Trouble Loading 35mm Stainless Steel Reels

Craig · Jul 27, 2023

The Paterson work well for me, I have no trouble with 120 format. The key to starting the film is how you hold the reel and guide the film in. I use both hands, and spread my fingers to support the film top and bottom of the starting notch. Once it's a few inches onto the reel, you're home free.

For a Jobo reel, I agree it is more tricky. There I align the starting tabs, and get the film into the groove, then pull it into the reel as far as I can. To advance it, I touch the film to hold it stationary to the reel half, then ratchet that half forward. Release fingers, hold with the other hand and other reel half and ratchet that half forward. It's an alternating of holding and ratcheting with each hand and reel half, so that the film can't go backwards when the reel halves are turned the other way.

Jobo reels also seem to have much tighter tolerances, so to avoid kinking the film I will apply a bit of force to slightly try and pull the reel halves apart as I'm loading. That seems to help.

SodaAnt · Jul 30, 2023

In case anyone’s interested, I finally put everything together and developed a roll of 120 Pan F Plus taken with my new RB67.

I had a few close calls getting the film on the reel. Before I got started I took the AP reel out of its box and put it on the counter of my darkroom (AKA interior bathroom with no window) along with the Paterson tank and roll of film. Lights off… Got the film separated from the paper backing straight away. Had a little trouble getting all of the tape off, but eventually did. Now to load the reel… Oh oh, something’s really wrong here! I realized that when I took the reel out of its box I forgot to set it for 120 film! I managed to do that in the dark, but won’t forget next time!

Took two tries to get the film reeled up (the first time it snagged on something. Note to self: next time snip the corners of the film). After that it was routine. This was my first time using a Paterson Super System 4 tank (my old ones were the ones with the narrower top) and pouring chemicals in and out went very fast.

Cold water out of my tap is over 80 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer, so I had to use 20 pounds of ice to get the water bath down to 68F. It’ll be easier in the winter. Next time I’ll try using a sous vide to control the water temperature.

The film turned out fine. It’s nice getting back into film after so many years doing nothing but digital.

reddesert · Jul 30, 2023

SodaAnt said:
Cold water out of my tap is over 80 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer, so I had to use 20 pounds of ice to get the water bath down to 68F. It’ll be easier in the winter. Next time I’ll try using a sous vide to control the water temperature.

Just a remark on the 20 pounds of ice. I live in a hot place and my tap water is quite hot in the summer. I mix the developer stock solution with room-temp distilled water (distilled because my tap water is very hard), however I then dilute the stock 1:1 with chilled water to bring it down to a reasonable temperature - I don't go as far as 68 F, even 75 F is fine using a temperature-dev time conversion.

I'm ok with then using room temp 80 F stop and fixer since the times are not critical. I don't use a water bath for black and white film developing.

A sous vide unit can only heat, not cool, which is great if you want to maintain a 102 F water bath for color developing but less useful for B&W at 68 F. However, my point is generally that B&W is a forgiving process if you use a time-temperature calculator, and one can pull it off with 3 ice cubes instead of 20 lb of ice to make it easier on oneself.

logan2z · Jul 30, 2023

SodaAnt said:
Cold water out of my tap is over 80 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer, so I had to use 20 pounds of ice to get the water bath down to 68F. It’ll be easier in the winter. Next time I’ll try using a sous vide to control the water temperature.

Similar problem at my house, my tap water is in the mid-70s in summer. I keep a few bottles of chilled water in the fridge and use that to mix with the tap water to get it to the right temperature. You also don't necessarily need to get it all the way down to 68 degrees, you can adjust development time for higher temperatures. Ilford has a chart that indicates how to modify development time based on developer temperature.

Edit: Looks like @reddesert and I posted similar responses at the same time. Sorry for the duplication.

MattKing · Jul 30, 2023

SodaAnt said:
In case anyone’s interested, I finally put everything together and developed a roll of 120 Pan F Plus taken with my new RB67.

I had a few close calls getting the film on the reel. Before I got started I took the AP reel out of its box and put it on the counter of my darkroom (AKA interior bathroom with no window) along with the Paterson tank and roll of film. Lights off… Got the film separated from the paper backing straight away. Had a little trouble getting all of the tape off, but eventually did. Now to load the reel… Oh oh, something’s really wrong here! I realized that when I took the reel out of its box I forgot to set it for 120 film! I managed to do that in the dark, but won’t forget next time!

Took two tries to get the film reeled up (the first time it snagged on something. Note to self: next time snip the corners of the film). After that it was routine. This was my first time using a Paterson Super System 4 tank (my old ones were the ones with the narrower top) and pouring chemicals in and out went very fast.

Cold water out of my tap is over 80 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer, so I had to use 20 pounds of ice to get the water bath down to 68F. It’ll be easier in the winter. Next time I’ll try using a sous vide to control the water temperature.

The film turned out fine. It’s nice getting back into film after so many years doing nothing but digital.

Well done - and a couple of hints.
1) It really helps if you have something like a large, flat bottomed tray to put everything into before the lights are turned off. That helps keep things where they belong - reels can roll! - and it is much easier to keep oriented in the dark. It also makes it easier to have the reel set up, with the loading flanges facing the way you want them to; and
2) I really recommend leaving the tape on the end of the film, folded over the end of the film. That folded over tape helps stiffen the leading edge, which in turn makes it easier to load.
Also, a sous vide isn't set up to lower temperatures, just elevate them.
Consider putting some water into the refrigerator ahead of time, to use for tempering solutions. If you have a cooler that could be used with ice to provide a cooler environment for the tank between inversions, that may help.

mshchem · Jul 30, 2023

Trimming just a tiny bit off the leading corners definitely helps to allow the film to advance, 120 or 35mm. I use a super small corner rounder from a craft hobby place. Just take a tiny nibble, otherwise you can make things worse. Scissors work fine too. Just a tiny bit.

The more you do the easier it becomes.

SodaAnt · Jul 30, 2023

MattKing said:
Also, a sous vide isn't set up to lower temperatures, just elevate them.

The sous vide doesn’t actively cool, but it does circulate the water and helps to reduce temperature variation in the water bath.

It’ll come in handy in the winter, though, as I keep the house thermostat set at 60F.

Craig · Jul 31, 2023

mshchem said:
Trimming just a tiny bit off the leading corners definitely helps to allow the film to advance, 120 or 35mm. I use a super small corner rounder from a craft hobby place.

NaIl clippers work too. Safe to use in the dark as well, no chance of cutting a finger, like is possible with scissors.

SodaAnt · Jul 31, 2023

Craig said:
NaIl clippers work too. Safe to use in the dark as well, no chance of cutting a finger, like is possible with scissors.

Since I have several finger nail clippers on hand, I’ll try those first and if not satisfactory I’ll buy the corner rounder (I love gadgets!)

madNbad · Jul 31, 2023

SodaAnt said:
Since I have several finger nail clippers on hand, I’ll try those first and if not satisfactory I’ll buy the corner rounder (I love gadgets!)

Get some safety scissors with the rounded tip. They’re useful for not only trimming the corners of the film at the start but also cutting it loose from the spool. With the rounded tip you won’t poke holes in the changing bag or your hand,

SodaAnt · Jul 31, 2023

madNbad said:
Get some safety scissors with the rounded tip. They’re useful for not only trimming the corners of the film at the start but also cutting it loose from the spool. With the rounded tip you won’t poke holes in the changing bag or your hand,

I’m not developing 35mm and I’m not using a changing bag.

Sirius Glass · Jul 31, 2023

MattKing said:
Well done - and a couple of hints.
1) It really helps if you have something like a large, flat bottomed tray to put everything into before the lights are turned off. That helps keep things where they belong - reels can roll! - and it is much easier to keep oriented in the dark. It also makes it easier to have the reel set up, with the loading flanges facing the way you want them to; and
2) I really recommend leaving the tape on the end of the film, folded over the end of the film. That folded over tape helps stiffen the leading edge, which in turn makes it easier to load.
Also, a sous vide isn't set up to lower temperatures, just elevate them.
Consider putting some water into the refrigerator ahead of time, to use for tempering solutions. If you have a cooler that could be used with ice to provide a cooler environment for the tank between inversions, that may help.

Would it help to plug the sous vide in backwards?

pentaxuser · Jul 31, 2023

Sirius Glass said:
Would it help to plug the sous vide in backwards?

Xactly! Make the electricity go backwards. Great idea. By the way, Sirius, were you one of the attendees at Dr Hugo Z Hackenbush's operations who had Joe's Service Station on the back of your theatre gown?

Brilliant stuff

pentaxuser

PinkPony · Jul 31, 2023

SodaAnt said:
I’ve just acquired some 35mm stainless steel reels and am having trouble loading them.

The reels are Hewes and have two little pins in the center core that are meant to engage the sprocket holes in the film to keep the film centered. My problem is I can’t reliably engage the sprocket holes with the pins in the dark.

I’ve watched various YouTube videos demonstrating how to load these reels, but they all use a piece of film that’s obviously been processed and hung to dry so that it’s straight with very little curl. Exposed film coming out of a 35mm cassette is definitely not straight and tends to curl up into a tight cylinder about an inch in diameter. Getting this unruly film into the center of the reel and onto the pins is defeating me. I spent two hours last night practicing and in over fifty attempts I managed to properly load the reel only once. Once I do get the film onto the pins, the rest of the loading process goes very fast and smooth.

Is there a secret or a trick for getting tightly curled 35mm film engaged on the pins on a Hewes reel?

I made another YouTube creation trying to teach the arcane arts of loading film onto stainless reels.

Some practice required, as with anything. What I like with stainless reels is that they are not as sensitive to humidity during the loading process as their plastic brethren.

MCB18 · Jul 31, 2023

What I do is I get the film into the center, and kind of guide it onto the pins while pushing the film backwards and wait for the pins to engage.

To be completely honest, I much prefer loading 120/220 on steel reels. It goes on smooth as butter, and you don’t need to worry about fidgeting with pins. Just line the film up as close to centered as you can, and the reel will help you out after that.

SodaAnt · Jul 31, 2023

PinkPony said:
I made another YouTube creation trying to teach the arcane arts of loading film onto stainless reels.

Some practice required, as with anything. What I like with stainless reels is that they are not as sensitive to humidity during the loading process as their plastic brethren.

Thanks. I’ll watch your video.

In my case, I load in a darkroom rather a changing bag and live in an area with very low humidity.

Trouble Loading 35mm Stainless Steel Reels

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