alright, who's bulk loading their own film?

[drewbarb]

The packaging waste buying factory film bothers me, too. I try to recycle as much as I can, but it gets tedious ripping apart 100 tiny film boxes to flatten all the cardboard- and sometimes the recycling pick up won't take the plastic film cans.

When I was in high school I bulk loaded much of my film; I used Watson and Lloyd loaders. I found that after three to five uses the cassettes became unreliable. The felt traps get dirty, the tops get loose, etc. I bought plastic or metal re-loadable cassettes, whatever was cheaper when I needed more. Mostly my film was fine- though occasionally I did have trouble with scratches. I stopped doing it during the 90's, when it seemed the cost of bulk loading vs. buying factory rolled film was basically negligible, but the way film costs are going up these days, it's starting to make sense again.

Now, I do as aparat suggests and use discarded cassettes picked up for free from my local mini-lab. I inspect the felt traps before I load them. Mostly they are fine; they have only been used once, after all. Besides being free, it's a cool way to recycle- at least the cassettes are getting used twice rather than only once before they get thrown out, or hopefully recycled themselves.

I still have my old bulk loaders, but since I have a darkroom, I just cut and load the film in the dark. No more worries about scratches from the loader, and the last frames on my rolls aren't exposed during loading.

Anyway, not spending on loaders or cassettes helps keep the cost down- and the reduction in packaging is a good thing, too.

 

[RayPA]

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

I've bulk loaded B&W for so long that I'm on automatic at this point. I'm sure there is a cost advantage, so I agree with you, especially since I primarily shoot Tri-X, but I do it because I like it and because it eliminate waste and gives me the freedom to roll my own lengths. I love TriX so I'm hooked.

However, from that perspective, I shoot with a group of photographers who are using the Arista Premium 400, which is suppose to be Tri-X (at least that's what lots of folks are saying), and they're getting it at $1.99/36 exp. roll ($29.99/100'). Tri-X is around $3.50/36 exp. roll (~$47.00/100') If Arista is in fact TriX, it seems like one of those deals that would tempt someone to opt out of bulk loading. Me? If I made the switch, I'd bulk load the Arista! 🙂


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[ChrisN]

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

Have a look at this post and other posts in the "Shooting Eastman (Double-X) 5222 in the Leica" thread. Since then I've modified my rig to hang the spool of bulk film vertically.

 

[peter_n]

I use two new Alden 74 bulk loaders that work very well. I used to have two used ones from eBay but they, like most of the Aldens there, were in poor shape. Until recently you could buy them new from Freestyle at $40 per. They use a rotating chamber light baffle system that works very well and absolutely doesn't scratch the film, I think the Watsons are designed along the same principle. I also use cassettes from the local drugstores and chuck them after one use. I'm mainly using the loaders for Agfapan 100 - I have a lot of that film in bulk rolls. Cost is about 50% of buying the film in cassettes.

 

[chris91387]

Have a look at this post and other posts in the "Shooting Eastman (Double-X) 5222 in the Leica" thread. Since then I've modified my rig to hang the spool of bulk film vertically.

that's cool but how do you know when to stop? how do you know how many exposures you're putting on the spool?

- chris

 

[Al Kaplan]

I've seen published charts showing how many crank turns it takes to get X number of frames, but I'm not sure where. It should be the same number as with a Watson or Loyd loader, if anybody knows that.

Bulk loading by hand or with a winder in the dark certainly qualifies as a "chore", and can be boring enough to cause a lot of photographers to choose not to do it even if they will save some money. On the other hand, using a loader is something that can be done on your lap sitting in a comfortable chair, even while chatting with friends or watching TV. Keep your scissors, roll of tape, and cassettes on a table next to you, and now your time is free.

There used to be a saying "The Devil finds work for idle hands" back in the era when women didn't go anyplace without their knitting bag. Socks, sweaters, and afghan squares were made while a group of women sat around and chatted or watching soap operas, or were home alone between bastings while the chicken roasted in the oven or while the dough finished rising. There's no reason that we can't load film while watching the news or a football game.

 

[RayPA]

I've seen published charts showing how many crank turns it takes to get X number of frames, but I'm not sure where. It should be the same number as with a Watson or Loyd loader, if anybody knows that.

Bulk loading by hand or with a winder in the dark certainly qualifies as a "chore", and can be boring enough to cause a lot of photographers to choose not to do it even if they will save some money. On the other hand, using a loader is something that can be done on your lap sitting in a comfortable chair, even while chatting with friends or watching TV. Keep your scissors, roll of tape, and cassettes on a table next to you, and now your time is free.
...

all my loaders (and I have 5) have a counter dial, and they click for each frame, which is closely equal to one turn of the crank. Daylight bulk loaders are the way to go. I use Watsons and I have an Alden (my fav), which I think is bakelight. I usually only load up enough cassettes for a shoot. I don't think I've ever sat down and used up an entire roll in a single bulk load session.

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[ChrisN]

that's cool but how do you know when to stop? how do you know how many exposures you're putting on the spool?

- chris

I just guide the film onto the spool with my fingers - when I can feel the spool is pretty full I know I've got about 35 exposures. Rough but it seems to work. Tom A measures five and a half feet of film as a standard length and winds that on - that's probably better if you have the space to set up to easily measure that length off the bulk roll before cutting then winding on.

 

[lkgroup]

I have a Leica AFLOO gadget like shown in Chris' post FS, new $50. I ended up with two of them when I started doing Leica carts. If anyone is interested send me a PM.

I shoot almost bulk film extensively, and have spent many hours in the darkroom doing 400' to 800' like Tom said, but once done I have a good part of several months film on hand. I also use cartridges that I get from 1 hour labs and use the method of taping bulk film to the existing film and have never had a scratched neg (Kno0w on head).

Leo

 

[Al Kaplan]

Kodak used to market a 27.5 foot roll that had tongues and leaders already cut, connected by a narrow easily torn section. For hand loading this was ideal, but not with a loader. I think it was Ilford that sold "daylight reloads". They cosisted of the film loaded on the spool with a 35mm wide black paper leader. You assembled the cassette with the tip of the leader sticking out, then pulled on it until you got to the film leader. Ilford used to supply their film in some really sturdy cassettes, sturdier than Kodak. I've run across some pre WW-II Kodak cassettes that were like that too. Most cassettes used to have both end caps come off so you could easily clean the felt or velvet light trap material.

 

[MartinP]

I now have a couple of bulk-loaders, but have mostly used two nails 64" apart in a bit of dowel taped to the table or something. Earlier, two cocktail-stick pegs pushed in holes in a workbench did the measuring job.

In either case, I cut the film just past one of the nails/pegs, then fixed that end to the cassette-core, before unhooking it and hand-rolling in the direction of the other end of the film. Keeping a little bit of tension on it, avoids being tangled up in five feet of springy film in the dark. . .

There does have to be a properly light-free darkroom, though the loft at night always seemed to work ok for me - until I moved somewhere without one.

 

[Sjixxxy]

Savings aside, I love bulk loading at it gives me kind of a ritualistic tingle when I do it. I'll pop on some photo documentary and roll them as I watch it. Every canister I roll I coat with this neon green masking tape that I took from my grandpa's basement last year. He was notorious for coating all of his A/V equipment with the stuff to use as labels, and its just been sitting down there since he died in 1988.

Besides getting that little feeling like I'm honoring his work, it also gives me a great place to record data. What's loaded, when it was loaded, and most importantly, my website URL so in case I ever lose an exposed canister, it'll have a chance of making it home.