Do you bulk load your own film?

Do you bulk load your own film?

  • Yes I do

    Votes: 277 68.4%

  • No I can't be bothered

    Votes: 128 31.6%
  • Total voters
    405
Hmmm.. those Freestyle price for 100ft cans are lucrative indeed. Unfortunately postage charges and VAT will appr. double the price sent to this side of the pond.
 
Mablo said:
Hmmm.. those Freestyle price for 100ft cans are lucrative indeed. Unfortunately postage charges and VAT will appr. double the price sent to this side of the pond.
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If you buy the Arista Premium 400 which is Tri-X but marketed not as such ... you'll save a lot of money.

With Freestyle it pays to order decent quantities to counteract shipping charges etc.
 
I have a couple of Alden 74 loaders mainly for use with APX100 and NP1600. I also have Tri-X and XP2 in bulk. Keith is right, the Arista Premium 400 is about 70% of the price of Freestyle's bulk Tri-X but as Mark points out above the Arista Premium 400 cassettes are so cheap you only save about 10 cents/cassette with bulk on that film.
 
i am a fan of lloyd bulk loaders , quite of few people don't like them because they have a felt light trap that the film passes over . i have 4 and have never had a problem .

i hate loading long 36 frame rolls in my patterson reels i find 24 to 30 frames easy to handle .
 
Just did a 100 ft bulk of Ilford HP5, 1€ for the whole thing isn't bad.
At 0,06€ a roll of film, who can say film is expensive.
 
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I would yes if I could find some bulk film, I have 3 loaders and many cassettes but unfortunately no film.

I once bulk loaded the vast majority of film used without scratches or any other issues and it was a lot cheaper, maybe about half price.
 
In my student days, I bulk loaded Tri-X and Pan-X. Now I would rather be out shooting or in the darkroom. I never felt that the time/quality ratio was favored bulk loading (only the money saved did) whereas developing your own negs is definately such a quality improvement over what you can have done commercially that it is worth the time at almost any price.
 
I would like to start bulk loading as it would give me more flexibility. But here in Germany I have not found a competetive price for bulk loading my preferred film yet. For example 30.5 m of Tri-X cost as much as or even a little more than 36 frame cartridges.
 
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peter_n said:
gho see post #24 above for cheap "Tri-X" - the film is Tri-X.
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That being the case, if Kodak stopped making Tri-X, would this, too, go away? I recently decided to dedicate more of my time to film, got the bulk accessories, and ordered some 100ft (foma200 and hp5) from FS. TriX has an appeal, but I want to get to know my media - once preferably.
 
flip said:
That being the case, if Kodak stopped making Tri-X, would this, too, go away? I recently decided to dedicate more of my time to film, got the bulk accessories, and ordered some 100ft (foma200 and hp5) from FS. TriX has an appeal, but I want to get to know my media - once preferably.
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Just a heads up about Foma200. The film is being reformulated due to a change of supplier for a certain ingredient. Have not heard if the new film behaves identically to its predecessor.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/foma/discuss/72157623051410298/
 
Yesterday loaded my first two rolls (Freestyled Neopan 400), one reusable, and one used from minilab cartridges. Will see if there will be scratches, I hope not.

Right, bulk loading gives freedom to cut amount I'll need.

One issue with taping film to spool is static discharge - first time I felt film weren't aligned straight so I pulled tape to correct this. Probably end of film will be fogged....
Any tips on attaching film strip to spool?

And, probably I should be extra careful when advancing and film is close to finish, I haven't yet tested how my taped connections keep load.
 
btgc said:
Yesterday loaded my first two rolls (Freestyled Neopan 400), one reusable, and one used from minilab cartridges. Will see if there will be scratches, I hope not.

Right, bulk loading gives freedom to cut amount I'll need.

One issue with taping film to spool is static discharge - first time I felt film weren't aligned straight so I pulled tape to correct this. Probably end of film will be fogged....
Any tips on attaching film strip to spool?

And, probably I should be extra careful when advancing and film is close to finish, I haven't yet tested how my taped connections keep load.
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I've had no problems so far after several hundred rolls ... I use the cheapest supermarket brand tape to join the film.
 
I've been bulk loading since the 1960's. It's a lot cheaper than buying one roll at a time..
 
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