Errant film roll seal

I know it's an odd title, but the oddest thing happened to me last Friday. I noticed that when I unloaded a roll of HP5+, the gummed tape was missing to seal the roll up and had to scramble for something handy to keep the roll wound tight. I ended up using a rubber band I had, and later swapped that out for some masking tape. It seemed odd that the tape was missing but I didn't give it that much more thought. I processed the film from that day's shooting today, only to discover the last roll had a strange rectangular shape in various positions in every frame!


I was trying out a roll of CatLabs 80 film and immediately thought there was some bad quality control going on with it and that the shape was a bit of the sealing tape from that roll. When the film dried, it took a closer look and could read HP5 on a couple of the frames! I removed the magazine from my camera and this is what I saw:


Now I know to check carefully if something is not as expected when loading or unloading the camera!

Boy, I need to dust the camera.

For some reason, Ilford gives me more problems with that sealing tape piece than other brands (Fuji and Kodak for me). Including getting hung up and ripped off. Fortunately I've never had it lodge like yours did.

When I first opened up the Mamiya TLR issued to me as a photography student, a piece Ilford paper was stuck inside it. Inspired by this early experience, I try to remember to give the interior of the camera an inspection and a good blast with my Rocket blower with every film change.

I have more trouble trying to remove those Ilford tabs in the darkroom than anywere else. I can't seem to peel or tear them, and I don't dare use my knife in the dark. I have started removing the lick-and-stick paper tab before I go into the darkroom, using a rubber band to temporary keep the roll from unwinding. With Kodak tabs, I have the other problem. My first two rolls of Kodak 120 film - one Tri-x, the other T-Max400 - the tabs would not stick - but I had my rubber bands handy in the camera bag.

You get nice, wide, even gaps between your frames with that Rollei. Some spaces between my Mamiya frames are almost as wide as yours, but others are less wide - maybe only 3 mm.

runswithsizzers said:

I have more trouble trying to remove those Ilford tabs in the darkroom than anywere else. I can't seem to peel or tear them, and I don't dare use my knife in the dark.

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The trick is to put a tiny nick in the tape (right at the spot where you want it to tear) while you are still in the light.
Once you are in the dark, finish the tear.
As for the uneven spacing with the C220 - most likely it needs a bit of maintenance.