Complete Guide to 70mm Film

film4eva · Jul 3, 2025

I was wondering about that. I was thinking that it'd be difficult to fill and drain in close timeframes to balance out the amount of dwell time at two given, distant, points on the film.

I guess the other thing is for me to really decide if I even want to chase 70mm, or if 65mm could be my jam.

MCB18 · Jul 3, 2025

Nokton48 said:
I have found that you need a slow-working developer, as it takes a couple of minutes to fill or dump my Kindermann, it's like weight lifting, you will get a workout. I use mine with ADOX Borax Replenished which is a D76 Derivative. With Replenished Microdol-X Straight Replenished very long times are appropriate for me; I've gone as long as 28 minutes with some films. Just Sayin".

To solve this issue I plan to just develop in my darkroom, at least for now. Would need to find a way to time dev and agitation in the dark, but this is probably pretty easy to do. I am designing a developing tank for 70mm and 65mm that I am trying to get fill and dump times as fast as possible (30 seconds ideally), but we’ll see how that works out.

Nokton48 · Jul 11, 2025

DSC05808 by Nokton48, on Flickr

This one I own has a 4x5 Graflok Back on it. I think I paid $35 back then.

DSC05820 by Nokton48, on Flickr

I filed out this Omega 4x5/70mm Carrier to take full frames from my smaller Beatty Coleman. Can see the sprocket holes in the edges of the prints.

OrientPoint · Jul 24, 2025

For those of you looking for a 70mm developing reel and accompanying tank:

Rare Kodak 70mm Stainless Steel, Unperforated 100 Ft Roll Film Processor | eBay

The 70mm Stainless Steel 100 Ft Roll Film Processor by Kodak is a high-quality film processing machine designed for film photography enthusiasts. With a sleek stainless steel construction and a length of 100 feet, this processor is durable and capable of handling large amounts of film. Kodak, a...

www.ebay.com

MCB18 · Jul 24, 2025

OrientPoint said:
For those of you looking for a 70mm developing reel and accompanying tank:

Rare Kodak 70mm Stainless Steel, Unperforated 100 Ft Roll Film Processor | eBay

The 70mm Stainless Steel 100 Ft Roll Film Processor by Kodak is a high-quality film processing machine designed for film photography enthusiasts. With a sleek stainless steel construction and a length of 100 feet, this processor is durable and capable of handling large amounts of film. Kodak, a...

www.ebay.com

Wow, AI description spotted. Womp womp.

Also, this doesn’t come with the loader, and it is not going to be possible to load without that… trust me I tried. After about a hour I managed to get maybe 50 ft on there in the light. You will have to build yourself one if you get this.

OrientPoint · Jul 24, 2025

How were you trying to load film onto this sort of reel? I've seen large crank loaders for this type reel for sale pretty inexpensively from time to time. The loader is bulky but quite lightweight. I have one that I got about 10 years so (with the reel). I don't have the tank though. I ended finding an old Jobo 70mm tank + loader set soon after, so I've not had to mess with loading these big stainless reels, or get into finding a tank. These days I use the crank loader I have to roll film from cans into a bulk loader.

MCB18 · Jul 24, 2025

@OrientPoint I do have the loader for it, I think I showed a picture of it earlier in the thread. With that I can load the reel in about 2 minutes. It’s a giant piece of equipment as well though and probably weighs 10 lbs on its own, so it is not light nor small. It’s not like the JOBO loader, which I imagine is what you are thinking of.

I was attempting to load the reel just on a table without the loader to see if it was possible to do, out of curiosity more than anything… it’s really not.

OrientPoint · Jul 24, 2025

I see your post now. My loader looks like yours. It it large. It is not heavy though. Maybe 3 lbs and seems to be all aluminum. The Jobo loader is plastic and particle board. Feels flimsy, so I'm always concerned I'm going to snap the guide. It works well though (at least until I do manage to break it).

Nokton48 · Jul 25, 2025

DSC05899 (1) by Nokton48, on Flickr

70mm Nikor reel in Kindermann Tank by Nokton48, on Flickr

blee1996 · Jul 25, 2025

Anyone happen to have photos of the Jobo 70mm reel and tank solution?

Sonynolta User · Aug 11, 2025

Found me some goodies. Nikor Tank & Reels. Just need to 3d print a cap for the lid.
One reel is a bit worse than the others, but I think it can be salvaged.
If I could just figure out how to get one down to 65mm. But they look pretty solidly built.

MCB18 · Aug 11, 2025

I had a slitter printed for 105mm film, I added a blade for 70mm. Might be a good film to have some fun with.

MCB18 · Tuesday at 10:21 PM

In case anyone here hasn’t seen this yet, I found an extremely good deal on some 70mm cassettes in double lindhof cases. Considering that even 1 cassette usually goes for almost twice this online, this is a super awesome opportunity to stock up on cassettes.

https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/2x-70mm-film-cassettes-in-double-storage-containers.215664/

aoresteen · 2025-09-03T11:35:16-0400

I have never used 100 feet all at once. I have a 70mm bulk film loader. My 70mm reels hold 15 feet of film.

I built a daylight tank for them using a daylight print tank that I cut down to fit the 70mm reel.

I am down to my last 50 feet of Ilford 70mm HP-5 double perf film.

Complete Guide to 70mm Film

Attachments

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency