Submin (16mm) ... film/developing reels/whatnot questions

[pdeeh]

I have a yen to try subminiature photography

(This is probably because it is a bank holiday weekend and I have nothing better to do than cruise eBay and let shiny things catch my eye)

A bit of desultory googling hasn't turned up much in the way of unperf 16mm b&w film, on eBay or elswhere, except for the reloads from Goat Hill in the US. But I'm in the UK.

I expect I can make a slitter out of a scalpel blade and Lego and cut down whatever 135 I can get cheap, but you can only get one unperf strip out of 135 and it seems a waste. I'm not a huge fan of perfs in my pics, except when I am. But not often.

120 is less wasteful but is also thicker.

Any other sources for 16mm unperf ?

There are lots of Kiev kits available that come with a developing reel - but I can't find out if they fit a Paterson tank. They "look" as though they ought to, but anyone know for sure?

and yes, I have had a look at subclub.org before asking but can't seem to find the answers I crave.

 

[Gerald C Koch]

Microfilm comes in 16 mm unperf.
Cine film comes in either single or double perf. IIRC all the Minolta 16 cameras can use the double perf but single is probably a better choice..
Reels are available for SS tanks. 110 format and 16 mm are exactly the same size.

 

[pdeeh]

Thanks Gerald, yep I knew that reels are available, the question is really whether the Kiev ones are small enough diameter to fit a Paterson tank.
The Kiev cameras all use 16mm unperf, and the 30/30M/303 cameras are readily available very inexpensively as original kits complete with spare cassettes, a developing reel and even a negative carrier for the enlarger.

 

[Xmas]

The inner hole needs to be larger than the Patterson inner tube as well?

https://www.lomography.com/magazine/241548-how-to-make-a-fully-functional-110-film-developing-reel

 

[guangong]

Chip， Although very good for 120and 35 mm，plastic reels are a pain to load for 16 mm for minolta，etc，Steel reels are much easier，I use a slitter that gives me a 16mm strip for my Minoltas and a 9.5mm for my minoxes，These two subminatures are always handy resting in a pants or jacket pocket。Of course the results do not equal larger formats （unless you want to be extra fiddly and then probably just as convenient to use the larger format）but you will have a useful image for future reverence。

 

[Murray Kelly]

A link to the dread 'bay Also underneath a referrence to Imagelink HQ which is what I have a bunch of. EI 25 and try any of the low contrast developers and techniques as found on the sub-mini groups. I actually have less of a problem with the 16mm film and plastic spirals as the width and thickness keep it more rigid during loading.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ACS-DataLink-Plus-Sp-615-4611-Microfilm-Cartridge-16mm-x-30-5m-100ft-New-Sealed/262380507590?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid=222007&algo=SIC.MBE&ao=1&asc=36499&meid=d9964dfaecd54a188449135cf384c234&pid=100005&rk=2&rkt=6&sd=130853633448

 

[pdeeh]

Aha thanks Murray, I'd tripped over some of your posts in the submini group but all seemed very quiet there recently.

I think I'll just get myself a 303 kit and see how it goes. If push comes to shove I can always dunk the reel in trays or a jug in the darkroom, and I'll slit some Kentmere 400 to keep it all handholdable.
It's only a bit of fun, really. The weather and my knees have precluded hauling the 8x10 out recently so I thought I'd swing over to the other extreme for a laugh!

 

[Murray Kelly]

I know all about weather and knees. I just had a TKR 6 months ago. It certainly cuts down the trips out with a camera, but treated fairly the 16mm give a lot back The ability to focus gives the Kiev a slight advantage in my book. The fast film is probably more fun and it too, can deliver if treated right.

Good luck with the knees - hope they improve after the winter. Just getting into ours.

 

[Nokton48]

I bought this film slitter for 35mm film on Ebay. It's Joe McGloin from Sub Club. You can get three rolls of Minolta 16mm from a 36 roll of 35mm:

2016-03-28 16.30.10 by Nokton48, on Flickr

 

[pdeeh]

The trouble is, it would be very easy to spend $65 on a slitter (plus whatever customs and excise charge me to get it into the country) and then god knows what on special stainless reels and special tanks to suit and then a few tens of dollars more on a hundred feet of 16mm film and suddenly a £25 bit of fun has turned into £150 or £200 .

I've just spent twenty minutes taping bits of foamcore together with a scalpel blade and I've got a slitter.

Mind you I've also now got a sink full of blood and a bandage on my thumb, but I guess us outliers and unacknowledged geniuses of photography have to suffer for our Art

 

[Murray Kelly]

I guess I got lucky. I had (or was given) a Patterson system I tank and the construction is such that you can push the spiral all the way down. That accepts Minox excellently. I then made another notch for the spiral to lock at ~ 16mm and so now for 100ml of developer I can do a 16mm (or two) and even less if I was so frugal, for a Minox (or two)

Made my first slitter as a student and it slit the 62mm wide 120 film into 4 strips. I never told the Minolta that it only had 15.5mm film and it never missed a beat. I worry about slitters and finger nowadays. I had this idea that one of my wife's quilting roller cutters would be a good start but then I considered the aged hands and the total darkness and I reneged on it. I also have a couple of Joe's slitters. They work fine unless you get the film tangled in the dark. How much you spend depends on how much you expect to get out of the enterprise. Making your own slitter is a start. Don't forget to use stainless blades or the demon rust will have you back rebuilding it before long.

 

[jeffreythree]

Are Yankee Clipper(or Clipper II) tanks in the UK? They have a reel setting for 16mm. I found one local in a resale shop. The reel assembly fits in my Arista Premium Patterson styletank with a cut down black 35mm canister to lift the reel's integral center post high enough for it to be light tight. B&W was fine in the original tank and twirly stick agitation, but I wanted to do inversion agitation when I ran some color film and the Clipper tank is not sealed.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I use a Tessina with reloaded 35mm film shooting single frame negatives [18mm x 24mm].

 

[pdeeh]

the question is really whether the Kiev ones are small enough diameter to fit a Paterson tank.

For completeness, the answer to this is NO (or at least, not without some heavy surgery to the reel).

In the end, I tracked down and acquired an old soviet 35mm tank for which the reel was designed (cheaply - despite the fact that everyone else on eBay wants absurd money for them, I managed to pay about a tenner).