alright, who's bulk loading their own film?

[chris91387]

i did this many many years ago and always ended up with long light scratches going across my negs and haven't done it since.

i'm sure some of you do it and are obviously successful. what's your secret? what canisters do you use? so they have a "lifespan"?

i still have my watson bulk loader and i never had light leakage issues. should i still use it?

my goal is to make more small loads of film (say, 12 exp) so it's more convenient to "break off" and be able to push/pull an entire roll more easily.

thanks,
chris

 

[Sjixxxy]

I use the method shown here. I have the same loader and have reused some canisters about six times. Yet to see a scratch.

 

[Mackinaw]

If you've got $50.00, dump the Watson and buy an Arista 35mm bulk loader from Freestyle. A better, simpler loading design that is a breeze to use. I use the plastic cartridges (again from Freestyle) that load easy and haven't produced any scratches, at least yet. Actually I'm using two Arista loaders, one for Ekfe 25 and the other for APX 100. Two years now and no problems.

Jim B.

 

[RayPA]

one of the really great benefits of bulk loading is being able to make small(er) rolls, like 12 or 20 exposures. One of the downsides is black leader on both ends, so if you want 12 you need to roll ~15 or 16. But it is great for +/- development and zone system-type processing control.

I buy the bulk load canisters from my local photo stores. I just inspect the felt periodically. I haven't had too many problems with scratches (knock wood). Loose pieces of felt are worse and scare me more. They can get lodged and create really ugly artifacts on_every_single_frrame.

You can cut cost and take advantage of DX by reusing commercial canisters.

 

[thetooth]

i own and use 5 lloyd bulk film loaders . they have always done me right . very simple to use . some have complained about the felt being a dust magnet , but i have not had this problem .

 

[fbf]

The problem with the loader for me... I would like to bulk load 5222 or those films selling as 400ft roll. You don't save much by buying 100ft roll

 

[MikeL]

I just keep the rolls in my camera, in a canister, or in a plastic box. Early on I was just dropping the rolls into my bag, and I had scratches on one roll. Since keeping them always in something, I haven't had a problem.

 

[aparat]

Another vote for the Arista loader. It is the best loader I have ever tried. I used to use plastic re-loadable cassettes, but now you discarded original cassettes. I get them from a photo lab for free. They come with a bit of film protruding from the cassette. I splice that end with the new film and wind the film into the cassette. It works perfectly. To eliminate the risk of scratches and light leaks, I use each cassette only once, as there's an abundant supply of discarded metal cassettes.

 

[RayPA]

... You don't save much by buying 100ft roll

That's true especially with some of the deals around, but I never liked all the "stuff"/garbage that comes with a single roll of film. Besides I love the leftover 100' bulk load cans. I find more uses for those than the hundreds of plastic canisters I have left over from single rolls.

.

 

[slm]

Yup, I bulk load. I use Alden 74 bulk loaders, and have both plastic and metal canisters. Haven't had any problem with scratches (been used many times).
The Alden is pretty good, the light trap really opens wide to let the film through when spooling.

 

[Tom A]

I just came down from the darkroom after having loaded 35 Nikkor re-loadable cassette with Tri X (18 rolls) and 17 rolls of Arista Premium 400 (seems to be Tri X). I need some more of those Nikon cassettes as I always end up with 10-15 feet of film in one can. If I can, I avoid the conventional cassettes as they can scratch.
With Double X/EK 5222 I use Leica IXMOO cassettes and I do have enough of these to do 800ft (144-145 loads). These are designated for "sunny f16" shooting and the M2's.
At least here in Canada, the saving on bulk loading is considerable. For some reason Kodak film is now $5+ for Tri X and almost $8 for the new Tmax 2!!!!!!!. Double X comes in at about $2.00/roll and Arista Premium is close to that. If you shoot 5-600 rolls/year - it is a considerable saving.

 

[chris91387]

all great suggestions, everyone. thanks.

again, my intent is not so much about saving money, but to utilize smaller loads. 36 exp is just too much sometimes and even though rewinding back to the leader and swapping out film works well for me, it can be a hassle. sometimes i just want 12 exposures.

- cs

 

[Bassism]

I bulk load for the fact that I can cut 50% off the cost of buying the film at Henry's by the roll. I also love having the ability to load up 12 frames to test a camera, or whatever, or roll a couple 36s for a weekend trip.

I use reloadable cartridges, keeping them in a ziplock bag to avoid the dust. I also inspect the felt every time I load up and toss anything that's starting to look sketchy.

I think I've only ever had one roll come out scratched. I probably wasn't paying attention while loading it.

 

[tmfabian]

i use a wee strip of tape from time to time on the felt part of my canisters to remove any excess dust and keep my bulkloader cleaned out...seems to work pretty well for me, but i'm often too lazy to bulk load so i'm not exactly "pro" at bulk loading.

 

[Al Kaplan]

I never saw much sense in loading short rolls. If you just shoot a few pictures that you need right away it's easy enough to cut off what you shot from a 36 exp. roll and develop it.

I've been bulk loading almost from when I first started shooting 35mm. Bulk loaders are more trouble than they're worth as long as you have a darkroom. I don't like the idea that the last frame or two is usuaslly fogged. Also you're limited to rolls of 100 ft. or less. I'm about to place an order for some 400 ft. rolls of Eastman Double-X 5222 motion picture stock which won't fit in a loader, but it's cheaper than buying 100 ft. rolls of Tri-X. I've never had any scratching problems. I mostly use Leica cassettes.

 

[mh2000]

K., haven't seen people reusing cassettes like that before, thanks for the link!!!

Back when I needed DX coding for a couple of my small 35's this would have come in handy.

OP, I have bulk loaded on and off for more than 30 years, no problems... but always come to the conclusion that it is not worth my time... and let the last part of my 100' roll go bad... for a net increase in price over preloaded films... YMMV...

 

[jwhitley]

for a net increase in price over preloaded films... YMMV...

Allright, I give. I keep hearing people saying that it's not much of a price savings, or a even price loss to bulk load. Freestyle lists TMAX 400 at 5.29 USD per 36-frame roll,or 52.99 per 100' reel. At a conservative 18 36-exp rolls per 100' reel, that comes to about 2.94 USD per roll. Film casettes can be had quite cheaply, or even free. That's a 45% discount per roll, excluding casettes and amortization of the bulk loader. The Efke KB25, KB50, and KB100 films run $4 for a 36-exp roll, and $42 for a 100' reel. That's about a 41% discount.

So just where are these deals on cheap roll film that make bulk loading so unappealing?

 

[Spleenrippa]

Starting to load my own- I have a Watson loader and a 100ft roll of Arista Premium coming in the mail. Hope I don't suffer too many scratches :-(

 

[40oz]

I bulk load. It's definitely for cost reasons, but having parts of a 100' of 400 ISO and 50ISO makes it easy to always have the film I need on hand. I've got maybe $70 in film costs for 200' (or roughly 60 rolls of 24 guaranteed useable frames). That many rolls of Tri-X would cost me at least $200. I found one roll of the 50 ISO for a discount, but being able to roll my own made it possible to take advantage of a bargain like that.

I've spent at most $50 on the roller and canisters. That cost was spread out over time and recouped entirely in savings vs. buying by the roll. The hassle of rolling up a cassette or two is trivial compared to the hassle of getting the money, getting to the store, then doing what I want. I just roll a few up as needed, generally one or two extra for later each time I do it. No different than pulling it from the freezer.

The only scratches I've gotten are when I forget to open the loader gate. I use that roll for testing a camera occasionally.

 

[projectbluebird]

I've started to convert to Tom's method of loading straight from the can, bypassing a loader completely. You do need to make sure that your darkroom is truly dark first.

My only problem now is that I'm out of chemicals, but I keep shooting.