Converting 120 to 620

[BrianShaw]

Ditto

 

[Sirius Glass]

I do not expect to have a dirt problem with respooling.

 

[250swb]

Here’s where theory meets practice: with even casual cleanliness I respool 120 to 620 all the time and no issues with dust on the film. And it’s fast and easy!

'It has never happened to me' is advice that often falls flat at the first hurdle because a) everybody has their own level of cleanliness either practically or tolerance wise, b) not everybody has the required aptitude for certain tasks, and c) 'it has never happened to me' does not mean it can't happen. And as we've seen there is no universal advice regarding re-spooling, everybody has their own way which also happens to be the best. So re-spooling like nibbling at the plastic spool is not the goal, it isn't victory, it is simply a tactic used in scoring the goal, which after five pages it's worth remembering is to make a great photograph.

 

[BrianShaw]

I agree with everything except calling it ‘advice’. It’s simply a report of personal experience.

Hopefully those kind of positive experiences can quell somebody’s potential anxiety.

 

[Sirius Glass]

'It has never happened to me' is advice that often falls flat at the first hurdle because a) everybody has their own level of cleanliness either practically or tolerance wise, b) not everybody has the required aptitude for certain tasks, and c) 'it has never happened to me' does not mean it can't happen. And as we've seen there is no universal advice regarding re-spooling, everybody has their own way which also happens to be the best. So re-spooling like nibbling at the plastic spool is not the goal, it isn't victory, it is simply a tactic used in scoring the goal, which after five pages it's worth remembering is to make a great photograph.

It never happened to me because I regularly clean out my changing bag and leave it zipped up to help keep the dirt out.

 

[MattKing]

I don't use a changing bag.
FWIW, the essentially one handed method I use for transferring the film from spool to spool doesn't expose the film surface to much opportunity to encounter dust and dirt - not much more opportunity than running a film through the camera to expose it.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I don't use a changing bag.
FWIW, the essentially one handed method I use for transferring the film from spool to spool doesn't expose the film surface to much opportunity to encounter dust and dirt - not much more opportunity than running a film through the camera to expose it.

Obviously not in daylight.

 

[MattKing]

Obviously not in daylight.

Correct - in fact, in darkness.
I hate changing bags with a passion!

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

Correct - in fact, in darkness.
I hate changing bags with a passion!

So do I! The ones we have at school weren't designed for these massive, well defined arms of mine.

 

[Donald Qualls]

The only good thing about a changing bag is I can keep some dark in my camera bag, just in case.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

The only good thing about a changing bag is I can keep some dark in my camera bag, just in case.

Exactly.

 

[BrianShaw]

I don't use a changing bag.
FWIW, the essentially one handed method I use for transferring the film from spool to spool doesn't expose the film surface to much opportunity to encounter dust and dirt - not much more opportunity than running a film through the camera to expose it.

LOL... I thought I invented the one-hand respool technique.

The only time I really use two hands is when loading the backing paper on the spool, when arranging the sealing tape onto the final spool, and when positioning the loose film end on the final spool.

 

[MattKing]

LOL... I thought I invented the one-hand respool technique.

I can't remember where I saw reference to it - perhaps it was from you!
Out of necessity, I use one hand for just about everything that requires fine dexterity, so it suits me well.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Correct - in fact, in darkness.
I hate changing bags with a passion!

The only good thing about a changing bag is I can keep some dark in my camera bag, just in case.

My darkroom is dark enough for using an enlarger, but using the Changing Room I have a garanteed dark space that I can load 4"x5" sheet film into a Grafmatic 45 or safely open a 35mm camera or a Hasselblad.

Photoflex Changing Room

Photoflex Changing Room - The Photoflex Changing Room is an upgrade from the traditional dark bag.This double walled, light-tight changing bag includes an internal frame that provides plenty of room to work and an internal, removable "trash bag" for film…

www.freestylephoto.com

 

[xya]

I love changing bags, but I have really big ones. There is even one in my holiday home. I find them handy, and secure. And yes, I keep them zipped, folded and stowed away in a clean plastic bag...

 

[KinoGrafx]

I was lucky enough to find a Fuji Dark Box (it's a massive changing tent that folds up into a hard sided suitcase kind of thing) but a dark bathroom is still better

 

[Xylo]

Oh the inhumanity of it all!!

Oh, don't worry. When I bought it the bakelite was cracked and rough. The latch barely moved. There was a ton of caked-on dust on the lenses. The screws were stripped. It was a big mess.
I feel that my mods probably gave it a new lease on life before somebody else sent it to the landfill.
Now, it looks like somebody cared enough about it to make it 1000 times better.

 

[250swb]

It never happened to me because I regularly clean out my changing bag and leave it zipped up to help keep the dirt out.

You could try a changing tent, generally speaking they don't use cloth (which could shed fibres or harbour dust) and when erected only take up a similar surface area as a large bag.

 

[Sirius Glass]

My Brownie Hawkeye works that way, but the take-up is far from smooth.

I just loaded Ilford FP4+ 120 roll in my Brownie Hawkeye camera and it is tight. I did not know that the owl eyes were warning me about the number 1 coming so I went past it.

 

[KinoGrafx]

I just loaded Ilford FP4+ 120 roll in my Brownie Hawkeye camera and it is tight. I did not know that the owl eyes were warning me about the number 1 coming so I went past it.

The printing kodak does on tmy400 must be the lightest, most impossible to see gray ink they could find- it’s always a struggle to land on a frame with a red window….

 

[MattKing]

The printing kodak does on tmy400 must be the lightest, most impossible to see gray ink they could find- it’s always a struggle to land on a frame with a red window….

That - reduction of ink load - is one of the ways they changed the product in order to deal with the serious wrapper offset problems they encountered a few years ago - problems that put in jeopardy the existence of all Kodak 120 films.