Most frustrating day of photography yet.

[Daniel Lawton]

If I still decide to shoot medium format after today than I know nothing can stop me! Basically I spent the afternoon exposing a roll of FP4 through my newly aquired Mamiya 645 super and though I had some pretty decent shots. I was pretty psyched to develop them and gawk at the large negatives compared my usual 35mm. Of course this enthusiasm was thwarted by the fact that after 45min. I still couldn't get the $@%* film onto the &!*% reel! It was a complete mess and I finally came to the conclusion that this just wasn't going to happen so I flipped on the lights and chucked it in the trash. I'll see if I can give it a try another day after my blood pressure drops back through the roof. Thanks for listening. Hopefully others can take comfort in the fact that if you did any photography today it was surely a better experience than mine.

 

[Paul Sorensen]

The reels are quite a bit harder to load at first. I got into MF a little over a year ago and at the same time got back into the darkroom for the first time in almost 20 years. I confidently marched into the film loading closet at the school/community darkroom where I now work and ended up in there for probably about 45 minutes. I finally came out after all that time drenched in sweat and really upset with myself for not practicing first.

I hope that thing go better for you next time. Don't forget to save the spoiled film so that you can use it for practice. Hopefully that will make a difference.

 

[Bob F.]

What type of reel? Someone is bound to have some tips. The tricky bit for me with the Jobo reels is getting the thing started without it sliding right back out again... The paterson reels seem easier thanks to the ball bearing mechanism. I usually hold the film in the middle of the leader and "pull" it on to the reel, rather than try to keep to the edges and "push" it on as I would with 35mm. I've not tried stainless.

Still as Paul says, at least you have a roll to use as a test ...

Cheers, Bob.

 

[lee]

Paul is correct practice loading the reels in the day light until you can do it with your eyes shut. Just because you can load the reels in 35 doesnt mean you can do it in 120 there is always a learning penalty. Take a deep breath and go get that trashed film and pratice.

lee\c

 

[Flotsam]

Daniel! Pull the film back out of the trash. Practice in the light a few times, practice in the dark a few times. I've found 120 to be easier than 35mm. Just different.
Best of luck. It's worth it.

 

[Daniel Lawton]

Yeah I know I should have sacrificed a roll to practice but hey how hard can it be lol! Well it definitely requires much more dexterity than with 35mm and the high humidity in my basement didn't help either with the plastic reels. I just could not for the life of me get the stuff to feed properly. Finally the film started to become a birds nest and stick to itself at which point I figured that the agravation was beginning to take years off my life. With this humidity maybe I'll try to get some stainless steel.

 

[Sparky]

Use wire reels - they're WAAAYYY easier - they just APPEAR harder. The plastic ones are a nightmare all around.

 

[Flotsam]

I agree that those widely spaced SS 120 reels are pretty easy to load. In plastic, you might try clipping the leading corners of the film. I think that helps keep it from hanging.

 

[winger]

I've found stainless to be a little easier. I've also had more problems with 35mm than with medium format.

 

[Peter Williams]

I've been there. As Bob said, I also start the film into the reel and then gently 'pull' the film past the bearings. Also, after having had the same frustrating 45 mins myself, I did a great deal of searching on the net and found a tip to cut the corners off my film (just the smallest tips) before loading onto the reels and I haven't ruined a roll since. Of course as everyone else has said, nothing beats practice. Best of luck,

Peter

 

[josephaustin]

Plastic reels are easy to load, if they are CLEAN and DRY. I cannot stress that enough it really makes all the difference in the world. IF you are in the habit of keeping your 35mm film on the reels for a final soak in photoflo esspecially they need to be cleaned after each use, and completly dry before you try to wind film on them again.

 

[BWGirl]

Oh Daniel! I know EXACTLY how you felt! I had the same problem. I did buy a metal reel & met up with fellow APUGer, Claire Senft who graciously helped me learn to load that blasted metal thing.

I still have a love-hate relationship with it, but it does seem to be somewhat easier than the plastic one. Fish that roll of film out of the trash & practice loading the reel. I was lucky that I had a roll to use for practice... as a matter of fact, I actually wore the darned roll of film out practicing! haha

So... there is hope!

 

[Ed Sukach]

I wonder .. many moons ago I quit using Kodak Photoflo - due to the danger of having hard brownish "drips" left on the film after drying. I switched to Edwal LFN, and have had no trouble with such spots since. If I remember right the residue from Kodak Photoflo was brown and for all intents and purposes, hard and bulletproof.
I don't have trouble loading MY reels, and I use LFN.

 

[Daniel Lawton]

I spent some time tonight practicing and decided to order some stainless reels from B+H just for the heck of it. Even in daylight the film just won't feed smoothly through the bearings and it tends to buckle and jam more readily with the wider and less stiff 120 film. I'd rather not risk losing another roll so I think I'll focus on becoming proficient with the stainless reels since they seem to be less problematic once you get over the learning curve. Thanks everyone for the tips.

 

[Konical]

Good Morning, Daniel,

Neal, Sparky, and Winger are correct. Forget the plastic. There's probably no darkroom operation which is faster and simpler than putting 120 film onto a SS reel. (220, however, is another story!)

Konical

 

[Jim Chinn]

I had problems loading 120 on to plastic JOBO reels untill I did as someone suggested above and clip the corners to prevent any buckling while loading. Stainless steel does seem to load much easier.

 

[thedarkroomstudios]

You can also load the taped-end first... the extra rigidity of the tape helps prevent the buckling also.