Easy cutting of 120/220 film to 127

bdial · Mar 25, 2012

Pipe cutters like the one pictured earlier aren't made for very deep cuts, and aren't all that sharp in comparison to a blade.
A plastic tubing cutter, such as one of these might be a better choice;

http://www.plumbingsupply.com/pvccutters.html

I have a low-end plastic handled one sold for cutting PEX pipe, I've never investigated how sharp the blade is, but it's obviously pretty sharp. It can take off wafer thin slices of the plastic pipe.
The blade is a little thicker than a typical mat cutter blade, maybe twice the thickness or so of an Exacto #11. I don't think it would be very difficult to sharpen more, if needed.
They are available at the big box home centers and any decent hardware store.

chamon88 · Mar 26, 2012

Isent the 120 longer then a 127?

keithwms · Mar 26, 2012

chamon88 said:
Isn't the 120 longer then a 127?

Not too much longer. At least in my yashica 44, it fits well. It may not look like it, when you compare the spools, but the core of the 120 spool is much wider, so it just makes the wound film look a lot fatter. The core of the 127 spool is really skinny, which makes it a bit of a pain to wind the film on, but it is certainly doable.

himself · Mar 26, 2012

but once you've done all this. just to be clear, assuming you don't change the backing paper, do you still wind it to #1 like normal...
a stupid question I know, but I'd rather find out if it's not so stupid now, rather than after I've tried it you know

keithwms · Mar 26, 2012

Not sure what you mean by #w, but what I did is wind it first on to another 120 spool and then wind it onto the 127 spool. Sounds harder than it is, but you end up with everything okay. It might be possible to configure a bulk loader to wind it more easily, I'll check when I get time.

I strongly advise sacrificing one roll to do it with lights on, you can then see what needs to be done.

Hmm maybe I should cut some rolls and sell 'em

himself · Mar 26, 2012

ah sorry I was unclear, I meant after you put it in the camera

keithwms · Mar 26, 2012

Oh! Okay, yeah should be normal after that. I would check with your sacrificial roll and make sure it properly advances through the end before cutting down anything precious. Depending on the winding mechanism, you might be able to score a few extra frames.

Here's a thread discussing the slight difference in roll length and such:

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

himself · Mar 27, 2012

good to know, but I'll just go for it I think.
all this precision is slowing me down...

*looks for cigar cutter*

dehk · Mar 27, 2012

Short and straight to the point, thank you.

himself · Apr 7, 2012

hmm, what size cigar cutter are you using?
I'm having some trouble getting one big enough

keithwms · Apr 7, 2012

Mine has the brand "Cigar Savor" on it. Dead Link Removed seems to be the same one.

I'd recommend getting a couple cutters and/or finding a good knife sharpener too, my cheap cutter started to go dull after a half dozen or so rolls. Still, compared to $10/roll for the 127 film, the cost of a cutter and a roll of 120 film is still much lower!!

himself · Apr 11, 2012

would you believe that I can't get one that size?

in the last few weeks I've tried the UK, Warsaw and Italy... do you Americans smoke some sort of oversized cigar as compensation for something?

keithwms · Apr 11, 2012

Haha I am going to pass on the opportunity to talk about breadth... anyway, can't you just buy one off ebay?

himself · Apr 11, 2012

I could, but ebay seems to find the idea that I have moved to Poland so absurd that they insists on sending everything to the UK, it then has to be posted again by the family, so all in all it takes about a month to get anything, not to mention the fact that stuff goes "missing" on the way too often to be coincidence...

I'll just have to keep looking and hope that 120 film doesn't disappear before I can get one...

Richard S. (rich815) · Apr 11, 2012

I too could not find a cigar cutter with a hole large enough to fit the 120 through so instead I just bought a basic one for four dollars and using a heavy Fiskars scissors just snipped around the top of the 120 spool cutting it down to size to then fit thru. I also got a one bladed "guillotine" type of cigar cutter which worked great.

himself · Apr 11, 2012

I tried that, but the only one I could get (without buying on-line and having to wait on the postman), the film wouldn't fit through even after I cut the spool down...
what size hole did you get, the 22mm? (seems to be the common "big" size)

WilliamB · Mar 31, 2013

I am very late to this thread having only just joined APUG but I very much appreciate the tip, thank you for the idea and will try it out so that i can start to use my (1934?) AGFA Compur again; sadly the EFKE factory has now completely closed so the situation has worsened since your original post. WB

AgX · Mar 31, 2013

William, welcome to Apug.

I guess you refer to the Agfa Billy 0 resp. Speedex (0?). The only Agfa camera aside of one of their boxes that takes type 127 film.

ME Super · Mar 31, 2013

Nice, Keith! If I ever get a camera that takes 127 film I will keep this in mind. Added it to my YouTube favorites so I can find it again. And it's so simple, too.

WilliamB · Mar 31, 2013

Thank you for the welcome; I had always believed that mine was the "Billy" but had never seen photos of that model which looked the same as mine and a couple of years ago a photographer friend suggested that it was a "Compur", which is the make of lens fitted.

It certainly uses 127 film...only one roll of EFKE left :-( ...I shall upload a photograph of it and ask for thoughts.

Whatever it is called I should now be able to produce some film to use which is something to look forward to; the lens creates the most wonderfully soft images.

Peltigera · Apr 1, 2013

"Billy" is not the name of a particular camera but denotes a popular range rather than what we would now call a prosumer camera. I have two Billy camera - Billy Clack and Billy Record II - very different cameras. Even a particular model will have been updated over the years of production.

Compur is a make of shutter, not lens (nor camera).

RauschenOderKorn · May 6, 2018

Will this work properly with a Baby-Rolleiflex?

I have looked at the film and backing paper of 120 and 127 and the film starts about 2-3 127-frames later on a 120 than a 127, but then is about an additional 3-4 127-frames longer. Doesn’t that totally mess up the counter leaving effectively only 13 4x4 shots on the roll?

Easy cutting of 120/220 film to 127

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