Minolta 16 Film

[Marvin]

Anyone still using the Minolta 16 cameras and have a good supplier for film. Does anyone have one of the film slitters and reload their own cassettes, and if so what is still available. There is a site on subclub called Goat Hill they have no web site, phone number, or address listed, has anyone used them. I saw some film available on ebay but not sure about the suppliers. I say an article that said that some aftermarket cassettes would not fit cameras properly. I still have two Minolta 16 cameras, a 16QT and a 16Ps.
Marvin

 

[summicron1]

hey marvin,

the guy who runs goat hill is the same guy who runs subclub, you could send him an email and see awake he is...I haven't touched base with him in a coupla years, but I think he's still slitting and selling.

The minolta cassettes are still around, you need to be careful as to source, however. There's a guy on ebay selling aftermarket cassettes made out of some sort of epoxy that don't fit well and don't last well and leak and are best avoided. His come pre-loaded with film that is also sometimes suspect -- it has remjet backing, or some such.

There are Russian cassettes that were made for Russian imitations of the Minolta cameras, they fit the russian cameras but not the minolta cameras. However, minolta cassettes will fit the Russian cameras. The russian cassettes are ok. If yu buy a Russian outfit you usually get two cassettes with it. The cameras are not bad -- they are copies of the Minolta 16 and some even have a focusing lens, which is a plus.

So you are best off, if you can find one, buying a minolta caseette -- as long as you are careful you only need a couple, they don't wear out. Last time I priced them they were around $10.

As to film, Mr. Goat Hill sells film, but you can actually slit your own if you are even marginally crafty -- I built a slitter years ago out of razor blades and blocks of wood, the sort of precision you need on Minox film is not necessary with Minolta, "pretty close" is good enough -- or you can buy (or used to be able to buy) 16mm movie film. The cameras are designed to use movie film that is perforated along one side. Unperforated film works great too because the cameras don't use the perforations.

should you really really REALLY want to shoot, are willing to find film and just need a cassette, drop me a line. I have small stash. Or look inside your camera, sometimes one is lurking there, forgotten. Once or twice I bought a camera on ebay and found a cassette inside it, forgotten.

or you could go naked -- it is actually possible to load one of those cameras in the dark without a cassette -- just coil the film, put it in the feeder side, tape the film to the take-up spindle on the other side, close the camera and away you go.

 

[Marvin]

Thanks for the info, just thought I might play with these sometime. Do you know if the film sold on ebay uses the bad cassettes or not. I still have about five cassettes that I can use so the slitter might be a good option. I am not doing color darkroom now but have a Yankee tank that could be used for B&W. I have bulk loaded 35mm but have never tried to reload one of these 16mm cassettes. When you slit the film what length do you use to get the correct amount of exposures. Did you slit 120 or 35mm film for the reloads. I bought the 16Ps new back in the day and it still seems to work ok and was given a 16QT both are still in the kit boxes.

 

[ic-racer]

You can still get Double-X Super-16mm negative film from Kodak, $22.51. I just got 100 ft roll of this film.
Dead Link Removed

A two-foot length of film will give 18 quarter-frame exposures or 20 of the smaller frames.
I cut a slit in the end of an old pen. Slide the film in the slit and spin it around and hold it tight with a finger. Then put the film in the smaller chamber with one inch of film sticking out of the felt trap and let it unroll. Hold the film in the chamber and pull the film out of the slit in the pen. Put the cap on the chamber and put a piece of electrician's tap to hold it in place. You can then feed the film to the other chamber and attach the take-up spool in subdued light.

Here is an enlargement from a Minolta 16 II on 16mm HP5 negative film.

 

[Marvin]

Thanks thats good information and it seems not that hard to load cassettes. I have loaded many bulk 35mm rolls so it should not be that hard. I take it that it does not matter whether there perforations or not.

 

[Marvin]

Here is one from a 16Ps negative shot back in the 70s.

 

[ic-racer]

Thanks thats good information and it seems not that hard to load cassettes. I have loaded many bulk 35mm rolls so it should not be that hard. I take it that it does not matter whether there perforations or not.

Double perforated film (non Super-16) will interfere with the frame on the QT. When loading make sure the perforations go toward the bar that connects the two ends of the cartridge. Otherwise non-perf film can be loaded either way.

You can rig up an adapter and use 3V Lithium cells (CR2430 or similar) in the QT.

 

[graflexboy]

Hi, Marvin,

(Fellow N. Carolinian here!) I also have a few Minolta 16's of various flavors. And I don't think any of them require the perfs to advance the film. I know that some other 16mm still cameras do, but I think you are set on the Minoltas.

I have also bought some film from GoatHill Photo (Joe McGloin is his name), and was pleased. It came wrapped in little rolls, with a band of paper around them and a piece of tape keeping each coil together, then wrapped in foil, IIRC. And the whole order was placed in a black 35mm film canister.

Have fun with those Minoltas!

EDIT: It was probably four or five years ago when I bought film from GoatHill, so I can't speak to recent sales. But I would buy from him again.

--Micah in NC

 

[nworth]

I still have a couple of the cameras, and I use one about once a year, just for the heck of it. I have a pretty good stock of PXN in the refrigerator for them, but if I needed new film, I'd probably go with Double-X. I've used a slitter in the past, and they work quite well. It's a good option if you want something other than movie film. (Ektar might be interesting.) I use a knotted string to measure out the appropriate length of film for a cassette.

 

[vpwphoto]

I have about 200' of double x and some OEM cartridges I am re-loading. I think I can part with a couple carts.

 

[mgb74]

I've used Goathill (also a few years ago) and wouldn't hesitate to buy from him again.

 

[donkee]

I use a film splitter I got from ebay that splits 120 film into 16mm and 127. Here is a recent thread with the info in it for a person looking for 127 film.

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