reusable cartridges - what to look for

[pbromaghin]

I'm planning to get a bulk loader and was looking at reusable cartridges today at Denver ProPhoto (they didn't have any loaders). They didn't have any metal ones, but they did have some plastic. How do the 2 types differ in use? They're about the same price. What do I need to look out for here?

Thanks!

 

[WDP-ictures]

Fairly new to the bulk loading myself so just from my beginner's point of view... Not that much different so maybe order a 5-pack of each from Freestyle and try both if you can. Some people get free, used cartridges from their local one-hour photo store then splice new/old ends together without opening it.

Plastic and metal cartridges each have their pros/cons:
Metal cartridges can be DX coded fairly easy or purchased that way, plastic cartridges can be coded with duct tape (the real, shiny, metal kind, not cloth duck/duct tape).

Plastic cartridges : twist-n-lock seems to be more secure. One end is fixed, one end opens.
Metal cartridges: easier to damage, bend or kink the edges making it harder to re-assemble and maybe less secure.

I'm not sure which one is actually more environmentally considerate. Not tons of info but I hope it helps. Good luck.

 

[mgb74]

One thing I like about the metal ones (at least the Kodak Snap Caps) is that the film slit opens up a bit when the top is removed. I believe this makes it easier to blow any dust out from the light trap.

 

[Newt_on_Swings]

Kodak Snap caps are the best, if you can find them. I think I saw them pop up once on ebay, though to be fair I dont actively search for them anymore. The plastic ones imo are better than the metal ones, they are easier to handle when opening and closing with a easy twist. They hold up well, even to drops, though I havent tried crushing.

The metal ones such as by kalt, get finicky with repeated use, the edges and ends get loose with repeated openings and closings.

If you can and dont mind asking a few labs, the best way is to get discards and reroll them with the bit of leader sticking out. The felt is usually clean, and when getting Kodak and Fuji branded types, have only been used once. Lomography and other off brands also seem to collect and rebadge film canisters with their own logos. Usually you can peel one off and see something like Kodak gold underneath. If companies reuse discards, that means they have some trust in the quality of the reuse of canisters.

 

[Bill Burk]

Just don't use them so many times that your negs get scratches.

I used to love the metal ones that you could pop off with your fingers. But I used mine too many times and in a fit of rage one day I threw away my entire collection.

Now I just have a pack of 4 Kalt metal cassettes that I plan to use one or two times before replacing them.

 

[Michael W]

I've been using the plastic ones for years with no problems. Reminds me that I need to get some fresh ones as the ones I have now are getting a bit long in the tooth.

 

[narsuitus]

I have used both the plastic and the metal film cassettes. Both worked well. Here is what I remember:

1. Felt light trap rarely scratched thick emulsion film when film was loaded into the cassette.
2. Felt light trap rarely scratched thick emulsion film when film was wound out of the cassette for exposure.
3. Felt light trap rarely scratched thick emulsion film when film was rewound into cassette after exposure.
4. Felt light trap easily scratched the thin emulsion film I used. To solve this problem, I used felt-free Nikon film cassettes for my Nikon F and F2 cameras.
5. End cap for the metal cassettes occasionally popped off when the cassette was dropped. To prevent this from happening, I routinely stored exposed or unexposed film in protective container.
6. End cap for the plastic cassettes occasionally unscrewed when the cassette was loose in my pocket. To prevent this from happening, I routinely stored exposed or unexposed film in protective container.
7. Some plastic cassettes that I used caused the film to bind so much that it slowed the motor drive firing rate.
8. There seemed to be a difference between the plastic cassette spools and the metal cassette spools. I occasionally had problems if I accidentally used a metal cassette spool in a plastic cassette.
9. Occasionally, when I reached the end of the roll, the motor drive would pull the film off the metal cassette spool. This never happened to me with the plastic cassettes.
10. Metal cassette discards were too unreliable for me to trust with my images.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11336821@N00/5218557633/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11336821@N00/6080915144/

 

[Michael W]

9. Occasionally, when I reached the end of the roll, the motor drive would pull the film off the metal cassette spool. This never happened to me with the plastic cassettes.

That happened to me once with a plastic cassette in a Canon EOS. I only taped the film on one side as I always used it in a manual advance camera previously. After that disaster I learned to have the tape cover both sides of the film if it would be used in an auto advance camera.

 

[pschauss]

I have used both. On the plastic cartridges, the triangular tab on the cover which us supposed to line up with the slot where the film comes out is a bit off sometimes. This causes problems when inserting or removing the cartidge in my Leica IIIf. I have a large collection of Kalt metal cartridges which I reuse multiple times with no problems. I have only once had one of the covers come off of one of those. As Narsuitus suggests, I always keep loaded cartridges in a container to minimize risk of that happening.

 

[narsuitus]

That happened to me once with a plastic cassette in a Canon EOS. I only taped the film on one side as I always used it in a manual advance camera previously. After that disaster I learned to have the tape cover both sides of the film if it would be used in an auto advance camera.

After my motor drives pulled the film off the metal cassette spool a couple of times, I too began applying tape to both sides of the film. This also solved the problem for me.

I probably never had a problem with the plastic cassettes because the plastic cassettes I regularly used had spools designed to securely grab the film.

 

[pbromaghin]

Hey, great advice, as always. My thanks to you all.

 

[Photo-gear]

Plastic cartridges ++++
Metal ones don't last as long and not as well sealable than the plastic ones. Also I don't need the Dx coded thing.

 

[pbromaghin]

Well, I took the plunge this weekend and got a Weston-type loader at Englewood Camera in Littleton. They didn't have any out front but the boss brought 3 from the back room - one of them new in the box!. One had masking tape with a note to use film before 03/1993. He said I was the first person to ask for one in about 2 years. They had only 5 canisters in stock (metal ones), and had to dig around to find them. Some guy had bought them out a month before.

I'll probably go back to Denver ProPhoto and pick up a few of the plastic and try both for comparison. I think they have 100 ft Tmax 400 in stock.

 

[narsuitus]

One thing to remember, if you give your film to a lab for processing, be sure to tell them that you want your film cassettes returned.

 

[Michel Hardy-Vallée]

For my Contax IIa I went the way of the Zeiss metal cassettes out of gadgetry, but once you figured out the tricks, they turn out to be sturdy, reliable and intelligent thingies.

Since you can use two cassettes in a Contax, it means that you don't need to rewind (something that's already a bit fussy on the Contax), and that you will not waste your entire film, should you open the back, or that you can change films in the middle of a roll.

Loading them is more tricky, and you need to learn your loader by heart not to accidentally fog your roll. And obviously, you can't use the Zeiss cassettes in any other camera than the Contax/Contarex/etc Zeiss cameras.