How to deal with verticaly divided Chinese Plastic film cassettes.

cmacd123 · Jun 5, 2020

So I bought some DXN 5222 which was perloaded into cassettes.

the cassettes are made of Black Plastic and are molded in two halves split vertically with a couple of tabs holding each end together. the spool is captured by the ends.

I decided to try getting into the first one I shot and found that it took a lot of force to pry up the tabs that interlock at each end. I ended up turning out the lights and breaking the end off the cassette. (I just put the film into a re loadable cassette until I get arround to developing it.)

it looks like the opening for the film is one place the halves join, and their is a small molded ridge for the other side of the half that came off. I imagine if their is not a trick, the only way to open thse would be to stick a large screwdriver into the light trap and twist the two halves appart in the dark.

has anyone ever seen this arrangement, and if so is their any trick to open them. (I have never had any luck with the five different Leader retriever gadgets I have bought over the years, so trying to retrieve the leader and pulling the film out the light trap will not work for me. I also use the leader all the way into the cassette to tell which rolls are exposed, so even if I could leve the leader out I would not want to. (some of my cameras rewind automatically and don't want to leave the leader out))

Naturally, if their is a trick to open these and leave them usable for reloading - that would be better.

howardpan · Jun 5, 2020

I didn’t have any luck opening them either. I had to use a film retriever.

Vaughn · Jun 5, 2020

That would be a solution -- don't suck the leader back into the cassette -- Good Luck!

mshchem · Jun 5, 2020

Is this a new design or an old one put back in production? I've never heard of such a cassette.

cmacd123 · Jun 5, 2020

mshchem said:
Is this a new design or an old one put back in production? I've never heard of such a cassette.

not sure, this batch was the first time I have seen them. they look like they would be easy to assemble, but who knows how they intended to take them apart.

http://ebay.ca/itm/324101578365 is the brand of 5222 I bought, but the constuction of teh cassettes does not show well in the photo.

mshchem · Jun 6, 2020

I looked on the Web, this is a new design. I remember 30 plus years ago that some 35mm films in China came sans cassette, the shop would have a dark box with sleeves to load your camera. This may have been Yankee propaganda planted in Popular Photography .
Apparently the plastic design easier than making metal cassettes.

AgX · Jun 6, 2020

mshchem said:
II remember 30 plus years ago that some 35mm films in China came sans cassette, the shop would have a dark box with sleeves to load your camera. This may have been Yankee propaganda planted in Popular Photography .

In Europe various versions of readymade reloads for type 135 cassettes once were offered by film manufacturers.

foc · Jun 6, 2020

I have seen these film cassettes in non branded and usually reloaded disposable cameras.
The ones I have handled didn't have a proper film leader tongue, like Fuji or Kodak, it was the film simply cut straight and so couldn't be retrieved with a film picker. (also the film appeared to be short cut pieces of film spliced together to make a 27 exp roll)
I just broke them open in a darkbox. The easiest way was to insert the narrow end of a bottle cap opener into the film light-trap slot and twist, but be careful the plastic can have sharp edges and can cut very easily.

Agulliver · Jun 6, 2020

I have seen cassettes that probably match your description used in disposable cameras and with the "power geek" film sold in Poundland currently. I assume they can be opened and reused but haven't yet found a way so to do.

MattKing · Jun 6, 2020

Donald Qualls · Jun 6, 2020

Based on the photo at the auction linked above, these are injection molded locking closure cassettes. If you could efficiently peel off the label, you would most likely find one or two "tooth and notch" latches at each side seam. There the cassette can be assembled, but the label will prevent disassembly. I doubt they're worth trying to salvage for reuse; it's very probable you'll break one or more of the teeth trying to unlatch the two halves. If you can't make a leader retriever work for you, you're probably best to just break the cassette shell to get at the juicy latent images inside...

cmacd123 · Jun 6, 2020

Donald Qualls said:
these are injection molded locking closure cassettes. If you could efficiently peel off the label, you would most likely find one or two "tooth and notch" latches at each side seam. ..

the section that the label is on is all one piece, it almost looked like their was a seam, but scraping the label off at that point, reveled nothing other than the plastic is quite soft! I guess if we want to keep shooting, with will have to deal with devious engineers.

there are two tooth and notch latches at each end of the cassette. I was going to say 'endcap" but it is more an overlap.

Donald Qualls · Jun 6, 2020

Kodak and Fuji metal cassettes have been non-reusable for many years, other than using a leader retriever to pull the film out through the felts and cutting it long enough to splice onto your new film. They simply crimped the metal cap onto the metal cassette shell hard enough that you'd distort the thing getting the cap off. You could still open it to get the film out for development -- but you'd never use that cassette again.

I guess the Chinese budget suppliers don't feel the need to DX code their cassettes, so there's no reason to make them even that level of accessible -- if you don't get along with leader retrievers, just start using a nut cracker in the dark to break off the cap and pull the film out that way. The exposed leader will protect the image bearing film from scratches from the broken plastic.

I've got several cameras that crimp the leader in ways that make it unlikely to retrieve well, so I think I'll just keep buying my Double-X from Cinestill, in their relabeled metal cassettes. I do not need to figure out how to get my film out of a Chinese cassette in the dark, never mind have my best image ever land on a splice.

cmacd123 · Jun 6, 2020

Donald Qualls said:
I've got several cameras that crimp the leader in ways that make it unlikely to retrieve well, so I think I'll just keep buying my Double-X from Cinestill, in their relabeled metal cassettes. I do not need to figure out how to get my film out of a Chinese cassette in the dark, never mind have my best image ever land on a splice.

yes, although I often wonder if the tape splices used on those salvaged cassettes will leave me with a camera with teh end of the roll sparated from the cassette, right when I am an hour a way from home.

their are no shortcuts, I will have to go back to getting bulk rolls and loading them myself into real reloadable cassettes.

Donald Qualls · Jun 7, 2020

Fortunately, other an P30, most of the films I'd be interested in shooting a lot of (at least in black and white) come in bulk format.

How to deal with verticaly divided Chinese Plastic film cassettes.

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