Catlabs tape question and Hasselblad backs

[What About Bob]

Some time ago I was reading where some people's Hasselblad backs were being jammed due to the sizing of the tape being used on Catlab films, causing the film to come off from the paper backing. I believe the past post I had read was regarding the ISO 80 film, which is what I currently have on hand.

Whenever I use Catlab films I have resorted to using either my Rolleicord or Yashicamat 124G for the flatter film plane, thinking that this would be the safer way to go. Has anyone here experienced any issues with this film in Hasselblad backs? Thanks

 

[0x001688936CA08]

The product development process at CatLABS seems to be something like "what's the minimum viable product I can sell for the maximum price to noobs and suckers".

All their products are just repackaging exercises. They are just a retail store. Their knowledge of the used product they sell is also not great, in my experience.

 

[BrianShaw]

I had tape jams using Ilford film. Not a regular problem but it happened. Never experienced thatcc bc with the small amount of CatLabs film that I’ve used.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

I refuse to buy any CatLabs films — they are all just rebranded products from other manufacturers and CatLabs has been completely disingenuous about owning up to that fact. Reading the description of Film X-80 suggests that it was custom designed for CatLabs and is the modern equivalent of Panatomic-X, and that is just marketing speak BS. They are just repackaging existing products, mainly Foma and Shanghai.

Yes, they are repackaging film, but is not Foma or Shanghai. Now please let's keep this on topic.

 

[mshchem]

I've never tried Catlabs film.

 

[mshchem]

I've bought Jobo stuff from Omer over the years. Always helpful, but too the point. From my understanding a lot of folks use their sheet film, and 120. Catlabs is doing very well, photolab etc.
I've probably spent 6-7 grand, no problems.

 

[What About Bob]

I've never tried Catlabs film.

My first experience with Catlabs was over a year, maybe two years, ago with the 320 pro version. I was using D-23 at the time. From what I remember: D-23 wasn't a listed developer for this film. At the time I didn't have the extra chemicals to make D-76 and I had only bought a couple of ISO 320 rolls to play around with so I stuck with D-23 to try to make things work.

I tried D-23 1+1 and even Barry Thorton's recipe with the metaborate and got decent results in the midtones but I remember that I couldn't really tame the highlights all that good even when using the Barry Thornton method. I hope to give the 320 film version another shot at some point using D-76. I think one of the Pyro developers was a match for this film? I do have Pyrocat-HD but I think it was a different Pyro developer that was listed as a good match for this film.

Last year I bought a good handful of the Catlabs 80 when I started doing black and white reversal. For reversal the Catlabs 80 is amazingly good. I was able to get a good neutral black from it. Just whatever you do be careful about using a solvent in the first developer with this film. I used half of what Ilford recommended, 6 grams of thiosulfate instead of 12, and got great results with T-Max 100. I used this same half amount of solvent for the Catlabs 80 and there were almost no images on the negative strip! I then decided to just omit the solvent completely and the film came out fine. For negative processing I will be finding out shortly with homebrew D-76. At some point I would like to try with D-23 though this may not be a good match with this film version either.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

I've been using CatLabs 80 II 4x5 and 8x10, for a few years. It's a very capable film, that responds very well to Pyrocat-HD (and HDC), XTol, D-76, and D-23. I usually dilute it 1+1... My favourite is with Pyrocat, though.

 

[0x001688936CA08]

Catlabs is doing very well, photolab etc

Without actually using their lab I have no way to know, but judging by some of their example images (this and this) for "their" color film / Aerocolor, I can't imagine their service would be worth the money, even at $6/sheet for dev and scan.