Strange way to advertise bulk film

[Tom Kershaw]

Just came across this: https://analoguewonderland.co.uk/pr...jb20iLCAia2xfY29tcGFueV9pZCI6ICJQTTV2bXEifQ==

- and did a double take, seems like a strange way to advertise bulk film by showing an exposed 100ft roll...

Tom

 

[cmacd123]

I THINK I have actually seen that photo before. It may be a publicity photo. (as in "Made you Look" )

 

[Tom Kershaw]

I THINK I have actually seen that photo before. It may be a publicity photo. (as in "Made you Look" )

Ah, ok. I hadn't seen it before.

 

[Lachlan Young]

It's the official Ilford product photo.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

It shows what bulk exactly is. Keep in mind the film is niche market now with new arrivals. Who are rediscovering film.
One day ago at another forum the question was if it possible to develop transparency film in C-41....

 

[cmacd123]

It shows what bulk exactly is. Keep in mind the film is niche market now with new arrivals. Who are rediscovering film..

if they take the photo literally, it will be an expensive discovery.

 

[Tom Kershaw]

if they take the photo literally, it will be an expensive discovery.

That is what I was thinking, however the photo does appear on the official site: https://www.ilfordphoto.com/fp4-bulklength

 

[AgX]

I find that photo correct and very informative as it shows the core too. Better than many words.
Be aware that bulk rolls come with different cores and even on reels.

I assume anyone even slightly considering using bulk rolls knows that the roll should not be exposed to light this way.

 

[Agulliver]

Good photo in that it shows exactly what the product is....but there are certainly people who don't know that one should never see that in real life! We've had people post here in photrio/APUG about opening the box of a bulk roll and being surprised.

Nevertheless the box/can does always have warnings about only opening in complete darkness.

 

[AgX]

We've had people post here in photrio/APUG about opening the box of a bulk roll and being surprised.

Yes, now I remember. I think I even commented on the sealing tape.

 

[Agulliver]

Last weekend I was at a gathering of friends with my 1937 Zeiss-Ikon folder...one of said friends brought their 11 year old son along...and trying to even explain film to him was difficult as he'd never seen a film camera. He was vaguely aware of Instax but had no concept of light sensitive material, and the need to keep it in the dark.

I guess a lot of younger people coming into photography really don't know the basics. But I do think the Ilford picture is good, how else are they to illustrate what you're buying?

 

[Tom Kershaw]

Last weekend I was at a gathering of friends with my 1937 Zeiss-Ikon folder...one of said friends brought their 11 year old son along...and trying to even explain film to him was difficult as he'd never seen a film camera. He was vaguely aware of Instax but had no concept of light sensitive material, and the need to keep it in the dark.

I guess a lot of younger people coming into photography really don't know the basics. But I do think the Ilford picture is good, how else are they to illustrate what you're buying?

I would have thought beginners would have an easier time with pre-packaged film; bulk loading has some set-up cost as well.

 

[Luckless]

Last weekend I was at a gathering of friends with my 1937 Zeiss-Ikon folder...one of said friends brought their 11 year old son along...and trying to even explain film to him was difficult as he'd never seen a film camera. He was vaguely aware of Instax but had no concept of light sensitive material, and the need to keep it in the dark.

I guess a lot of younger people coming into photography really don't know the basics. But I do think the Ilford picture is good, how else are they to illustrate what you're buying?

A few years ago I was at the 90th birthday party of a family friend, and his brother shared with everyone the story of a young soldier sitting down a few days landing in Italy [I think] to pop open his brand new camera and look through his pictures, because he had been a young man who wanted to become a famous war photographer like what he had been seeing in the papers...

Which I felt was good reminder that being clueless about photography is not something new to the world seen only in the youngest generations... [And also a good reminder that siblings can still be jerks and try to embarrass you with stuff nearly a century later...]

Everyone has to learn about any technology at some point in their life before they can understand said technology. We're not born understanding how even a wheel works.

 

[MattKing]

A few years ago there was a post here from a new member, who was concerned that the older 120 film camera he had just purchased only came with one take-up spool - he was worried that he would only be able to expose one roll of film and then have to wait until the take-up spool was returned.
He had no idea that the spool that the film came on became the take-up spool for the next film.
I refer to that, because it drove home to me that there is a whole bunch of experiential learning that I was benefited with as I grew up - learning that may be much less common now then it was in the past.
Having a father who showed me on my 8th birthday how to load and use my Brownie Starmite camera is something that I benefit from every time I load and unload any of my 120 (or 616) cameras - how many younger photographers are there that haven't had that benefit?
As for the illustration referenced in the original post, I think it is very useful and informative, but I would have overlaid it with a watermark that says "Open ONLY in Complete Darkness".

 

[jim10219]

It's a subliminal message to plant the seed in people's minds that it's okay to expose an entire bulk roll to light to get people to make that mistake when they're not thinking so they will have to buy more bulk rolls by ruining the ones they have.

Although, to be fair, how many people buy bulk rolls and don't know how film works?

 

[Lachlan Young]

Although, to be fair, how many people buy bulk rolls and don't know how film works?

Vanishingly few, though on the basis of this thread several people seem to think Ilford's customers are considerably more stupid than Ilford does.

 

[Theo Sulphate]

Who has a camera that can hold a roll that large? It must be film for those old "motion picture" cameras with reels on the top. Who has that?

Yes, I'm joking.

Sometimes you discover people have strange ideas about film. For example, there is one young guy on YouTube that describes loading a Rolleiflex 3.5F and despite the inaccuracy of calling it "120mm film", he goes on to describe that within the spool are "12 films" rolled up, but before you get to the films there is black.

 

[AgX]

Well, there may be meanwhile people without the slightest knowledge anymore on light sensitive material.

The same time people now tend to overcomplicate things.
The moment I started photography I started successfully self-processing and bulkloading without loader. Without any textbook, let alone with a video-tutorial and forums...

(What I missed though in hindsight was a better warning (or even any warning at all) by Tetenal on the developing agent in their Ultrafin (most likely Metol).

 

[cmacd123]

I got going with a 75 cent (new) copy of "Kodak Basic developing, printing and enlarging" A yankee Chipper II tank, and a sheet of glass and some Velox paper and some tri-chem packs.

 

[ic-racer]

People familiar with movie film might think the Ilford film comes in a 'daylight' spool. Even my brother, who bulk loaded film with me in the 1970s, questioned if I was ruining the film in my Bolex as I loaded it in the daylight the other day.

 

[cmacd123]

People familiar with movie film might think the Ilford film comes in a 'daylight' spool. Even my brother, who bulk loaded film with me in the 1970s, questioned if I was ruining the film in my Bolex as I loaded it in the daylight the other day.

And from my collection of bulk loaders that came with other darkroom stuff, the 35mm Daylight spools will not fit into many popular bulk loaders.