Talus
pan sin sal
I always inadvertently nip one frame with scissors. Interested in a better solution.
Beemermark
Veteran
With scissors
ChrisPlatt
Thread Killer
Not happy with other alternatives, I have decided to give the Tonic Studios/Tim Holtz 6¼" mini guillotine cutter a try.
It's inexpensive; about $20 brand new, shipping included. I will report back on how well it works in this application.
Chris
It's inexpensive; about $20 brand new, shipping included. I will report back on how well it works in this application.

Chris
Last edited:
JeffS7444
Well-known
I just tried a Matin film cutter for the first time, and it worked great. In some ways, I thought the JJC product looked nicer, but the need for USB power and spare blades meant more clutter too, and I wanted to avoid that.
ChrisPlatt
Thread Killer
I cut my first roll of film with the mini-guillotine cutter.
It's fast and not fussy to use like some other options.
IMO less handling means less chance of scratching.
I expect the large blade will stay sharp a long time.
Chris
It's fast and not fussy to use like some other options.
IMO less handling means less chance of scratching.
I expect the large blade will stay sharp a long time.
Chris
Cascadilla
Well-known
A safe bet--I've been using the same pair of scissors for at least the last 20 years for this over a lightbox and they still work perfectly.I cut my first roll of film with the mini-guillotine cutter.
It's fast and not fussy to use like some other options.
IMO less handling means less chance of scratching.
I expect the large blade will stay sharp a long time.
Chris
Andrew Sowerby
Well-known
Scissors, lightbox and a steady hand.
I nip the left side corners of each five-image strip at 45 degrees so they slide into negative sleeves more easily. I think I got that tip from Chris Crawford's website?
And I always shoot 35 frames on a roll so it fits into a Printfile 35-7B page with no extra scraps hanging around.
I nip the left side corners of each five-image strip at 45 degrees so they slide into negative sleeves more easily. I think I got that tip from Chris Crawford's website?
And I always shoot 35 frames on a roll so it fits into a Printfile 35-7B page with no extra scraps hanging around.
chuckroast
Well-known
A safe bet--I've been using the same pair of scissors for at least the last 20 years for this over a lightbox and they still work perfectly.
I finally broke down and retired my old Bogen light box with fluorescent lighting and switched to a flat LED artist's light pad. Much lighter and brighter. Under $20.
Bonus - you can use it as a makeshift transparency/negative backlight for scanning on a conventional flatbed scanner. Perfect? Nope, but a useful hack nonetheless.
Ljós
Well-known
With scissors. And as others pointed out, it's a good idea to use a known pair of sharp scissors with thin blades. In my early days of film developing I discovered some strange marks at the borders of my negatives, sometimes even affecting the margins of the images themselves, even if the cut did not touch them. It turned out that the scissors had warped and marred the negatives. I've been using a dedicated pair of scissors since then and never had any further problems.
OmegaB600
Member
this is almost word for word a repeat of a thread i saw on leica forum few months back.
DownUnder
Nikon Nomad
I chop them in strips of five, and put them in archival folders.
Had an uncle by marriage, who had been a banker in Asia in the 1920s and 1930s. He owned a Contax and a Rollei TLR. His negatives were (35) rolled up and put in film canisters, in those long ago days all made of metal. The 120s went in a cardboard box.
I borrowed the negatives from my aunt to make contact sheets for her to look at.
It took me years to get the '35 rolls out of those damn cans and carefully, slowly unrolled so I could contact print them. Even then I had to hang them up on coat hangers with film clips attached, for a week or even two weeks before they were 'unstiff' enough to be contact-printed.
She was most grateful, even if almost all the images were mostly tourist snaps, none of which we could really identify as he was overfond of Asian rural landscapes. Far too many terraced rice fields and rows of pretty palms - I'm good at taking those too, I had enough of my own already.
For all that we didn't lose one roll, tho' some were scratched or had bits of film emulsion rubbed off from age.
The only plus in it for me was, years later I sold all those ancient film cans - they were all the old 'tropical' canisters - on Ebay to collectors, for surprisingly good prices.
Had an uncle by marriage, who had been a banker in Asia in the 1920s and 1930s. He owned a Contax and a Rollei TLR. His negatives were (35) rolled up and put in film canisters, in those long ago days all made of metal. The 120s went in a cardboard box.
I borrowed the negatives from my aunt to make contact sheets for her to look at.
It took me years to get the '35 rolls out of those damn cans and carefully, slowly unrolled so I could contact print them. Even then I had to hang them up on coat hangers with film clips attached, for a week or even two weeks before they were 'unstiff' enough to be contact-printed.
She was most grateful, even if almost all the images were mostly tourist snaps, none of which we could really identify as he was overfond of Asian rural landscapes. Far too many terraced rice fields and rows of pretty palms - I'm good at taking those too, I had enough of my own already.
For all that we didn't lose one roll, tho' some were scratched or had bits of film emulsion rubbed off from age.
The only plus in it for me was, years later I sold all those ancient film cans - they were all the old 'tropical' canisters - on Ebay to collectors, for surprisingly good prices.
Last edited:
DownUnder
Nikon Nomad
this is almost word for word a repeat of a thread i saw on leica forum few months back.
Good for you to have spotted that!!
It shows you are spreading yourself around, and hopefully learning some new things along the way.
#18 and #20 should be of particular interest to you.
Last edited:
Share:
-
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.