Kodak Alaris and Lomography Partner Up, Vow to Keep Film Photography Alive

StoneNYC · Nov 19, 2013

jnanian said:
but stone, you are talking about repurposing this movie film for still film cameras ..
its kind of a no brainer the movie industry uses/used 1000' and 400 foot rolls.
100 feet is like ummm 3 minutes of images if you run it ...
its obvious that a movie camera uses more film than a 35mm film cassette ... but it is a PITA to deal with 1000 feet of film in the dark pulling it off a spool
to wind it in a 35mm still camera film cassette. i used to buy large spools of plus x and pan x aero film and cut it down to 8x10 &c
and cutting off of a large spool was a pain .. but certainly the industry the film was meant for, used 1000' of film all the time

there is a thread here this past week with umut who has bought a 8mm camera and he is getting 400 or 500 or 1000 feet of film that he needs to respool onto his
25 foot spools which will be equally a pain in the neck ...

getting bulk is a great deal but the hassle isn't for everyone ...
and thanks for prodding me to buy some of the 5222, can't afford 4x5 film at 2$ / sheet, wish i could but its not in the stars at the moment ...
unless of course you want to buy me 4 boxes for a gift lol

Lol.

I know this is all talk because I certainly haven't done it, but it seems like a no-brainer to me to take Alden bulk loader, Cut off the spool area with a plastic cutting saw, then take a Movie Can, it doesn't matter if it's a 400' or 1000' you cut out just a part of the side of it, enough space that film cans pool out of it, and add edge protection so it doesn't scratch the film of course. Then attach the can to the cut off portion of the loader and feed the film through the gate like you would the normal loader...

To pretty basic concept it's just a round disc...

removed account4 · Nov 19, 2013

100 feet of film is between 15 and 20 arm lengths of film ...
(depending on how tall you are )
you'd have to pull it off the main spool, and wind it onto a core
which pain in the neck part the cutting the cutting the film
and stuffing it into the bulk loader, well that is something
the talented dog on the disney channel can do, seeing he can type ...

StoneNYC · Nov 19, 2013

jnanian said:
100 feet of film is between 15 and 20 arm lengths of film ...
(depending on how tall you are )
you'd have to pull it off the main spool, and wind it onto a core
which pain in the neck part the cutting the cutting the film
and stuffing it into the bulk loader, well that is something
the talented dog on the disney channel can do, seeing he can type ...

What are you talking about?

I'm saying that you leave the film in the can you don't take it out, don't re-spool anything, you attach it to the bulk loader and run it through the bulk loader permanently attached...

frobozz · Nov 19, 2013

StoneNYC said:
Lol.

I know this is all talk because I certainly haven't done it, but it seems like a no-brainer to me to take Alden bulk loader, Cut off the spool area with a plastic cutting saw, then take a Movie Can, it doesn't matter if it's a 400' or 1000' you cut out just a part of the side of it, enough space that film cans pool out of it, and add edge protection so it doesn't scratch the film of course. Then attach the can to the cut off portion of the loader and feed the film through the gate like you would the normal loader...

To pretty basic concept it's just a round disc...

In the normal loader, the forces pull against the core, which is held by the post in the middle of the loader compartment. In your scheme, the forces pull against the roll of film until it hits the edge of the can, and then rub it as you pull out film! Not to mention that the loader is wider than the can, and a few other mechanical/logistical puzzles to solve. No, instead of the original can, you need something like half of a Mitchell 400' magazine to glue your cut-off Alden loader mechanism onto...

Maybe someone needs to convince Alden (do they even still exist?) to make the "Alden 400" and the "Alden 1000" models of loaders!

Duncan

erikg · Nov 19, 2013

You guys are over thinking it. I never use a loader. Just go into a darkroom with your cassettes and load up. Just did 8 rolls yesterday at lunch. Still I think it would be great if KA would do factory loads for those who want to try some of these films and don't want even 100ft. to start. It would be so easy for them to do it, or at least it seems like it would be.

wildbill · Nov 19, 2013

StoneNYC said:
Well definitely they go through probably I would say easily 30-60 1000 feet rolls in a single day on some projects.

30-60 thousand feet a day, not really. I'm not saying it hasn't happened but multiple camera tv shows that run 2-3 cameras or sitcoms like Friends that used 2000' rolls sometimes burn maybe a third of that. features, while often having many cameras (some at high speed) rolling at once, don't have cameras rolling all day like tv does. For example, the last two camera tv show I did burned about 6,000ft/day. If we had a director who never called "cut" (and three cameras), we'd get up to the 11,000 mark.

StoneNYC · Nov 19, 2013

erikg said:
You guys are over thinking it. I never use a loader. Just go into a darkroom with your cassettes and load up. Just did 8 rolls yesterday at lunch. Still I think it would be great if KA would do factory loads for those who want to try some of these films and don't want even 100ft. to start. It would be so easy for them to do it, or at least it seems like it would be.

Different companies, this is movie stock so they would have to ship it to the other company, pay them for the labor to do it, etc, the price would be too much since it can't be done "in house" because they are separate entities.

erikg · Nov 19, 2013

StoneNYC said:
Different companies, this is movie stock so they would have to ship it to the other company, pay them for the labor to do it, etc, the price would be too much since it can't be done "in house" because they are separate entities.

I'm not sure it works that way. The stuff is all made in the same factory, doesn't seem like that much of a stretch.

StoneNYC · Nov 19, 2013

wildbill said:
30-60 thousand feet a day, not really. I'm not saying it hasn't happened but multiple camera tv shows that run 2-3 cameras or sitcoms like Friends that used 2000' rolls sometimes burn maybe a third of that. features, while often having many cameras (some at high speed) rolling at once, don't have cameras rolling all day like tv does. For example, the last two camera tv show I did burned about 6,000ft/day. If we had a director who never called "cut" (and three cameras), we'd get up to the 11,000 mark.

I was on a movie about 2 months ago they ran at least 40 rolls mixed between 1000' and 400' cans, the loader had his own PA runner because he couldn't leave his dark tent all day they were running through so much film.

When I said 30-60 cans, I meant mixed and matched, although I said 1000' I should have said between the two sizes.

I'm not saying it's common, I'm just saying that it can happen, it was a 14 hour day, and they were running A, B, and C continuously as far as I recall.

I wasn't really focused on that, because that's not my job, however I just happened to observe it and the loader was complaining he couldn't even pee LOL

StoneNYC · Nov 19, 2013

erikg said:
I'm not sure it works that way. The stuff is all made in the same factory, doesn't seem like that much of a stretch.

Well let's put it this way, I'm trying to order special 4 x 5 sheets of the stuff and the ordering system guy tells me that in fact he does have to go through two companies to get approval both the movie stock and the company for sheet cutting still film....

erikg · Nov 19, 2013

I'm sure it's complicated, and these new entities probably don't have all the details worked out themselves, but there would be no need to ship anything anywhere. Anyway, what do I care? I'm a consumer and I'll want what I want, let them figure out how to do it!

frobozz · Nov 19, 2013

StoneNYC said:
Well let's put it this way, I'm trying to order special 4 x 5 sheets of the stuff and the ordering system guy tells me that in fact he does have to go through two companies to get approval both the movie stock and the company for sheet cutting still film....

Isn't 35mm film base thinner than the usual 4x5 film base? That could get interesting...

Duncan

removed account4 · Nov 19, 2013

frobozz said:
Isn't 35mm film base thinner than the usual 4x5 film base? That could get interesting...

Duncan

if its like aero film it curls like mad

frobozz · Nov 19, 2013

jnanian said:
if its like aero film it curls like mad

I don't think it's *that* thin, but might still have some issues with staying flat in the film holder.

Duncan

frobozz · Nov 19, 2013

Found an old thread with some numbers:

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Duncan

StoneNYC · Nov 19, 2013

frobozz said:
Isn't 35mm film base thinner than the usual 4x5 film base? That could get interesting...

Duncan

It certainly doesn't feel that thin, it's definitely thicker than at least one of the types of sheet film I have, it's also not very curly. Remember this is made to get sent through high-speed motion cameras, so it has to be tear resistant or it would get shredded in the teeth of the moving parts.

Tom1956 · Nov 25, 2013

I thought of it a gaudy to open up a new thread to do something that has no doubt been done before on this site. But one thing lead to another today that reminded me of this song, so I'll link a thread to an old song, just for a couple minutes of distractive fun:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLsDxvAErTU

TheToadMen · Nov 25, 2013

Tom1956 said:
I thought of it a gaudy to open up a new thread to do something that has no doubt been done before on this site. But one thing lead to another today that reminded me of this song, so I'll link a thread to an old song, just for a couple minutes of distractive fun:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLsDxvAErTU

Why Tom, it's just an other old American tune ...

So, get a live (one) instead

Thanks,
Bert from Holland

Kodak Alaris and Lomography Partner Up, Vow to Keep Film Photography Alive

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