Loading Plastic Negative Reels

blgray · Jan 18, 2009

I use a spiral reel with two little clips that hold the film. The reel works by twisting the sides back and forth until you get to the spool, which you cut off.

Most of the time this type of a reel works great, unless it is wet. If the reel is not perfectly dry it is impossible to load the film because it sticks to the plastic.

But I have devised a way to overcome that problem, that is: When you load the film, have a bowl of water to dip the reel in. Continue dipping the reel in the water until the roll is loaded.

It works like a charm! Try it!

blgray

bspeed · Jan 18, 2009

I use a hair-blow dryer to dry the reels in a few minutes, then it's on to the next rolls.

Stock Dektol · Jan 18, 2009

That sounds like a big mess to me. I, like many use a changing bag. I assume for this method you would need a dark closet.

ricksplace · Jan 18, 2009

Compressed air works well too. 100psi blows the moisture off the reels. I have about a dozen reels, so I can use a few while the others are drying. I rinse my reels with very hot water before drying. I never have problems with film sticking.

PhotoJim · Jan 18, 2009

I solved the problem by having lots of reels.

I have 2-, 3-, 5- and 8-roll Paterson tanks, and enough reels to fill them all with 35mm film. That way I pretty much never run out of dry reels. (Even if I do, by the time I've done four batches of film I'm ready to be done anyway.)

blgray · Jan 19, 2009

I only have one reel so far!

I just got my darkroom up and running after about 20 years. I have a stainless tank with 5 metal reels, but I have not been successful in loading one.

I plan on getting more plastic reels, or a tank that will hold more than one reel.

What brand would suggest?

Thanks,
blgray

Stock Dektol · Jan 19, 2009

I would go with Patterson- very durable and it's a somewhat modular system. The reels can go in most of their tank setups.

Mike Kennedy · Jan 19, 2009

You can't beat Paterson!!

naeroscatu · Jan 19, 2009

I never heard of submerging the reels in water to load film. There are so many things that can go wrong in doing that. I also use a changing bag to load film. I have more than one set of reels but if I need to re-use one that is wet I just dry it out with the hair-blow dryer.

Phillip P. Dimor · Jan 19, 2009

I think it's a good tip, I never would have thought of it but you never know.. it could save you one day.
I destroyed my last plastic reel after having ruined a roll of 120 with half-moon crimp marks all over the edges.
Threw it so hard it shattered. Then I went stainless, now I don't throw them.

There are those old jobo reels, you can just slide the film onto it. And those Kodacraft/Arista apron tanks look neat for just one roll.. I bet you could load those when wet.

ricksplace · Jan 19, 2009

Mike Kennedy said:
You can't beat Paterson!!

I agree. Freestyle's plastic reels work just as well as Paterson's, for about half the price. While Freestyle doesn't advertise the fact, they are also the same size as Paterson and work in Paterson tanks, fit the Paterson post in the tank, etc. The only difference I can see is the entrance guides on the Freestyle reels are slightly smaller than the Paterson reels, but work just as well as the Paterson reels. This applies to 35 and 120.

Ian Grant · Jan 19, 2009

So were Jessops, the tanks were the older Paterson System 4 rather than the Super.

A couple of my reels lost one of the ball-bearings, this makes them far easier to oad

Ian

Loading Plastic Negative Reels

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