How to process 70mm film?

[MikeS]

Hi All.

I have a couple of Beattie Coleman Transet 70mm film backs. these hold 15' of 70mm film (the back doesn't care if it's perfed or not), and I'm going to be getting some Efke R100 from J&C in the near future to shoot in them. My question is, what's the best/easiest way to process 15' of film? I see that Jobo either makes, or made 70mm reels, but they only hold 5' of film each, so I would have to measure out 5', cut it, measure out another 5', cut again, then load 3 separate reels! I don't care about loosing a couple of shots to the cutting area, it would just be a pain to figure out exactly where the cutting areas are so I can skip a frame or 2 at each cutting point.

Are there other reels that can take the full 15' that are not too expensive? Another option is a rewind tank. Is using a rewind tank designed for 100' of film overkill for doing 15'? How well do the rewind tanks work?

Are there any other affordable options? I suppose If I get the Jobo reels, I could always just load 5' of film into the backs at a time, that would be one way of being sure not to cut up a good picture, but that would also sort of defeat the purpose of having the 70mm back in the first place!

The Transet back does have a strange size negative, 2-1/2" x 3-1/8" which like 6x7 enlarges directly up to 8x10, and I've got an old Elwood enlarger which has a glass negative carrier, so using that strange size shouldn't be any problem either.

Thanks for any help, or suggestions any of you have!

-Mike

 

[Nick Zentena]

Good luck finding the Jobo 2517 reel. Jobo US hasn't had it for awhile [2 years?] Odds are it hasn't been made for longer. When they come up on Ebay they often go for IMHO idiotic amounts.

If you do find them I wouldn't measure out the film first. I'd start loading. Once you reach the end of the reel then cut. Start loading the second reel. If you do it that way the cuts should be at basically the same spot all the time.

Can you live with 13 feet?

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http://www.ndtmart.com/default.php?cPath=1_9

Day light tanks are an issue. But you can work in the dark.

If you want real cheap. Look for a 116 tank and reel. The things take short lengths of film but you can some times find tank and reel for $1.

If you want SS then you can get them from the UK.

http://www.hewes.co.uk/spirals.htm

I asked for a price but it's beyond what I'm willing to spend. That was before shipping. But I guess those would be the gold standard for reels. Considering what I've seen the Jobo reels sell for I think I'd go for the Hewe's first. At least it'll take a full roll.


What camera does the Beattie fit? I'm thinking of a back but they all need perforated film. The Graflex 70mm back takes anything and that's a bonus but I wouldn't mind a MF camera that took a unperforated 70mm back.

 

[claytume]

Good luck finding the Jobo 2517 reel. Jobo US hasn't had it for awhile [2 years?] Odds are it hasn't been made for longer. When they come up on Ebay they often go for IMHO idiotic amounts.

Can you live with 13 feet?

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I asked for a price but it's beyond what I'm willing to spend. That was before shipping. But I guess those would be the gold standard for reels. Considering what I've seen the Jobo reels sell for I think I'd go for the Hewe's first. At least it'll take a full roll.

I shoot a lot of 70mm in panoramic cameras so had to overcome some of the problems Nick has listed.

The first thing I did was space out a Jobo roll film reel to 70mm size, I cut the bottom out of a Fuji 35mm plastic film canister and glued it to the Jobo reel centre post, perfect size and fit. I've used it that way for a few years with no problems. Holds 5 feet.

Next I bought some of the xray film spirals listed above, they actually hold about 14 feet of film. I snapped off a few outer turns of the spiral so that it would fit in a Jobo reel tank, it takes about 8 feet of film which is just over half a 70mm cassette load.

To use the full size reel I cut down a Jobo 3063 print drum, fits fine but as yet I haven't used it as I never shoot a full cassette of film.

I got together with some friends and we bought about 40 spiral sets and got them for less than half the price they list for.

So yes there are many cheap options if you do some homework.

cheers
Clayton

 

[MikeS]

What camera does the Beattie fit? I'm thinking of a back but they all need perforated film. The Graflex 70mm back takes anything and that's a bonus but I wouldn't mind a MF camera that took a unperforated 70mm back.

Nick:

The Beattie Coleman backs I have fit any 4x5 camera with a graflok back. They made them in 2 versions, Model 70P Type 34101 which fits their Beattie Portronic camera, and the Model 45R Type 34100 for cameras with a 4x5 Graflok back. (this is out of the manual)

-Mike

 

[Nick Zentena]

So it's similar to the Graflex back I have. I wonder why all the ones for MF cameras need perforated film.

 

[MikeS]

So it's similar to the Graflex back I have. I wonder why all the ones for MF cameras need perforated film.

Nick

One major difference between the Beattie Coleman back, and most others is that it doesn't use the 'normal' 70mm cartridges. It uses spools that I believe are proprietary to it, and it's designed to be loaded in a darkroom, although the manual says you could also load it in subdued light, but that you would loose some frames depending on how bright it is. So I'll just go ahead and load it in the dark, I don't have a problem with that, heck, I have to load my grafmatics in the dark after only 6 exposures, so why would I complain about having to do it after 50 exposures!

I think the Beattie Coleman is also different in that it has a slightly larger frame size than most others which usually give a 6x7 negative, whereas the Beattie is 2.5"x3.125".

-Mike