actual length of bulk film?

[newfilm]

So... I finished my first bulk roll film (RPX 100, 8.5 metres) that was on sale from last year, the film is ok, but being curious I actually measure and records the total centimetres of film as when I develop them, and at the end the total length it is almost a meter (1 metre) short, while I already being generous rounding up its individual length as I develop and record.

I wonder, is this some what, isolated? or the advertised length on bulk film are, em... "advisory" only?

 

[sevo]

It should be accurate to the centimetre. How do YOU measure its length?

 

[newfilm]

It should be accurate to the centimetre. How do YOU measure its length?

I measure the length of the film (including leader that I cut off) after I have developed it with a tape measure 😱

 

[sevo]

Nominal lengths in one measure may be off by less than half a foot as makers tend to give a rounded number for either metres or feet - but the length should be exactly accurate in one measure. A three foot/one metre error can't be attributed to rounding.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Is this available from more than one source? Because some sources are less reliable than others. I'm assuming of course that these "sources" are cutting the films themselves from huge bulk rolls.

Cheers,

R.

 

[michaelwj]

Is this available from more than one source? Because some sources are less reliable than others. I'm assuming of course that these "sources" are cutting the films themselves from huge bulk rolls.

Cheers,

R.

That's my thought. I don't remember ever seeing an 8.5m bulk roll. They're usually 30m (100ft) or sometimes 17m and sometimes longer like 400ft for cine film.
Where did you get it?

 

[newfilm]

That's my thought. I don't remember ever seeing an 8.5m bulk roll. They're usually 30m (100ft) or sometimes 17m and sometimes longer like 400ft for cine film.
Where did you get it?

I got it from macodirect, I have only been getting things from them when I started this shoot film thing 3 years ago because I wanted to save money (those digital SLRs cost so much!) but.... crap... I din't end up saving money 😀

 

[Ko.Fe.]

I knew it! Here is something suspicious 😎 Forget 30.5 meters, even 100 feet are the same! It is always finishing too soon! 😀

 

[sevo]

That's my thought. I don't remember ever seeing an 8.5m bulk roll. They're usually 30m (100ft) or sometimes 17m and sometimes longer like 400ft for cine film.
Where did you get it?

Cine camera stock comes in increments of 100ft (30.5m). 17m is longer than the shortest cine length of 50ft, used by the smallest hand cameras (and by long film magazines for pro SLRs). It is ten 36 exposure films plus a little slack, which made it more convenient than the regular 50ft, which gave 8 1/2 films. 8.5m (5 films) is half of that 17m bulk roll length. If the half roll however has a cine (or long film mag) origin, that half might be defined as 7.6m - which could explain the difference.

 

[Dwig]

That's my thought. I don't remember ever seeing an 8.5m bulk roll. They're usually 30m (100ft) or sometimes 17m and sometimes longer like 400ft for cine film.
Where did you get it?

Long ago and far away, Kodak sold there bulk still films in 3 lengths; 100ft, 50ft, & 27.5ft. The latter, ~8.4m, would fit many of the long roll cassettes without cutting. If memory serves, the size vanished sometime in the 1970s, a time during which Kodak finished shifting everything to metric sizes even though they continued to print the inch or foot sizes on the packaging.