Developing: Pull out leader vs. opening cassette?

Xmas · Apr 23, 2016

R.Gould said:
I learnt many years ago to simply tear the leader, torn leader exposed, untorn unexposed. cut leader in dark pull film and load no problem and yet to scratch a film, after 55 years of developing 35mm film, much easier then trying to open the cassette by feel in the dark
Richard

You need to eat a big breakfast to tear PET based film.

It is easy to open cassettes in the dark. You do need to be careful with sharp ends on the exposed crimp end afterwards or know how many minutes of blood it takes to develop your film.

R.Gould · Apr 23, 2016

None of the films I use are pet based

Xmas said:
You need to eat a big breakfast to tear PET based film.

It is easy to open cassettes in the dark. You do need to be careful with sharp ends on the exposed crimp end afterwards or know how many minutes of blood it takes to develop your film.

These days I don'have as much blood to lose as I did years ago, and I have cut to many fingers and thumbs opening cassettes in the dark when I have accidently wound the film all the way back

R.Gould · Apr 23, 2016

miha said:
As easy as opening your favourite Ale

Don't have a favorite ale.prefer the Jersey cider, and it comes in either cork stopped bottles or screw topped bottles, and even I can open a screw top in the dark, cork's another matter, might waste some

miha · Apr 23, 2016

Cutting fingers... are you serious??

I use one of these (or a pair of scissors):

ColColt · Apr 23, 2016

A short while back I had just gotten an M4 with a fast load system and decided to try loading it. After I felt it was loaded right I closed the back, corked up the bottom and fired off a couple of blanks and rewound. This was with a new roll of Tri-X. after I opened the bottom and flipped back the back I found I had rewound the entire film into the cassette. After a few dammits I tried fishing the leader out with the sticky part of a cut Post-it note but it didn't work. I gave up and just decided to take the end off the cassette and use the film to cut up and use as rapid fixer test material. An old bottle opener worked fine in taking the end of the cassette off.

R.Gould · Apr 23, 2016

miha said:
Cutting fingers... are you serious??

I use one of these (or a pair of scissors):

Not with the bottle opener, but the edges of the cassette can be very sharp. Scissors slip, as I know to my cost. Haven't seen one of those openers for a while, anyway. these days it is very rare for me to wind my film all the way back so i'll stick to pulling the film out of the cassette, after all, I reckon there is as much chance of scratching the film winding and re winding as pulling out of the cassette

Xmas · Apr 23, 2016

ColColt said:
A short while back I had just gotten an M4 with a fast load system and decided to try loading it. After I felt it was loaded right I closed the back, corked up the bottom and fired off a couple of blanks and rewound. This was with a new roll of Tri-X. after I opened the bottom and flipped back the back I found I had rewound the entire film into the cassette. After a few dammits I tried fishing the leader out with the sticky part of a cut Post-it note but it didn't work. I gave up and just decided to take the end off the cassette and use the film to cut up and use as rapid fixer test material. An old bottle opener worked fine in taking the end of the cassette off.

Film Film extractors are 'free'...

http://filmisback.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/diy-film-retriever.html?m=1

ColColt · Apr 23, 2016

I didn't know film retrievers were even made as I never looked for them-never needed to before. I'm the kind of guy that had just as soon spend a few bucks on something rather than spend 30 minutes making it.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/185975-REG/Samigon_35mm_film_retriever.html

Xmas · Apr 24, 2016

ColColt said:
I didn't know film retrievers were even made as I never looked for them-never needed to before. I'm the kind of guy that had just as soon spend a few bucks on something rather than spend 30 minutes making it.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/185975-REG/Samigon_35mm_film_retriever.html

Maybe but waiting for the mail man takes a while.
Cutting up scrap film is a few minutes.
Some of the store bought ones don't always work.

BMbikerider · Apr 24, 2016

One advantage of removing the film from the cassette to load onto a film spiral is that if you are using a manual focus camera, most or all of them had a take up spool that gave a reverse curve onto the film. This is a sure fire way of getting a jam. By using the spool end of the film which will have been subject to the reverse curl for a shorter period of time. there are also ready made corners on the film itself, which will help guide a full 35mm film onto almost any spiral with snagging or jamming.

Diapositivo · Apr 24, 2016

tomfrh said:
Has anyone experienced film scratches from pulling it out? Or is it more of a theoretical risk!

I alway pull the leader from the canister. Never opened a canister. I use a changing bag and this way it is easier. I clean the felt with my clean fingers. I use a Jessops leader extractor which I bought in the UK in 1990. It works very well. Never seen a scratch in my scans at 4000 ppi. The quality of the leader extractor probably makes the difference, and the cleanliness of the felt.

rpavich · Apr 25, 2016

tomfrh said:
Has anyone experienced film scratches from pulling it out? Or is it more of a theoretical risk!

Never. I've done my film at least 80% of the time by leaving a tongue out and rolling it onto the reel, never a scratch.

CMoore · Apr 25, 2016

Funny..."these" types of things get discussed in all hobbies. Strong opinions on bot sides.
I only have about 100 notches on my pistol, but.....it is hard to believe that the film could go out, and then back in, with no issues, but then on The Third trip there would be troubles for some reason.

blockend · Apr 25, 2016

One factor is the redesign of cassettes. Before the 1990s some cassettes had pop off caps, which could be opened and reused. I can't recall the last time a new film came in a non-destructive cassette.

David Brown · Apr 25, 2016

These type of threads always crack me up. It seems that however one learned to do something is the "best" way. One can open a cassette, or one can leave the leader out and roll onto the reel from the cassette. Either way works. It's like asking which foot is the correct foot to start walking. Doesn't matter unless you're in boot camp or marching band, and then it's just an arbitrary convention.

ColColt · Apr 25, 2016

Negative scratches are quite possible regardless the method used. When drying a drifting piece of dust could adhere to the negatives and when cut in strips to be put into preserver sleeves close contact with the inside of the preservers and being pushed in could cause a horizontal scratch for a few frames or so.

Sirius Glass · Apr 25, 2016

When the 35mm cassettes were changed from reusable pop tops to the crimped top, I started using a church key because a quick rap on the counter did not open the cassette. Why buy a leader retriever when the church key was already in the draw and when pulling out the leader could scratch the film?

Besides, if we did not argue about this what else could we have a religious Big Endian - Little Endian brouhaha about?

Ricardo Miranda · Apr 25, 2016

blockend said:
I can't recall the last time a new film came in a non-destructive cassette.

I can: Lucky SHD New 100, just about 2 years ago.
I'm still using the cassettes.

ac12 · Apr 25, 2016

I always pop the end cap off. It is just how I was taught to do it.
I always had a bottle opener in my darkroom at home, for removing the end cap on crimped cartridges.
In high school, I also carried a Swiss Army Knife, and used the bottle opener on the knife if someone removed the bottle opener from the darkroom.

As for possible scratching. Well, I reloaded MANY cartridges (the ones where you could pop the end cap off and pop them back on), so there is a possibility, but I do not remember having scratched any of my negatives.

blockend · Apr 25, 2016

Ricardo Miranda said:
I can: Lucky SHD New 100, just about 2 years ago.
I'm still using the cassettes.

They won't pop for my thumbs, I've tried. They changed the design.

Ricardo Miranda · Apr 25, 2016

They might have as the last packs of Lucky Super Colour I had the cassettes were crimped.
I haven't seen SHD 100 for the last 2 years or even more.

Wallendo · Apr 26, 2016

I remove the caps from my reloadable cassettes, but use a film extractor for my factory loaded cassettes, and haven't noticed any difference.

blockend · Apr 26, 2016

Ricardo Miranda said:
They might have as the last packs of Lucky Super Colour I had the cassettes were crimped.
I haven't seen SHD 100 for the last 2 years or even more.

I had a can of Lucky on the shelf next to my computer, so I tried popping one - no luck. I was one of the few who liked Lucky film, but the last two batches came pre-scratched, so I gave up on the stuff. Not tram line scratches, but big random scars. I get the feeling the film isn't being made now.

Ricardo Miranda · Apr 26, 2016

As there isn't much communication from the factory, I don't know if it is in production or not.
One thing I can see is that the Ebay sellers that used to have it, don't have any more.

Josh Zierten · May 8, 2016

I've been doing a combination of both, you could say. I like to pop the bottom of the canister off with an old style beer bottle opener, has round opener for bottles on one end and sharp opener for popping hole into cans on the other. Then I leave the film in the canister on the spool. This reduces the friction between the film and the can opening/felt so that the film just feeds right out onto my spool with minimal tangle. I'm working in a film bag and when you pop the can open and let the film out it wants to unspool and fill the bag. It can be a pain to get the film in the right orientation so it doesn't jam feeding into the gate on the reel. If you are in a room you can just stand and let the whole length of the film dangle in front of you while you wind it onto the reel, but in a bag it's different.

Also, it's easier to trim the leader to just the right shape to feed onto the spool if you can do it in the light. So I prefer it out, trim it rounded square, pop it in the bag, pop the bottom and gently unspool onto the reel from there.

Developing: Pull out leader vs. opening cassette?

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