Cutting 35mm film.

Christopher Walrath · Nov 26, 2007

Scissors user here. Only missed once in three years of dev.-only, uncut 120 B&W negs. Yes, tricky, but with a steady hand (which is occasionally a challenge) and patience, no prob.

Prarry · Nov 27, 2007

I use an old HAMA film guillotine I bought originally to chop up a mountain of slide film from a trip to New Zealand in the early 80s. Very easy with negs as you get a transparent bar between frames, little more care needed for positives with a black bar. The base has raised bars a frame's width either side of the blade. Don't think I have sliced through more than a frame or three in total. Scissors for 120, with an occasional mistake. Seagull TLR gives almost no space between frames.

ravenred5 · Jan 27, 2011

I have a box of 24 DD 20 ROWI Slide Frames. Metal construction with a cardboard spacer and 2 pieces of glass to hold together a film strip? you can see a photo at imageshack link below.

http://img683.imageshack.us/i/rowigermany005.jpg/

I hope one of you avid readers can give me an idea of what the heck they can be used for. They are made in Germany, and sold by Eddie Black's (nee Black's Appliances and later Black's photography
They are from the Late 40' , 50s , or very early 60s, but not likely the 60s.
lclout@cogeco.ca

bdial · Jan 27, 2011

The are for mounting transparencies, films like Ektachrome, Velvia and the late, great Kodachrome. The ones with the larger windows in your picture are for 35mm the smaller one, not sure, maybe Minox or similar.

benjiboy · Jan 27, 2011

I use a pair of narrow bladed hairdressers scissors.

fschifano · Jan 27, 2011

Ian Tindale said:
Scissors are absolutely useless on film - they just bend it over and over and after about twenty attempts they'll eventually hack through leaving very frayed edges. I use a scalpel on a cutting mat - one nice neat cut.

You're not using good scissors. Fiskars is the brand to get, and they're quality items.

tkamiya · Jan 27, 2011

I use plain scissors but do my cutting on top of a white paper. It makes aiming a lot easier! I also use the perforation as guide.

Roger Thoms · Jan 27, 2011

Ian Tindale said:
Scissors are absolutely useless on film - they just bend it over and over and after about twenty attempts they'll eventually hack through leaving very frayed edges. I use a scalpel on a cutting mat - one nice neat cut.

Your scissors must be in pretty rough shape. Been using cotton gloves and scissors for 20 plus years. Lately Reading glasses have been necessary and I'm sure using a light box is coming. On thing on the scissors, I have a good saw shop that also sharpens scissors and I do get mine sharpen when they get dull.

Roger

yeknom02 · Jan 27, 2011

I use barber scissors, and they work great for me. I just hold the film up to the window and use that Patented Grip you saw earlier. I also try to make the cut in one fell swoop. Er, snip.

softshock · Jan 27, 2011

The Leica III puts the frames dangerously close together, but I don't think I've had a frame cut into yet! Knock on wood FWIW I'm just using these short round tip scissors made by Revlon- http://www.amazon.com/Revlon-Safety-Scissors-Pack-2/dp/B001ET72KM

They're great in the changing bag too since they minimize the risk of cutting the bag or yourself! =D

bobwysiwyg · Jan 27, 2011

I use a pair of kids art scissors, metal, rounded ends, nice long cut with no need to restart a cut. I found cutting the film over a light box helps as my Nikon N90 makes for close spacing. Best not done after too much coffee though. )

Cutting 35mm film.

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