Keeping film containers and spools

lorirfrommontana · Apr 20, 2010

Yup! I have a bag of the 35mm containers that I use when bulk loading and I save the 120 reals and backing paper also. They are laying all over the darkroom and I have no idea why I save them all???

David William White · Apr 20, 2010

I respool 35mm film onto 120 spools. Takes nice x-pan type landscapes. So save a few with paper...

Hikingman · Apr 20, 2010

Fleath said:
It's gotten to the stage my girlfriend saves her 120 spools and gives them to me...

She is definitely a keeper!

BetterSense · Apr 20, 2010

I like having an opaque container for my film when I'm out in the bright sun and the grey w/grey top were perfect for that- the grey color absorbed heat slower and the grey top took notes with marker. Oh, well.

Beware! The black w/grey lid Kodak 35mm containers are NOT lightproof. One would be forgiven for assuming they are, but the grey lid is translucent. One time my camera jammed and I had to unload it in the dark and put the film in a dark container. I cursed because I couldn't find a black 35mm canister...all the newer ones are see-through grey. I ended up putting the film in peanut tin. Months later I tested the grey-lidded kodak canisters and found them not even approximately light tight. One of my favorite pictures ever went into that peanut can, too.

phenix · Apr 21, 2010

Mmmmm canisters,
Mmmmm spools,
Mmmmm backing paper for this one I found a use: I make sleeves for the film strips. I think backing paper is the best archival medium, regarding scratches and pH. As for the dust, a box solves the problem.

Nige · Apr 21, 2010

I don't keep them but have found a good use for the few I did have lying around... Coin jars for when we go caravaning. Need coins for clothes washing machines and other things. Fill them up before we go and we never have to scramble around looking for coins.

wblynch · Apr 21, 2010

wotalegend said:
127 is still available, and you are not too far from one of the main sellers - Freestyle in Hollywood.

Love Freestyle. I have several rolls of that B&W Efke already.

Color is harder to get. I got a 100' roll of 46mm Portra 160NC that I can spool up for a great cost (about 75 cents per roll).

I have several old rolls of Kodak 127 that I can use for the reels and papers since no one processes C-22 nor E-4 anymore.

Some enterprising people cut 120 down for 127.

Metroman · Apr 21, 2010

I save my 35mm cannisters until I have a hundred or so and then the wife takes them down to the allotment/horticultural society and they sell them as seed containers for a few pennies and bolster their funds.

IloveTLRs · Apr 21, 2010

I keep 35mm cassettes and spools, 120 spools and test strips from the dark room.

Backing paper and scraps of 35mm I throw away.

Maybe I can make a multimedia sculpture one day ...

little golan · Apr 21, 2010

me too!!! though I just chucked out / recycle bin a load of plastic 35 tubs. Couldnt bring myself to ditch the spools, they just look so useful , somehow even more so the 120 ones. Also the metal film containers - flattened out - and end rings. Since I rarely use 35 these days these seem a bit more special. Oh lol! Im glad I am not alone.

cmacd123 · Apr 21, 2010

I found a readdy taker or three from used Clear plastic 35mm cans. Seed storage, paint mixing...

I too save 120 spools and backing paper, for reasons I can't understand, although I don't use much 120. The film cans I do use for Bulk loading. but prefer the darker colours to avoid too much light striking the cassettes when I have to change film on the go.

I do believe the Grey Kodak cans were more or less light tight. Although the black with Black would be a surer bet.

lxdude · Apr 22, 2010

BetterSense said:
Beware! The black w/grey lid Kodak 35mm containers are NOT lightproof. One would be forgiven for assuming they are, but the grey lid is translucent.

I did test a black lid and a grey lid and you are right. The grey is less light resistant than the black. But it's still far better than the newer semi see-through ones. Under normal lighting it seems functionally opaque. On a practical level it's fine for me.

thisismyname09 · Apr 22, 2010

mikebarger said:
I don't have the 35mm collection anymore as I don't shoot more than about 6 rolls a year. On the 120, I even save the backing paper....for what who knows?

Mike

I've found that the backing paper is worth saving most of all. I've lined the door to my darkroom (read: closet) with it so no light gets in. It's also useful as a temporary (or permanent, I guess) fix for light leaks in a camera.

Mike Wilde · Apr 22, 2010

I too am guilty. I still use pop off bottom 35mm casettes that were given to me, oh, 30 or so years ago. They predate DX coding, and believe it or not, the velvet is still good. Mostly I load /unload indoors, which helps some. I have been bulk loading and reusing these for years. There are enough that the colour codes cue me to the bulk film in them, although I do label the masking tape I stick on them.

I must have 200 35mm cans. Spice storage for camping, little bit storage in the work shop, and just laying in a bin.

I too keep 120 spolls and backing paper. Over 150 rolls last time I was trying to figure out why. I remove the closing sticker reroll and snug with a bit of green painters masking tape and add them to a box as the films on them are developed. Some get the spool rims attacked with toe nail clippers to shrink their diameter and film re-rolled on them to feed the odd 620 camera that comes my way.

I also have rerolled 120 with 70mm slit down, so I guess that is mostly why I keep them.

I do think of this habit when I am watching Hoaders or Buried Alive, and wonder where it might lead me.

Existing Light · Apr 22, 2010

I keep my 35mm and 120 spools in one of those big aluminum Maxwell House coffee containers. I havent saved up a bunch because i just started. I saw an article on the internet a few months ago where a guy made a monster out of those orange and white road construction barrels, and that inspired me to start saving the reels to make some sort of sculpture, maybe a car-sized Leica or something silly like that

Edit: I also keep my 35mm cannisters (The plastic tubes they come in, not the cassette the film is wound up in) and use them to make ice cubes. I learned how to make little popsicles out of Kool-Aid and Gatorage when I was in Kindergarten (which has been about 18 or 19 years ago). Now that it's hot as hell here in Alabama, I might try that again. I dont know how the rest of the family will respond to having like 100 little popsicles in the bottom rack of the freezer. They better learn to like it until it gets cold outside again

Terrence Brennan · Apr 22, 2010

Cans & spools

Lots of uses for the cans, too many to count.

One thing I do is to keep four in one of the dashboard "pockets" in my Corolla. The first can, with a green lid, has a collection of Loonies and Twoonies in it. The next two, with black lids, have quarters in them, and the last bunch has pennies, which is there specifically to provide 3¢ when I am filling up the gas tank and don't want to come away from the cash with $19.97 in change, of which $4.97 is coins.

For our non-Canadian APUGgers, a Loonie is a Canadian one dollar coin, and a Twoonie is a two dollar coin. Our one and two dollar bills disappeared some time ago.

Existing Light · Apr 22, 2010

Oren Grad said:
Don't ask how many I have...

How many do you have

lxdude · Apr 22, 2010

I always thought there was something Loonie-Twoonie about Canadians--now I know why!

Existing Light · Apr 22, 2010

Terrence Brennan said:
For our non-Canadian APUGgers, a Loonie is a Canadian one dollar coin, and a Twoonie is a two dollar coin. Our one and two dollar bills disappeared some time ago.

I wish America would try that. I'm quite fond of our dollar coins, even though they're not very commmon, at least where I am. Every once in a while, I'll go to the bank and trade in all the $1 bills I have accumulated over the last few weeks and get a roll of $1 coins just because I prefer to use them. I dont keep my change in film cannisters, though. I prefer to keep mine in a Dungeons and Dragons dice bag, which looks like one of those coin bags from long, long ago (I'm such a nerd). I guess I like the "WTF?" looks I get when I dump a bag of coins out on the table when I pay for gas or groceries or something

Clay2 · Apr 22, 2010

I saved 120 spools and backing paper for years. Some are so old the spool is wood with metal ends, ha!
Also saved my old 35mm metal Kodak film cans. That was when cans were real cans, not plastic, and
the cassettes were bulk-loadable. Use the paper to glue up masks for my contact print box and the
contact print frame, Plastic film cans for Toonies, Loonies, quarters. Too small for pennies, use
tobacco cans for them, but what do I do with about 2 kilos (4.8 pounds) of copper pennies, recycle the
copper? Rolling would be a pain and the bank yells at me if I bring in coin, sigh.

Best regards,

/Clay

GrantR · Apr 22, 2010

Being the owner of a small film camera store--I accrue a LOT of those plastic containers. Earlier this month I have finally found a use for them! My business partner and I are experimenting with making moustache wax and these little containers are the perfect size for selling our product! I'll be sure to keep you all up to date for those that fancy facial hair.

mhcfires · Apr 22, 2010

Jeeez, we are all packrats.

I have been saving them for nearly forty years. My late wife was a packrat suprema. I finally parted with a few large buckets of them when I remodeled my house a few years ago. I had four or five five gallon buckets filled with the plastic film cans. I am back at it, though. I have about a two gallon bucket filled with 35mm cans, a one gallon bucket of 120 spools. I use the 35mm cans for small screws and washers. A packet of 100 #1 x 3/8 inch wood screws fits nicely into one of these little cans.

Another great use for the translucent white cans is to use over the built-in flash on your camera. It makes a great diffuser. Simply cut a slot in the can to allow it to fit snugly over the flash, put the little gray cap back on the can and you have an instant budget flash diffuser when you don't have your nice SB600 or whatever flash handy.

Mike "Pack Rat" Cienfuegos.

btw, my dear beautiful wife also couldn't part with wine corks. I finally parted with boxes of them.

wblynch · Apr 22, 2010

I tried this one and the problem is the grey lid. It blocks light from one side, making an unevenly lit picture. I need to try again with no lid or a clear Fujifilm lid.

mhcfires said:
Another great use for the translucent white cans is to use over the built-in flash on your camera. It makes a great diffuser. Simply cut a slot in the can to allow it to fit snugly over the flash, put the little gray cap back on the can and you have an instant budget flash diffuser when you don't have your nice SB600 or whatever flash handy.

Mike Wilde · Apr 22, 2010

Clay2 said:
... Too small for pennies, but what do I do with about 2 kilos (4.8 pounds) of copper pennies, recycle the
copper?
/Clay

I recently noticed the recent Canadian penny was ferrous; it is copper plated, so it is not all copper if you smelt them.

jmcd · Apr 22, 2010

I am also saving the interleaving "note" sheets that used to be found between every sheet of Ilford film, the black interleaving sheets that were found between sheets of Forte (good for lining a light-tight something or other), the square Ilford boxes and tins from 100 foot rolls of film. So much care, precision, and possibility. If it all collapses will someone ever find me?

Keeping film containers and spools

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Privacy & Transparency