Transporting an uncut film roll...

David_Manning

David_Manning

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I need to transport rolls of uncut Tri-X to a local mini-lab for scanning to cd.

Can anyone recommend a method which is least likely to scratch or otherwise damage them?

I'm a bit hesitant to tightly wind a roll into a film canister, for fear of severely curly film after I cut and sleeve it. I'm actually leaning towards putting the uncut, unspooled film in a quart-sized ziploc bag. Not very elegant, I know.

Any ideas?

---David.
 
Roll it up and put it in a canister. The film will curl, but no worse than it did when it was in the cassette. After all the cassette is smaller than the canister.
 
Depends on how much time it would spend wound up. Just for the drive over there should be fine. And don't they need it rolled up for feeding into the scanner, anyway?

I used to request my C-41 back from the drugstore uncut but if it spends any length of time in the canister, it's a pain to scan [EDIT: on my flatbed] and usually needs a day wound the other way. Coiled in a plastic bag isn't any better, either. Less curl, but higher odds it gets scratched.

I suppose we're talking too many rolls to use developing reels for transport?
 
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I use old-fashioned glassine film envelopes, the sort made for storing a single LF negative. The film is loosely rolled inside. Because it's not rolled tight there is far less risk of scratching. An 8x10 bag is fine but 5x7 is OK. Alternatively, a ZipLoc type plastic freezer bag is ideal. Either can be recycled repeatedly, taking a different film to and from the lab. I REALLY wouldn't roll the film up tight and stuff it in canister.

Either way I'd not worry about curl.

Cheers,

R.
 
A cake-dome style CD container, the type in which blank CDs are sold. The one for 25 discs is perfect for 35mm. The 50 disc size will do medium format.
 
Rolling should be fine, even the tight roll in a film can, but you must be careful not to cinch the wound roll. Sliding the base side against the next layers emulsion side is an excellent way to scratch one, the other, or both.
 
Dwig's comment reminds me: When I was first learning film developing, I'd take my film off the drying hanger, roll it up, cinch it tighter to fit a film can... Got lots of longitudinal scratches that way. Any dust or grit on the film surface will do it. Careful!

This was on a military base, where we amateurs could use the base photo lab after hours. The film hung to dry for a day exposed to the rest of the darkroom, and picked up a bit of grit from the normal coming and going during the day.
 
One of the local labs here gives me my uncut film in a short poster tube (about 20cm long, 10cm in diameter). The negatives are curly but not too much. They are also wrapped in a plastic sleeve though.
 
I found film right out of a minilab to be dry to the touch but not completely dry... say as if you hung them to dry overnight. Completely dry film will, in most cases, lie absolutely flat on a flat surface. At that point if placed coiled up in something with greater than a 3 inch diameter won't hold that curl when removed. They will readily hold the curl from a film can if placed into one fresh out of the processor. I completely concur on this point: it is super easy to scratch them trying to remove them from the container. Best bet is to "leave them hanging" until you place them into something such as blank cd case, dollar store plastic food container or, when you forget, the "paper core" the photographic paper roll has at its center (ask the person who makes the prints).
 
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