Using old Kodak Film Cartridges for Bulk Rolling

[Mogens]

I have a handful of old Kodak cartridges from I don't know when exactly... 1950s? They were floating around in a box of Leica copy/reproduction gear that I rescued from an estate sale. I just now noticed that the lids come off pretty easily. Are these good for bulk loading? The seem better quality than the Kalt cartridges that I've been using. I'm having a small moment of smug satisfaction at the idea of loading Kodak double xx into Kodak super-xx cartridges (I have period appropriate metal tins to put them in too...)

 

[MattKing]

Are these good for bulk loading?

Probably - if the felt is in good shape.

 

[cmacd123]

Probably - if the felt is in good shape.

that is what folks used in the 1950s!

in the 60s Kodak changed to the "staked" end caps, and while the official explanation was that the capswould not come off if you dropped the film, many folks figured that there was a small sub industry who were gathering used cassettes from Film processing plants and bulk loading (probably Motion Picture short ends) into used Kodak cassettes. By crimping the ends, that plan no longer worked.

for a while Kodak sold something called the "snap Cap 135 Magazine". An empty cassette with one crimped end cap and one end cap like the cassettes in the picture. this was specally for folks who wanted to bulk load. You can sometimes find them on E-bay.

of interest is that it took a couple of years for Kodak Limited to also change to the crimped/staked design, and I had planed to stock up from a store that was bringing in grey market Kodak Limited film, but by the time I had set aside the funds, that store had been "persuaded" to only stock Kodak Canada film with the staked end caps. I only have one or two Kodak Limited cassettes which are more like a collectable to me now.

 

[cmacd123]

Before those BTW, Kodak had casettes with a drawn metal end cap like the Soviet Metal cassettes. I assume the soviets used the Kodak ones as a design study.

 

[Mogens]

Wow, looks like a lot of people are using these for bulk loading. I just spent about 10 minutes look at old cassettes on eBay. Kodak used fun colors, I'm not sure how our visual cultural got so drab. Was "Kodak Limited" out of the UK? That reference escaped me, I probably loaded my first roll of film around 1990.

 

[cmacd123]

Yes, Kodak Limited London was Kodak's UK operation. (sometimes referred to as "Harrow" in folks posts around here) this place was famous as it helped George Eastman troubleshoot a major problem he was having while he was learning how to reliably make film back in the early 1900s

Kodak Pathe was in France, and Kodak AG was in Germany. Kodak Canada was the operations in at Camera Heights in the Toronto area.

 

[mshchem]

I use these. As noted make sure the felt is in good shape. Some have metal spools inside.

 

[mshchem]

B+H used to sell Kodak USA, Kodak made in USA for export, and Kodak made overseas. Kodak USA tried, successfully with me, to put the fear of poor transportation conditions into customers. Then Fujifilm started selling direct to pro studios and the whole thing went to pot. One other thing that brought down the retail shops was direct to user sales.
This is how I remember it

 

[MattKing]

Yes, Kodak Limited London was Kodak's UK operation. (sometimes referred to as "Harrow" in folks posts around here) this place was famous as it helped George Eastman troubleshoot a major problem he was having while he was learning how to reliably make film back in the early 1900s

Kodak Pathe was in France, and Kodak AG was in Germany. Kodak Canada was the operations in at Camera Heights in the Toronto area.

There was also a bunch of other Kodaks around the world like Kodak Australia.

 

[cmacd123]

There was also a bunch of other Kodaks around the world like Kodak Australia.

indeed but the four metioned were the ones documented as converting film.

 

[cmacd123]

the small dot between the K and the O is still found on rochester made film.