaders are fairly cheap today. Cassettes aren't that expensive.

You need to watch prices for the 100' cans. It doesn't seem to be the deal it used to be. There are other reasons to do. It's easier to store a 100' can of film in the freezer then 18 rolls of film. You can load whatever number of frames you want. Others I'm sure. But it isn't the money saver it used to be.

 

[Graham.b]

I have to agree with the space in the fridge, where our eggs and butter should be there are films.

 

[Claire Senft]

There is always the chance to damage something. It has not proven to be a problem for me. I would advise not reusing the cassette to the extent that the top or bottom lid could pop off for you.

As far as equipment is concerned very little is required if your film loading area is sufficiently dark...obviously the reqirements are much more stringent with Delta 3200 than it would be Pan F+.

I do NOT use a bulk loader. I start by cutting strips of tape for attaching the film to the spool. I am sitting at a clean table while doing this. I attach my pieces of tape on one end to the film spool. I have a scissors, spools, cassettes cases and tops and bottoms where they are easily found in the dark. I attach the bottom lid to the cassette(s). The spools are arranged so that when they are picked up in the dark the bottom of tghe spool is on the bottom. I have the same orientation for the cassette case with bottom lid attached. Now all i have to be able to find in the dark is my spool(s), cassette case(s), top lid(s), film canister and scissors. Everytghing to this point is done with the lights on.

I turn the lights out. I open the film canister. I take the film bag with the film from the canister. I have the bag at my RIGHT hand with the film end that is loose pointing to the LEFT. The film REMAINS in the bag...this helps to prevent dust from getting on your film stock. I pull the end of the film stock from the bag and attach it to to film spool in my left hand. I turn the spool to the left until it is full. I cut the film from the film stock spool a couple of inches away from mu cassette spool. I pick up my cassette case with the RIGHT hand with the lid on th BOTTOM. I insert
the spool of film with the BOTTOM of the spool being downward into the cassette. I locate a cassette lid and install it on the top. I BE ALL DONE. GEEZ THAT WAS EASY. I continue doing this un til I have loaded as many cassettes as I wish to load. I close the film bag. I put it back into the canister. I close the canister.

Now comes the fun part.

There is a lot of money that can be saved with bulk loading if you can buy the bulk film at a good price. You can also load very short spools of film for, as an example, testing.

So, Graham you better get crackering.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Price out the film you actually plan to bulk load. Figure 18 rolls of 36 exp. per 100 ft. Sometimes, between grey market sources of film and where the film is available from in bulk rolls, it doesn't work out to be enough of a savings to do it for economic reasons, though there are other reasons, as mentioned above. All things being equal, though, it usually works out to be about 50% savings.

 

[Markok765]

I got around 40 rolls of film[36exp] from $110 worth of bulk film.

 

[Anscojohn]

The savings are there; but in ye oldene dayz there was an additional advantage: some really interesting films were not available in anything but bulk rolls. For myself, I bulk load all my 35mm film and do not own a bulk loader. Three push pins in the darkroom door jam provide the lengths needed. I blow out the cassettes before storing them in an old coffee can with a plastic lid. Another "blow" before getting ready to reload seems to prevent any kind of dust problems. My only (very) occasional problem is a film not properly attached to the spool: a case of operator error, usually because I am in a hurry in the dark.

 

[mgb74]

The economics can vary based on the film and where you buy it. In other words, some films and vendors have a much lower cost per frame with bulk versus 36 exp cassettes. You have to assume a limited life for cassettes if you want to avoid possible scratches (depends on how you use them and how much risk you're willing to accept). Bulk loaders (as noted above) are cheap on the used market - at least in the US.

As to storage, I don't see a lot of difference. Certainly, long term storage of a bulk roll is more compact. But if you load the full bulk roll storage savings is moot. And if you store the roll in the bulk loader then it's less compact. You could load and unload your bulk roll into the loader, but then it's a lot of freeze/unfreeze cycles.

What I really like about bulk loading is the opportunity to load short rolls (i.e. 12 exp).

 

[PhotoJim]

The savings are there; but in ye oldene dayz there was an additional advantage: some really interesting films were not available in anything but bulk rolls. For myself, I bulk load all my 35mm film and do not own a bulk loader. Three push pins in the darkroom door jam provide the lengths needed. I blow out the cassettes before storing them in an old coffee can with a plastic lid. Another "blow" before getting ready to reload seems to prevent any kind of dust problems. My only (very) occasional problem is a film not properly attached to the spool: a case of operator error, usually because I am in a hurry in the dark.

That's still true. Try to get Double-X in anything but a 400' can.

 

[Graham.b]

All good points, as i see it, it is more of what i can load as to what they sell in the store. There is a an advantage in that, i only need 10 shots, as to leaving a film in the camera for a period of time. As to how many films i use, may be more on the 120 than 35, i do seem to have a lot of 35 in the fridge.
Thankyou all, i will look in to bulk film, with the advantage of what you use to what i do not and leave in the camera. This is a good point.

Graham