Handling 120 film?

So what are the tricks to handling 120 film? I inadvertently put a crease (luckily between two images) in the film while trying to pick it up. Also, how do you trim straight across? Are there tips or hints that should be obvious that I'm not getting?

Thanks

It's no different than 135 film, just wider and shorter. Are you having problems loading in a processing reel, or just in general? Cutting film is pretty straight forward, I use scissors and eye ball it.

Loading a 120/220 film into reel requires more attention than the 35mm film. The wider 60mm film can bend and makes it harder to load. But give it some practice and you get over the curve quickly.

RedSun said:

Loading a 120/220 film into reel requires more attention than the 35mm film. The wider 60mm film can bend and makes it harder to load. But give it some practice and you get over the curve quickly.

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Really? I find it far and away easier to load in a SS reel than 35mm, in fact so easy it seems to load itself with very little guidance. Thats just me, YMMV.

Rick A said:

Really? I find it far and away easier to load in a SS reel than 35mm, in fact so easy it seems to load itself with very little guidance. Thats just me, YMMV.

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That's my experience too. Maybe the folks who find it harder are using plastic reels?

OP: What kind of "picking it up" were you doing that introduced a crease? Loading the camera, spooling onto a processing reel, handling the processed film...? Offhand I can't really think of anything that requires tricks (well, apart from a couple of oddball cameras that load in counterintuitive ways).

-NT

My method I would imagine is similar to many others...I'll write it out but it will sound a lot more complicated than it really is...maybe I'll waste a dead roll of XP2 (not super) to demonstrate a video or something today...

anyway: I slit the sealing tape with a razor blade, very carefully, for all rolls I'm about to process. It will not unfurl, and makes it easier to handle in the dark. Then I turn off the lights, and hold the roll in my left hand, with the plastic ends of the spool on my thumb and middle or index finger, with the slit tape facing roughly 45 degrees down towards the floor facing right. Then with my right hand, I peel away the backing paper until I find the end of the film, roll a bit of it out so that it naturally starts to curl into a tube, and then I mirror the way I held the spool with the film, thumb and forefinger. I pull the film out of the backing paper, letting it roll on itself until I get to the tape, at which point I peel the tape off the paper, and fold it around to the other side of the film. This gives the reel something a little more substantial to hold onto, especially with thin films. Now I feed the folded-tape end of the film into the reel, and begin loading, letting the film unroll as I load. I use Jobo reels and Paterson reels, the ones with the small feeder teeth, not the big plastic tongues sticking out.

All in all I can load a roll in under a minute this way, easily. My friends at school were always amazed when I would walk into the loading room at the same time they did, and re-emerge at the same time, or before, they finished, even though they were only loading one or two rolls, and I may have loaded 5+ rolls

I use 120 film with plastic reels. I have a MUCH easier time doing everything with 120 film vs 35mm.

As far as handling, you can let it roll up on itself in the dark while reeling it. Once processed and dried, it tends to be fairly straight for me because I use a clip at the bottom to keep it straight.

Putting it in on a reel, picking it up from my scanner holders, sliding them into my neg sleeves
This thinner stock really worries me

I have a cure for the scanner thing--scrap the scanner and print in a dark room.

years

I have worked with a great number of film photographers over the years. Some have trouble loading 35mm, some 120. Some have problems with loading plastic reels, others find the steel reels give them problems. Personally I wouldn't touch a plastic reel but that means nothing to anybody else.
Loading a reel takes a fine touch, just the right amount of curve in the negative. Its a bit of art and a touch of science.

I jammed a roll of 120 in a Holga once -- my fault, not the camera's. After developing it, I couldn't even find the creases.

Although I do not do dark room on 120, I do scan a ton of the stuff and never find any issue beyond cleanliness and being careful. Typically they arrive from processing in sleeves. I place printed category & numbering Avery style tags on each image in the sleeve. Then using a pair of thin barber sheers cut the sleeves into individual negatives / positives. This is all done with cotton gloves on as well as when removing them from the protective sleeves and placing them in the scanner holders. Once placed in the holder a hand operated dust blower or static brush helps to remove the particles.

I've been shooting and developing 120 for at least 10 years (and I'm a bit of a klutz). Knock on wood, the only times I've put creases in it have been while trying to get it started on a stainless reel when it's been awhile since I've done it. I always handle it by the edges (with my thumb and a finger straddling it, not gripping it). It rests on my digits more than is being held by them, I guess. I've had more problems with 35mm because it's smaller. I use a darkroom and a scanner and handling 120 for each has not led to creases.

Developed and dried 120 film is easily held by the edges.

If you are wearing gloves, you can grab the corners by pinching.

I just got back into this last year. I managed to put a couple of creases in my first few rolls of 120 when I loaded them onto my developing reels. A bit of practice took care of that.

As for cutting off the backing paper, I just do it by feel. My process is to cut the tape on the outside of the reel, turn off the lights, start unrolling the paper until I get to the film. Then I take the film (only) and roll it up until I get to the end (the tape). Grab my scissors out of my pocket, feel for the line where the film meets the backer and cut it off. Then I re-coil the film so that the tape-edge is on the inside of the coil. Then I load onto the reel. All this is done in darkness, of course. Probably took me a dozen rolls or so before I got fully comfortable with it.

Rick A said:

Really? I find it far and away easier to load in a SS reel than 35mm, in fact so easy it seems to load itself with very little guidance. Thats just me, YMMV.

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Sure everyone can be different. I use Jobo reels. 35mm is super easy...

As snapguy says, it's more art than science and people have their own "touch" that develops with practice.

I think I find that almost everything is easiest with 120 if I hold the strip by the edges, and apply just enough tension to create a slight transverse curve (emulsion side is the inside of the curve). The curve keeps the strip from flopping around, so it's rigid enough to slide into an envelope and so on.

I also, I think, never handle a whole big floppy roll at once; I cut the envelope-length strips off directly from the hanging roll (which is a pain with polyester base---it wants to roll back up as soon as the weight comes off), and when loading the reel I spool the film directly off the roll a bit at a time. I think I actually have the film roll and the reel in the same hand, with the roll sort of palmed and my fingertips at the junction where the film meets the reel. The other hand stabilizes the reel and "ratchets" it along to spool the film up. Or I think that's what I do; it's hard to imagine what happens in the dark, isn't it? Brains are weird.

-NT

I'm different I guess. I just peel the tape off. I've never taken scissors to 120 film.

winger said:

I always handle it by the edges (with my thumb and a finger straddling it, not gripping it). It rests on my digits more than is being held by them, I guess.

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Exactly, with all film, try and handle it by the edges. By that I mean press fingers and thumb on the edge making it buckle slightly, but you are only touching the very edge of the film. You may grab the leader or the end of the film on the flat between finger and thumb.

I use the Jobo reels and hand-inversion tanks. Some 120 films are easier to spool than others. This can also be affected by the age of the film, whether or not is has been previously frozen, and even the relative humidity. Using a small pair of scissors, I made a small 45-degree cut to each side of the leading edge of the film, so it is less likely to hang up while spooling, and also put a hard crease, or lip, into the first eighth inch or it, with its bend the opposite direction from the natural tendency of the film to curl (being careful that all this modification is done beyond the exposed parts of the film). Sometimes things go very smoothly, sometimes not. If a particular kind of film gives me hell, I just won't use it again. The major brands (Kodak, Fuji, Ilford) seem to spool the easiest.

I've been using stainless steel reels for the past fifty years. I load them in a dark room, no problem. I do have problems loading them from a changing bag. I guess I need the room. Practice, practice, practice. Use an old waste roll and you should get used to it.

good luck.



m

Is handling the base side okay before developing?

yes if you have good motor control you can hold edges between thumb and fingers controlling flex with pressure on back side of film.

but I not think of doing that if you start with wound up film then you don't need to touch back or front just edges. The wound up film is stiff easy to hold.

Any flexure and you get witness mark of flexure...

Can take a lot of damaged film if you are clumsy.

I actually find that 120 is easier to handle than 35mm - I think because it is shorter. I guess it depends on the person. The last few years I have found stainless steel reels increasingly difficult for some reason - probably less shooting and developing. Plastic reels work well, though. The shorter length helps reduce the chance of jamming. Speaking of jamming, it is very important with any film that it have clean, straight ends and that the film be free from kinks. Because it is thin, you must handle 120 gently. Be very careful when you detach it from the backing paper. Some films these days have very aggressive tape holding them to the backing paper. Cutting that tape may be better than trying to peel it off. The last inch or so of most films has no image, so you can safely handle it with your fingers.