Is there going to be 220 available again ... one day?

[Renato Tonelli]

I like 220, but I don’t see it coming back. I have a stash of TXP220 purchased from the last batch and frozen, and a 6x7 220 insert for my Linhof 2x3 and 4x5 rollfilm backs, as well as a Sinar Zoom II back that can handle 220, and like a few people who have posted above, I save it for travel when I’m likely to be shooting mostly the same film at the same speed most of the time. When I run out, the 220-only insert will join the sheet film pack and all the other obsolete rollfilm formats.

I didn’t know that there was a 220 insert for Linfof. I also have a stash of 320TXP in 220.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

I didn’t know that there was a 220 insert for Linfof. I also have a stash of 320TXP in 220.

Yes, you can probably find them cheap these days on eBay, or B&H will sell you a new one, special order no return, for $1800. I think I got it used as a 220 6x7 back, but I swap it between 6x7cm backs for the 2x3” and the 4x5” Technika systems. If you have a 4x5” 6x7cm 120 back and just want the 220 insert, you might get it cheaper from a 2x3” 6x7cm back, since it’s less popular, and the 2x3” rollfilm backs don’t fit any other system (though the inserts are interchangeable with other Linhof backs).

 

[Renato Tonelli]

Good to know; if I find one at a reasonable price, I will grab it and use it on my Baby Technika.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Good to know; if I find one at a reasonable price, I will grab it and use it on my Baby Technika.

The 220 insert is marked like this one:

 

[MattKing]

In those 14 years, the potential sources of backing paper have been greatly reduced - thus Kodak's horrible problems in the last few years with wrapper offset issues.
The minimum order quantities of suppliers - not just for backing paper, for all sorts of constituent parts - are a major problem for all the remaining film manufacturers, because they are a huge drain on their limited capital resources.

To that I will only say, if demand grows so will resources ... what makes money brings money.

To the latter point, a growth in demand will only potentially make a difference if it is huge - those minimum order quantities reflect the fact that the people who supply the constituent parts have customers that need much more product than the photographic industry needs, so the competition for their output puts the photographic industry at an extreme disadvantage.
And this does nothing to solve the problem of the special purpose equipment necessary to assemble the 220 rolls economically - all the existing machines are very old, and most (all?) are worn out. If replacement was projected to cost 300,000 pounds in 2006, how expensive would they be now?

 

[Renato Tonelli]

The 220 insert is marked like this one:

View attachment 237690

Got my eyes on one!

 

[Randy Stewart]

To answer the original question: No, 220 roll film will not be returning to the marketplace. Almost all 220 film was consumed by commercial photographers. Now, they all shoot digital. Be thankful that 120 roll film is plentiful and hope that it will remain so. Even if some modest demand for 220 should appear, the cost of tooling equipment to cut the film, assemble such rolls and acquiring the end-paper leaders would be prohibitively expensive to justify a small run of such film. Of course, if you will pay $30 a roll and pre-pay a 10,000 roll order, Ilford may add you to the annual "special order" list.

 

[Cholentpot]

I rolled my own roll of 220 a few months ago. I had to slit down for 70mm to 120 then roll it up and tape it in a dark bag. It wasn't easy but I'm sure with practice I'd come up with better tweaks. Took me about a half hour to do a single roll. If I had a dedicated dark room I could probably bang out a roll of 220 every 10-15 min though.

Was it worth it? Well...I used it in my m645 and if it were summer and I had one camera with me, sure. Worth it. But I'm shooting less in the winter and need a lighter camera so maybe come summer I'll try again.