Lost a roll of 127 film just now.

What About Bob

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I bought a roll of Kentmere 127 not long ago and went to put it into the camera and it came undone, unraveled and I couldn't tighten it back on to the spool. The tongue part of the paper wasn't there anymore. I just got fed up with it and it is now toast.

Anybody else have this problem with the 127 rolls? I bought only one and this was the most expensive $22 dollars that got destroyed. I am really not happy now because my mom was all set to go out with her brownie before it got cold out.
 
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What About Bob

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DWThomas said:
Blue Moon and Freestyle show some 127 (but they're not exactly giving it away).

You now know everything I know!
Click to expand...

Yeah this stuff is pretty much gold. I'm hoping I have much better luck next time than what I experienced today. Maybe this time around it was just Gremlins? I have never had a roll come undone like this in 120. I am taking it that 127 rolls require more care in handling?
 

DWThomas

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What About Bob said:
I am taking it that 127 rolls require more care in handling?
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It's been multiple decades since I shot any, but by virtue of smaller size they may be a bit more tedious for users. Another likely problem is that most of what's currently available is likely cut and re-spooled from larger stock and done in small batches with less automated handling would be my guess.

I looked enviously at some 4x4 TLRs a while back, but decided I already have more stuff than I can use!
 
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What About Bob

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I was thinking of just getting Rerapan 100 since it is cheaper but from what I have read, so far, there may be other quality issues concerning that brand, as well as Shanghai. I was even thinking of buying that Italian cutter and cutting down from 120 film.

My mom just told me that she never had what just happened to me but then that was back in the late 50s/early 60s when she used the camera. Materials were different back then. The camera still had the metal spool in it.

We had this day all planned out. Mom is like don't worry it's not your fault yet I am heartbroken by this. I will look to see if there are other slightly cheaper brands.
 

_T_

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There are sometimes ways of handling roll film in general which can minimize the risk of this happening. For example when loading the roll do not remove the sticker that’s holding the roll together until the roll is safely loaded into the camera and the backing paper and film are under the control of the spring designed to keep the roll from unspooling.

Then you would tear the sticker and spool the film through the camera and onto the take up spool.

I’m not sure if all cameras have a mechanism like that but if yours does I would use it.

If you take the sticker off before the roll is in the camera it can become a sort of juggling act to get it into the camera while keeping force on the spool so it doesn’t unroll depending on the design of the camera.

I have made that mistake before myself and ended up with light leaks throughout the first half of the roll.
 

Sirius Glass

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If the roll had not been too loose, you might have be able to get it into a changing bag to be saved.
 
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What About Bob

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The film would have been used in a Brownie Holiday camera.

The sticker was still on the film but was taken off slightly to get the tongue to the take-up slit. The paper isn't really the most durable thing, seeing that the tongue came off. I would have been able to cut a new tapered tongue but I was holding the roll tightly in my right hand trying to shield it and I was able to get the roll into my changing bag in hoping that I could tighten it up but I couldn't The unravel was so severe that the outward expanse of the film in relation to the spool was too great. The film was really puffed out from the spool. Sort of felt like I could use it as a tiny squeeze ball. The film was definitely toast by that point before getting to the changing bag.

I have never had this problem with 120 film. First time handling 127 and this happens. This is making me a little on the paranoid side about keeping an eye on my 120 film now.
 
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What About Bob

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I sent off an email last night to the company who deals with spooling the film to see if anyone has any input. That sound that the film made for about half of a second made me flinch. Sound of the film quickly unraveling outward. I have never had a roll of film do such a thing.

I compared the 127 paper to a roll of Kentmere 120 paper and the 120 version is way more durable. The 127 paper looks and feels to be on the chintzy side. Is it possible that weak backing paper could make the film just blow outward from the spool? The paper is easily rippable. The tongue part easily came right off. The blue taped part on the 127 paper appears to be neatly placed, vertically, but not entirely covering the width of the film yet the tape seems to be holding the film sturdy enough. There is a hump on the paper close to where the tape part is. Looking at this gives me the impression that this section needs to be untaped and retaped to make that section flat again. If I am making any sense here?
 

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You’re making sense. That hump happens sometimes when manually rolling film, like when re-rolling 120 onto 620 spool. It might indicate in attention or carelessness on the part of the person spoiling the film.
 

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MF hand-roller here to put in my 2 cents:

You probably got hand-rolled film from a bulk roll of 46mm. That film is not rolled up as tightly on the core as on a 127 spool, hence why it “sprang out” and unwound when you let go of the roll. If made properly, 127 film is just like 120 film, and you shouldn’t have any issues, however it seems you get unlucky with a bad roll.

The tape doesn’t need to be across the full width of the film, but it should cover a good majority of it.

The hump you got near the tape is from trying to roll the film up tight again when the free end isn’t lined up on the correct spot. This is why most rollfilms are such a pain to make, because the film needs to be perfectly lined up to avoid this. I found the best way to do this is just rolling the film onto a spool as if it was being “taken up”, then rolling the film back onto the supply spool to ensure the free end is lined up. I don’t know how they do it but if you are having issues where the film is misaligned that isn’t great.

Backing paper being weaker is honestly surprising, they must have a different source for paper. As hard as I have looked, I haven’t found a good source besides recycled paper, so I would have assumed they also used that. Might decide to look again for new paper, if in fact they found a source
 
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What About Bob

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BrianShaw said:
You’re making sense. That hump happens sometimes when manually rolling film, like when re-rolling 120 onto 620 spool. It might indicate in attention or carelessness on the part of the person spoiling the film.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Brian.

I did order another roll of this stuff. I am thinking of loading the Brownie while in a changing bag, this next time around. I'm going to have to practice this.
 
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