Do you "roll your own"?

[tonyjuliano]

How many of you bulk load their own film?

I roll all my own TRI-X, TMY and TMX. I love being in control of how many frames are on each roll (and hate 36 frames).

Nice write up on how I do things Dead Link Removed.

 

[donbga]

How many of you bulk load their own film?

I roll all my own TRI-X, TMY and TMX. I love being in control of how many frames are on each roll (and hate 36 frames).

Nice write up on how I do things Dead Link Removed.

Nice little write up though I don't recommend more than 36 exposures per roll.

Don

 

[cupcake_ham]

I bulk load Ilford HP5, Ilford FP4, and Kodak Portra 160 from 100' spools. I normally roll 36exp rolls. I have been able to squeeze on 44 exposures into canistors, but they can become a pain to load on the processing reel. 36-40 is my normal limit.

 

[tonyjuliano]

Nice little write up though I don't recommend more than 36 exposures per roll.

Don

I've rolled up to 40 without issue, but I usually stick to 24's.

 

[cupcake_ham]

My only problem with loading 24 is the amount of wasted film in the leader.

 

[Marvin]

I have 2 Lloyd loaders and load my own B&W. I always load 36 exp. rolls and get about 17 rolls out of a 100ft roll.

 

[desertfotog]

I have most of a 100 foot roll of 35mm film in my bulk loader. I have to try a roll soon. It's been there since Oct. 1994. One problem is, I don't know what kind of film it is, just that it is ASA50. Most likely bought it from Freestyle.
I recently shot a roll of 120 Tri-X in my Yashicamat that expired in 1994 and got some great photos. Had a little problem with fog though.

 

[Pioneer]

I keep two loaders going. One is used for trial rolls of film and the other always has Efke KB 25 in it. Right now I am working with Ilford FP4 Plus as my trial roll and I like it enough that I bought a few more rolls and put them on ice. If I keep the Ilford running I may have to go get a third bulk loader.

When I first started I used to load 36 or more frames, but occasionally had some trouble getting all of it loaded onto my cheapo developing reels. Now I usually load 20 to 24 frames and leave it at that. Obviously there is a little more waste but I really don't notice the difference that much.

I love the fact that I can choose to try a number of different types of quality film for a discount price. I try different types of film developing, different exposure methods, and even different printing papers. Doing that level of testing to decide whether you actually like a film takes me a lot more than 2 or 3 rolls. By the time I finish a 100 foot roll of film I have a pretty good idea whether I am going to want to try more.

As an example, I shoot a lot of older film cameras and a 1/1000 second shutter speed is fast. Most of the time I am working with 1/500 seconds or even slower. So when I tried Tri-X, a beautiful film by the way, I learned after a time that it was not the film for me. In the beginning I was shooting a lot of landscapes, a la Ansel Adams, but as my personal style developed I have learned that I really like working with fast glass, wide open. When I work like that even ISO 100 film can sometimes be too fast. One of the reasons I am liking FP4 Plus is because I can work with it from ISO 64 up through ISO 200 without having to bend over backwards to develop it. But it took me several rolls of Tri X from a bulk roll before I came to the conclusion that it was not as flexible as I wanted.

Right now I am doing a lot of work with Ilford Delta 3200 and Kodak P3200 and I really wish I could get either one of those emulsions bulk, it would almost certainly cut the cost. I could also roll shorter rolls. I find that I prefer 12 exposure rolls when using this film, and I have even re-loaded from a 36 exposure roll to get those lengths. Being able to get bulk rolls would make all this much easier.

 

[Felinik]

I have three loaders, containing; Fomapan 400 (shooting at EI 320), Rollei Retro 80s (shooting at EI 160), and for now Ilford Pan-F 50, soon to be replaced by Polypan 50 (I have a huge roll of that to investigate and learn how to shoot to see if it keeps up with the Pan-F 50).

 

[philipus]

I recently bought an Alden 200. I got a big loader because I am moving to Eastman 5222 which I will split onto cores. I bought this loader because it doesn't have a felt light trap and wanted to reduce scratch risk. I will load into plastic cassettes with screw to. I'll also reuse Tri-X cassettes once I get my own developing going shortly. I'm also trying Kentmere 400, which I look forward to.

 

[Eric Rose]

I load 30 exp's because my neg pages do 6 strips of 5.

 

[Pioneer]

Eric, how many frames are you winding on with your loader to get 30 exposed frames in your camera?

 

[Eric Rose]

My loader has a crank. I give it 32 turns. That works out pretty good.

 

[Pioneer]

Thanks. I just loaded up another 20 rolls and put 30 cranks on them. Sounds like I will be closer but still not there. I'll keep creeping up on it and will get it right eventually.

 

[Eric Rose]

This is the film loader I use for B&W. Legacy Pro Lloyd 35mm Bulk Film Loader | Freestyle Photographic Supplies I use a Watson for colour. I find the Watson a bit diddly. The Lloyd's loader I have been using for at least 30 years.

 

[Pioneer]

I haven't tried that one. I have a Prinz 66, a couple Alden 74s (they handle my Contax metal cassettes), and a Watson 100. Out of them all I think I prefer the Aldens but they all do the job. I do agree though, I am using the Watson to load all my TMAX 100, and it is a bit of a fiddly loader.

 

[philipus]

I loaded my first 20 rolls yesterday evening with the Alden 200 and I found it really easy. The loader is rather large though which means that probably something like 1-1,5 perhaps even 2 frames are lost "between rolls" (ending up at the innermost part of the roll) if loading is done in a non-dark environment. So I'll likely change rolls in the dark in the future.

 

[Pioneer]

I have been loading up a little Eastman Kodak 5222 straight from the big reel but I am doing it totally by hand (pull of a strip or two from the main roll, cut it, load it to the film cassette.) How do you go about moving 200 foot from one core to another so you can use it in the Alden?

 

[philipus]

I haven't actually yet loaded the 5222 because I'm awaiting delivery of two 200´cans with cores. I was thinking of rolling the film onto these to make it easier to handle. I'm not really sure it this will be of any great benefit actually but I figured I'll wait to load rolls until I've at least tried.

 

[Pioneer]

Loading 400 foot bulk rolls onto a film cassette.

This is how I am doing it right now.

How to load an IXMOO Cassette - YouTube

Tom is actually showing how he handloads his IXMOO cassettes but this works with the 400 foot rolls on any type of film cassette.

Other than needing to make sure I have room on the table of my darkroom it does work. I pull out the film while spreading my arms wide apart, snip it off and load the cassette. Since I haven't found a way to separate the 400 foot roll into 4 separate cores that is as easy as doing this I just load this way.

I don't snip the end, I just tape it, but it still works.

 

[philipus]

Thanks for that link Pioneer, very instructive. What tool does he use to turn the spindle? And doesn't handling the film like this, esp tightening it at the end, risk scratching it?

 

[Pioneer]

Actually I haven't noticed any scratching with my film. I use gloves, not my bare hands, but since all you are touching is the anti-halation layer I doubt even doing that is critical. I do know that it helps to tighten the film a bit on the spool to get the spool slid into the cartridge parts or cassette. Without tightening trying to get the film into the cassette is a very, very tight fit.