Can i respool film under a red light?

[J Rollinger]

I need to respool some 35mm Tmax on a 127 spool, Can i do this under my red light or do i have to be in complete darkness?

Thanks

 

[2F/2F]

hmmmm................

I think you should read the data sheet for the film if you really don't know the answer to your question.

 

[SuzanneR]

Complete darkness.

 

[David William White]

Total darkness. Unroll the paper and tape it to a clean desk or floor. Cut some masking tape to the right lengths for taping the film to the backing paper. Tape the 'start' end, and temporarily tape the far end -- you will have to reposition the tape after you've got it almost all rolled up. Just keep the film somewhere down the middle of the backing paper.

I usually do 4 or 5 rolls at a time -- in for a penny, in for a pound -- so to speak. It gets easier and faster with each session.

For total darkness, do this in the basement at night or something similar.

Have courage and godspeed!

 

[sanking]

Just leave the main room lights on. Re-spooling film can be confusing and to do a good job a bright light on the subject would be very helpful.

Sandy

 

[Sirius Glass]

Just leave the main room lights on. Re-spooling film can be confusing and to do a good job a bright light on the subject would be very helpful.

Sandy

Yeah, what he said.

If you do this you will not have to worry about fogging the film.

But all seriousness aside, the only way you can respool 35mm film under red light would be if it was ortho film. I cannot think of an ortho 35 mm film made to day. anyone know of one?

Steve

 

[archphoto]

I wish I knew, have been shooting a lot on ORTHO on 6x7......
35mm ? Never tried actualy, not even 30 years back.

Peter

 

[J Rollinger]

Just leave the main room lights on. Re-spooling film can be confusing and to do a good job a bright light on the subject would be very helpful.

Sandy

Very funny!

 

[J Rollinger]

Yeah, what he said.

If you do this you will not have to worry about fogging the film.

But all seriousness aside, the only way you can respool 35mm film under red light would be if it was ortho film. I cannot think of an ortho 35 mm film made to day. anyone know of one?

Steve

I have some Adox Ortho in 120 but cutting it down would be a bigger issue but at least i could see what i was doing.

Thanks

 

[nickandre]

I have some ortho film in a bulk roll that expired in the 80s... want some?

 

[J Rollinger]

I have some ortho film in a bulk roll that expired in the 80s... want some?

Thanks for the offer but i have 127 film coming from Freestyle. I just want to shoot this 4x4 tomorrow so i need to re-spool a few rows until i receive my order.

 

[srs5694]

I've got some old Tasma MZ-3L that's supposed to be orthochromatic. It's in very bad shape, though.

To the original poster: Most films, even B&W films, record red light -- that is, they're "panchromatic." That is, if you photograph a red object, it turns out gray, not black, since the film is sensitive to the red light reflected by the object. Thus, a red safelight will fog the film. The term "orthochromatic" (or "ortho" for short) refers to a film that's insensitive to red, like most B&W paper. Also, don't be thrown by the term "orthopanchromatic," which is applied to some films, like Efke's ISO 25 and 50 offerings. These films are sensitive to red light, but they're less sensitive than most films -- so a red object shot on one of these films will be darker than the same object shot on most films (assuming equivalent overall print darkness and contrast), but it won't be totally black.

 

[Stan160]

But all seriousness aside, the only way you can respool 35mm film under red light would be if it was ortho film. I cannot think of an ortho 35 mm film made to day. anyone know of one?

ADOX Ortho 25 is available in 35mm. I got a few rolls from Silverprint last year. It's still listed on their site.

Ian

 

[removed account4]

I have some ortho film in a bulk roll that expired in the 80s... want some?

what kind of ortho film ?

there are different strains of this film,
some is like litho-ortho ( asa 1 in sheets from freestyle )
and then there is the stuff like tri x ortho ..
it was asa 400 unlike its litho cousin
and did not need to be processed in funky developers
laced with restrainers to make it "foggy and kinda pictorial"
i used to process it (tri x ortho ) in dk50 all the time, complete darkness,
together with sheets of normal tri x ...
gave men a "ruddy" look
turned red lipstick completely black on women ... ( like some karsh portraits ... )

is your expired ortho litho or its cousin ?

 

[Anscojohn]

I need to respool some 35mm Tmax on a 127 spool, Can i do this under my red light or do i have to be in complete darkness?

Thanks

*********
complete darkness

 

[JBrunner]

AFAIK the only film that can be used with safelight is Ortho-Litho- such as APHS. Anything else will fog.

You can use certain IR wavelengths with night vision goggles...Mr. Bond.

 

[DJGainer]

Here's a thought, plenty of photogs use development by inspection and a dim green light. Would that work in this situation?

 

[Anon Ymous]

Here's a thought, plenty of photogs use development by inspection and a dim green light. Would that work in this situation?

Is half developed film as sensitive as undeveloped film? Probably not. If it's as sensitive as undeveloped film, I'll stand corrected.

 

[DannL]

I respool 120 film to 620 spools under an OC safelight. This remains a successful process because . . . I don't turn it on.


Did somebody say "complete darkness", yet?

 

[wogster]

I need to respool some 35mm Tmax on a 127 spool, Can i do this under my red light or do i have to be in complete darkness?

Thanks

The best place to find this information is from Kodak itself, they have technical info on all their film products, for Tmax you can find it here This is a PDF file so you need the Adobe Acrobat reader on your computer, most computers now have it pre-installed.

From page 3 I'll quote:

Do not use a safelight. Handle unprocessed film in total darkness. Do not develop these films by inspection.
Note: The afterglow from fluorescent lights may fog these films. Make sure your darkroom is completely dark before you handle unprocessed film.

I always get, print and read the technical information on all films I use, there is a lot of useful information in these documents. The one for Tmax films is a single document of 30 pages.

 

[David William White]

AFAIK the only film that can be used with safelight is Ortho-Litho- such as APHS. Anything else will fog.

You can use certain IR wavelengths with night vision goggles...Mr. Bond.

I've started using Efke Ortho PL 25 film recently for portraits and I've been developing under red safelight, and everything is a-okay. I've posted one of this batch in my gallery ("Beth"). No fog in the first dozen or so sheets.

 

[archphoto]

David, are you developing the ORTHO Lith in your paper developer too, like I used to do ?

Peter

 

[resummerfield]

.......You can use certain IR wavelengths with night vision goggles......

Actually, there are several folks that do use the IR Night Vision Goggles for cutting film, or developing by inspection. For re-spooling film, and getting the paper backing positioned correctly, the IR NVG may be just the ticket.

 

[David William White]

David, are you developing the ORTHO Lith in your paper developer too, like I used to do ?

Peter

Yes, APHS in diluted paper developer (bringing it down to 'film strength') and Efke Ortho in 1+12 Rodinal.

D.

 

[David William White]

Actually, there are several folks that do use the IR Night Vision Goggles for cutting film, or developing by inspection. For re-spooling film, and getting the paper backing positioned correctly, the IR NVG may be just the ticket.

Really? I kinda thought all you would see is your hands.