Spring in my roll flm

Doc W

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I had not been in my darkroom since before the pandemic and yesterday, I developed some rolls of HP5 and Tri-X. This film was exposed probably 4 years ago and just sat in the dark until now. They were “mystery” rolls in that I had no idea what was on them.

Until this batch, I had never experienced problems getting film on Paterson reels. Now, maybe I was just out of practice, but it felt to me that the film had acquired a bit of “spring” from being rolled up for so long.It took me over an hour to get these on reels and in the process, I trashed one roll of Tri-X. It actually cracked! That film must have been very dry.

Or is it all my imagination and maybe, as I said, I had just been out of the darkroom too long.

Other than the trashed roll, they all turned out fine in the end and I have a few left to do.
 

koraks

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No, it's not your imagination; film does curl, which gets stronger/more persistent as it remains curled up longer. Temperature and humidity likely also play a role.
 

Craig

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it's hard to describe, but what I do is hold the reel perpendicular to my body and extend both pinky fingers with holding the reel. My fingers act as guides for the film to straighten it before it goes on the reel and it helps "unroll" a film with bad curl. I'll often hold the reel close to my chest and that also helps guid the film in - wear a soft shirt with no buttons!

I often need to do this with 120 more than 35mm.
 

MattKing

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Anything that has spent nearly 3 years locked up in Ottawa would likely be difficult to handle .
(and yes, you have to be Canadian to understand the reference).
What film format?
 

Sirius Glass

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MattKing said:
Anything that has spent nearly 3 years locked up in Ottawa would likely be difficult to handle .
(and yes, you have to be Canadian to understand the reference).
What film format?
Click to expand...

I thought that political thoughts were banded on APUG Photrio.
 

MattKing

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Sirius Glass said:
I thought that political thoughts were banded on APUG Photrio.
Click to expand...

It is actually more akin to the observation that the reason that Ottawa was chosen as the capital was that if the US invaded, they wouldn't be able to find it .
 

Craig

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MattKing said:
It is actually more akin to the observation that the reason that Ottawa was chosen as the capital was that if the US invaded, they wouldn't be able to find it .
Click to expand...

I though it was the compromise between Montreal and Toronto, Queen Victoria picked it as it was neither of those cities.
 

MattKing

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Craig said:
I though it was the compromise between Montreal and Toronto, Queen Victoria picked it as it was neither of those cities.
Click to expand...

We are not allowed to get serious here about Ottawa, are we?
 

Craig

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MattKing said:
We are not allowed to get serious here about Ottawa, are we?
Click to expand...
Fair. I liked the T shirt my dad has that has a picture of the clock tower on Parliament hill in the background and the text says "They take everything but the blame".
 

Sirius Glass

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MattKing said:
It is actually more akin to the observation that the reason that Ottawa was chosen as the capital was that if the US invaded, they wouldn't be able to find it .
Click to expand...

Well the Americans were able to find Montreal, so that would not be an ideal capital.
 

gone

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Were you struggling w/ it in a change bag? I gave up on those, and do it in a dark bathroom now where I can get comfortable and spread things out. Gave up on the Paterson tanks too and use a Beseler now (think they just put their name on it) that has a lid that don't leak, and aprons on the reels to glide even curly film right on.
 

Sirius Glass

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I would rather work to find something I dropped in a changing bag than crawl around the floor in a darkroom looking for the same item.
 

Sirius Glass

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MattKing

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I load the reels with everything contained in a flat bottom 11x14 darkroom tray sitting on the counter.
I have a second such tray a couple of feet down the counter for the tank, core and lid.
Once I have loaded a reel, I drop the empty 135 cassette or 120 spool and backing paper outside the trays.
 
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