What happened to the metal 35mm film cassettes?

cmacd123 · Nov 24, 2022

as far as wear on my reuseable cassettes, I place a Twin Check tab on the bar code area and note the number of my developing notes. If when the film comes out, the film has excessive fog on the leader or other problems, I fetch the cassette with that number out of the zip lock bag and discard it.

AgX · Nov 25, 2022

With no cassette the seal is made from felt but instead velvet is used.

Basically there are several things than can go wrong with these, from design to manufacture. The issue at the moment is the price a small manufacturer has to pay to get decent stock...

cmacd123 · Nov 27, 2022

AgX said:
With no cassette the seal is made from felt but instead velvet is used.

Basically there are several things than can go wrong with these, from design to manufacture. The issue at the moment is the price a small manufacturer has to pay to get decent stock...

back when ILFORD sold film in Alumium cassettes, the entire cassette was actually lined with a felt like material. you are right that many current ones use a cloth similar to Velour. just like Camera light seals are called "Felt" even if some are made of Black yarn.

AgX · Nov 27, 2022

Concerning Felt, you North-Americans got your own terminology...

"back when ILFORD sold film in Alumium cassettes"

You are speaking of cassettes in the current meaning applied here at Apug?
I mean aluminium cassettes would very likely deform at relaoding, unless the metal sheet would be substanially thicker than the steel ones. And I got Ilford ones from 60's and they seem metal-wise same as those from the 70's. But I know you are very knowledgable on cassettes and canisters.

cmacd123 · Nov 27, 2022

yes, when I got my first rolls of ILFORD FP3 they came in an aluminum cassette with Drawn aluminum end caps and the end caps were held on by a paper label. this would have been early 1960s. when I went back to get another roll a month later, they were the steel ones similar to those that AGFA was using at the time.

to reload those OLD ilford cassettes you had to use some sort of tape to hold the caps in place. (replacing the original label)

Ahah, ebay to the rescue https://www.ebay.ca/itm/185668026651

eli griggs · Nov 27, 2022

AgX said:
The plastic ones' caps are much more easy to close, more so in the dark.

The plastic ones' caps can be locked by tape if one wants to be on the safe side.

This is what I do with my plastic cassettes, a tiny piece of good paper tape (3M) and they are good to go.

If I were concerned with metal caps popping off, I'd do thin strips of gaffers tape.

eli griggs · Nov 28, 2022

I have a good number of Leica brass reloadable cassettes, either work in the Barnack and, if I recall correctly, the 'M' as well.

They are a bit longer than the modern cassettes, but built like tanks, with an opening system I believe is still accommodated on 135 bulk loaders.

I wonder if they would work in the Leica CL?

Looking at the new types, actually taking one apart, the body looks to have a dead simple metal form, something that a loader could make for themselves, out of thin yellow brass or phospho bronze from K&S Precision with simple hand tools and an cheap arbor press.

The spool and caps could simply caps from regular film cassettes, though it may be that two cassettes bottom caps are needed for each brass body, due to mangled top caps from bottle openers.

Earlier tonight I watched a YouTube video on making a rig for manufacturing 16 gage steel into boxes and a tiny such platform, mostly wood, might prove ideal for making cassette bodies, perhaps.

At the least, take an old cassette and carefully open and stretch it out, and spend five minutes wondering, "Why couldn't I make this for myself.".

Nitroplait · Nov 28, 2022

eli griggs said:
I have a good number of Leica brass reloadable cassettes, either work in the Barnack and, if I recall correctly, the 'M' as well.

eli griggs said:
I wonder if they would work in the Leica CL?

Depends which type cassette it is. If FILCA then only Barnarck. IMXOO works in M's up to M6 mid-production.
They do not work with M5 and CL and newer Ms because they don't have the latch in the baseplate to open the cassette.

eli griggs said:
They are a bit longer than the modern cassettes, but built like tanks, with an opening system I believe is still accommodated on 135 bulk loaders.

The common loaders currently available new; Legacy Pro and Bobinquick types does not.
The Alden type does, but I am not sure if it is available new. Plenty used though.

BAC1967 · Nov 28, 2022

Has anyone else noticed that the new Ferrania cassettes for P30 are re-useable? Similar to Kodak snap caps. I recently re-loaded one after popping the end off, it snapped right back on.

AgX · Nov 28, 2022

Interesting, as neither AP nor Kaiser offer metal reloadable cassettes again.

Joel_L · Dec 2, 2022

I have a mix of metal and plastic ones. My Kalt metal ones work well. I also have some no name metal ones that are a pain to get the caps on. The biggest complaint I see with the plastic ones is the felt coming apart. I think this happens because it it harder to get the film to slide in, that and if you made the tape too long, it bunches up and grabs the felt. The best method I have with the plastic ones is to put a turn of film on the spool and then pull that out slowly while trying to slide the film into the slit. I just got a box of 100 kalt plastic ones and they seem to work well.

redbandit · Dec 3, 2022

The foma metal cannisters are gone as of this year.

Due to inconsistencies between countries, when i talked to their customer support earlier this year, they said that the cans had been discontinued and what they had left was it.

The person i talked too said that they MAY have been using these cans in regular production. The person wasnt sure if they were being made at Ilford as a special order, or if they had recieved the original machines from ilford to make on their own.

eli griggs · Dec 3, 2022

Nitroplait said:
Depends which type cassette it is. If FILCA then only Barnarck. IMXOO works in M's up to M6 mid-production.
They do not work with M5 and CL and newer Ms because they don't have the latch in the baseplate to open the cassette.

The common loaders currently available new; Legacy Pro and Bobinquick types does not.
The Alden type does, but I am not sure if it is available new. Plenty used though.

Thanks for setting me straight.

I've never segregated the two types and, while I had my Barnack, I did no have issues loading either into the camera.

Season's Best!

gorbas · Dec 3, 2022

guangong said:
Zeiss cassettes also fit Nikon rf and F cameras.

Interesting proposal! Worth checking. Results: Zeiss Contax RF reloadable cassettes can fit in Nikon F (sorry no any Nikon RFs here to check) but it's impossible to close properly back of the camera. When measured height between 4 Zeiss (49.28; 49.12; 48.85; 48.65 mm) and Nikon (47.32mm) cassette there is ~1 to 2mm difference. Interestingly there is "opening" in the Nikon F body to accommodate protruding lip for proper alignment of both cassettes. Never noticed it before.
My favorite reloadable metal cassette were made by Fujifilm. Bought bunch of them in Japan around year 2000. They are no longer available as far as I was able to check. From my experience ~20 loadings are the max I was able to extract from most of them. Konica cassettes used for their C41 films were excellent quality before they switched to cramped ones.

guangong · Dec 4, 2022

gorbas said:
Interesting proposal! Worth checking. Results: Zeiss Contax RF reloadable cassettes can fit in Nikon F (sorry no any Nikon RFs here to check) but it's impossible to close properly back of the camera. When measured height between 4 Zeiss (49.28; 49.12; 48.85; 48.65 mm) and Nikon (47.32mm) cassette there is ~1 to 2mm difference. Interestingly there is "opening" in the Nikon F body to accommodate protruding lip for proper alignment of both cassettes. Never noticed it before.
My favorite reloadable metal cassette were made by Fujifilm. Bought bunch of them in Japan around year 2000. They are no longer available as far as I was able to check. From my experience ~20 loadings are the max I was able to extract from most of them. Konica cassettes used for their C41 films were excellent quality before they switched to cramped ones.
View attachment 323259

Thank you for checking and resolving question. Never heard that Zeiss could be used in Nikons, until this thread. Shall continue Zeiss with Zeiss and Leitz with Leica.

kmcsmart · Jan 7, 2023

I have a chance to buy some Zeiss cassettes with a Contax iia. I don’t know anyone whos used them before. Is it worth a go or are they more of a collectors item?
Thanks
Karen

gorbas · Jan 7, 2023

kmcsmart said:
I have a chance to buy some Zeiss cassettes with a Contax iia. I don’t know anyone whos used them before. Is it worth a go or are they more of a collectors item?
Thanks
Karen

On my next bulk loading session I will use 4 of them that I recently bought. There is no reason not to use them if you have right camera.

cmacd123 · Jan 7, 2023

a few years after the first 35mm still cameras came out, it became posible to buy film already loaded into cassettes. That became the most popular way to use 35mm film. The dedicated brass cassettes are very good, but were relatively expensive.

gorbas · Jan 8, 2023

For me the biggest challenge is that "manufacturer-dedicated- brass cassettes" work the best when are using all the time the same camera or cameras that accept them. Problem is when you using a few differed makes and models.
I recently start playing with IIIF and regular cassettes. Now I would like to try it with FILCA type and also with Contax III and it's own cassettes. For some reason Nikon AM-1 for F2 are super rare.

eli griggs · Jan 8, 2023

gorbas said:
For me the biggest challenge is that "manufacturer-dedicated- brass cassettes" work the best when are using all the time the same camera or cameras that accept them. Problem is when you using a few differed makes and models.
I recently start playing with IIIF and regular cassettes. Now I would like to try it with FILCA type and also with Contax III and it's own cassettes. For some reason Nikon AM-1 for F2 are super rare.

One of the benefits of using camera/brass cassettes is, if you have bulk and "normal" rolls of film, you can always continue shooting with that/those cassette(s), with the correct brass case.

It is also possible to divide normal rolls, 36ct, 24ct lengths of film into them, for example, a 36ct roll, with two pre-positioned spare back ends, two cut spare lengths of tongues and some Scotch Tape, etc, to reload only the films unexposed lengths, with these already exposed tongues and backs into three different cassettes.

You'll already have one each tail and tongue from the original normal roll, so you'll be able to get a few extra frames from it by using used fronts and backs.

A pair or so, of smooth finished wood or cardstock, free of dust can serve as blacked out darkroom measures for hand division of normal cassette rolls and other smaller count preloaded rolls.

Also, unless you'll be despooling the bulk film rolls by hand, the counter of a loader will make it easier to find the correct count of good frames.

If you only shoot small amounts of film at a time, this might just be the most economical way to proceed, leaving your bulk and normal fims in the cold until time to reload fresh.

IMO.

cjbeaman · Apr 13, 2023

I found this site that is selling metal cartridges- I'll get some and report back how it goes. My students use reloadable cassettes in the classroom, and I prefer the metal over the plastic for the previously stated issues in this thread!
There were only 7 cartridges in stock when I checked, so they probably make them as needed..

Midwest Film Company 35mm Metal Reloadable Cartridge — Midwest Film Co

Metal snap cap style 35mm cartridge for bulk loading 35mm film. Whether you're into black and white or motion picture color negative these reloadable cartridges are a perfect fit!

www.midwestfilmco.com

B&Wpositive · Apr 14, 2023

cjbeaman said:
I found this site that is selling metal cartridges- I'll get some and report back how it goes. My students use reloadable cassettes in the classroom, and I prefer the metal over the plastic for the previously stated issues in this thread!
There were only 7 cartridges in stock when I checked, so they probably make them as needed..

Midwest Film Company 35mm Metal Reloadable Cartridge — Midwest Film Co

Metal snap cap style 35mm cartridge for bulk loading 35mm film. Whether you're into black and white or motion picture color negative these reloadable cartridges are a perfect fit!

www.midwestfilmco.com

Looks like the shipping cost is fixed whether you order 10 or 25 cassettes. For 25, it comes to about $2.25 per cassette in the US.

At least someone is making these again, and hopefully the quality is good.

radialMelt · May 2, 2023

cjbeaman said:
I found this site that is selling metal cartridges- I'll get some and report back how it goes. My students use reloadable cassettes in the classroom, and I prefer the metal over the plastic for the previously stated issues in this thread!
There were only 7 cartridges in stock when I checked, so they probably make them as needed..

Midwest Film Company 35mm Metal Reloadable Cartridge — Midwest Film Co

Metal snap cap style 35mm cartridge for bulk loading 35mm film. Whether you're into black and white or motion picture color negative these reloadable cartridges are a perfect fit!

www.midwestfilmco.com

How did you fare with these cassettes?

What happened to the metal 35mm film cassettes?

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