How would you load 400ft of film into cassetes?

[quizzard87]

Hi there!

I recently bought 400ft of b/w film at a local shop that offered it really cheap.
I already have a bulk loader for rolls up to 100ft, but how do I get the 400ft into my cassetes?
I thought about doing it manually in a darkroom or a changing bag, but that seems a little difficult...
any tips you could give me?
or is there even a bulk loader that supports 400ft rolls?

thank you!
chris

 

[markinlondon]

I've never seen a loader for that much film. I think you'd have to do it by hand. I was offered 400ft movie spools of HP5+ by a shop here but politely declined.

 

[anselwannab]

Do you have any spools from used film rolls? I guess you could just put it in the dark chamber and not use a center spool?

You would have to unroll it and then re-roll it if you wanted the numbers to right right, correct?

I'd be afraid I'd load the film backwards!

Mark

 

[40oz]

I think doing it manually is your only option for a while. You could try rolling it into several smaller rolls that would fit in a bulk loader, all you'd want are the center spindles from a bulk roll. Some people keep everything, so you might find someone here or on another site that has the center spindle sitting around.

 

[RayPA]

400ft of 35mm may not be that bad (I'm trying to envision what that looks like), but just take care when you're doing it manually. If the core drops out you'll have a mess on your hands. I'm remembering back to my 16mm film days when I would handle 1000ft rolls of film and mag tape on cores. I had the core fall out a couple of times. aarrrgh!


.

 

[pshinkaw]

I bought a 250 ft roll a few months ago. I just pu it into a changing bag and spool off about 30 feet at a time and put it into a standard bulk loader. If you try to handroll 100 feet at a time, your fingers may cramp up. I don't even use a core. However. you might want to tape the inner end piece in a loop to help keep it under control.

Many years ago (1950's-1970's) Nikon and Leitz both had darkroom bulk spool handlers that would hold more than 100 feet. They could not be used in daylight. They still show up from time to time on e-Bay. You need a really light tight darkroom to use them.

-Paul

 

[Jerevan]

Before bulkloaders (and even today) it was done like this: in a totally dark, open the 400 ft can, and measure out a length of the film between your outstretched arms, cut it and tape one end to the spool of the cassette you want to load, roll the length up and put into the cassette, putting the lid on it.

A 36 frame film is about 1.60 meter, which roughly corresponds to the length of your outstretched arms. Whatever you do, remember to put the lid on the big can before you turn on the light again!

The best Leica bulk film handler is the AFLOO, which can be secured to a work table.

 

[trittium]

I think a company called alden made a 400' bulk loader. I saw one at a camera show once. Check ebay for this. It is black and yellow.

 

[ZorkiKat]

If you know someone in the movie business, you might be able to borrow one of their unused film magazines (the 400 foot load fits perfectly) and use this as your temporary magazine. Film magazines have an opening at the centre and draw off the film in lengths as you need them.

You'd need, as the darkroom loading method suggested earlier, to do pulling and loading in the dark. Using a film magazine to hold the film supply is advantageous in the sense that: (1) film is drawn efficiently- no giant spaghetti film strips twirling in the dark, no film coils suddenly becoming loose, etc; (2) since the supply is safe inside a light-tight magazine, any accidental light exposure during loading will be limited only to film which is actually drawn out of the magazine.

Jay

 

[rolleistef]

That means that you can buy and load, without too many troubles, 400ft of 35mm film and use it as regular dia film? I know there's so kodakrome but what about fuji? (E6 rather than K14?)

 

[pshinkaw]

Most people who bulk load use B&W negative film. Most B&W motion picture negative films can be used for still photography. Actually the positive ones can be too.

I use Eastman 5222, an ISO 200 B&W negative film made for motion pictures. I buy it in "short rolls" about 250 feet long from Film Emporium in New York City. It processes well in standard still photo developer like D-76.

http://www.tapesuperstore.com/index.html

You can download a data sheet from Eastman Kodak's website.


The process for color movie films is usually a negative process but not C41. So, once you load and expose the film you it can be very difficult to process the color negatives. The chemicals come in large batches and the film usually has a coating which must be removed as a seperate processing step.

-Paul

 

[ZorkiKat]

Most people who bulk load use B&W negative film. Most B&W motion picture negative films can be used for still photography. Actually the positive ones can be too.

I use Eastman 5222, an ISO 200 B&W negative film made for motion pictures. I buy it in "short rolls" about 250 feet long from Film Emporium in New York City. It processes well in standard still photo developer like D-76.

http://www.tapesuperstore.com/index.html

You can download a data sheet from Eastman Kodak's website.


The process for color movie films is usually a negative process but not C41. So, once you load and expose the film you it can be very difficult to process the color negatives. The chemicals come in large batches and the film usually has a coating which must be removed as a seperate processing step.

-Paul

Paul

I once emailed Film Emporium to ask about their films but got no reply. Perhaps they did not wish to bother with foreign orders 😀

I've used Double XX ISO 200 "shortends" too. I like its flatter contrast compared to standard 'still' films. It's not really significantly flatter, just slightly so. The perforations also make for interesting effects. In a bottom loading Leica, the oval perforations often stray into the picture area. When the negative is printed full frame in an oversized neg carrier, the oval perfs get to print as well. Seen a few HCB prints which had the same oval perfs...😛

Colour MP films can be processed in C41. The negative's colour values slightly change, but these shifts can always be corrected during printing. Come to think of it, even 'properly' processed MP colour negatives will have to be used with radically different filter settings when printed on standard colour papers. The only reason I see why MP stocks should not be run in C41 machines is the rem-jet lubricant which coats the base surface. This black goo contaminates the processor baths and rollers. However, this should not be a problem with home processing which use smaller amounts of chemicals in small tanks.

Some 'experts' say that the resulting colour negatives from MP stocks souped in C41 would not be stable. Perhaps its true, but I still have some negatives from Eastman stocks processed in C41 from 17 years ago, and the dyes in its images are still there, much like when they were new, remaining useful for making prints or even scanning.

Lately, I've been able to use ISO 500 'Vision' stocks. Some friends who are in the movie business give me some of their shortends to play with. The last 50 ft in the movie camera magazine is often discarded- directly into the dust bin if no one asks for it. That's still good for at least 8 rolls of 36 exposures each. The Kodak Vision stock is really different- it's unlike any of the standard ISO 400 for still cameras. It seems to seek detail even in the darkest shadows, something which I yet to see from the usual 35mm films.


Jay

 

[pshinkaw]

Jay:

It must be developing technique. When I use Eastman 5222 I end up with higher contrast! I've had trouble flattening it out. In order to get it to where I am comfortable, I typically shoot it at 500 rather than the rated ISO 250 Daylight that it is rated at. I then develop in D-76.

They didn't answer my e-mail questions either, so I just ordered a 250 foot roll. It arrived a week later. They would probably react differently to an order from the Phillipines though.

-Paul

 

[x-ray]

400ft of 35mm may not be that bad (I'm trying to envision what that looks like), but just take care when you're doing it manually. If the core drops out you'll have a mess on your hands. I'm remembering back to my 16mm film days when I would handle 1000ft rolls of film and mag tape on cores. I had the core fall out a couple of times. aarrrgh!


.

You brought back bad memories. I've had the core drop out of film while loading arri mags. Bad news.

If the film is B&W you should be able to process or get it processed OK but if it's color neg motion picture film it has a rimjet backing that's carbon based and very few labs will process it. The backing must be scrubbed from the film in the processor and if any gets into the machine it can ruin other film and a bunch of expensive chemistry. The only way to process the color is yourself and then wipe the backing off manually after the process.

 

[Carlos Cruz]

when developing color fimls you have to start with removing the remjet, if you do it other way you'll end up with unevenly developed negative. I never tried to develop movie stock in C 41 but chemicals are a bit different.
I think it's pretty much the same as trying to develop kodachrome yourself i.e. you can do it, it's possible, but I wouldn't bother it's just to complicated.

Revenons a nos moutons, try to find a movie lab in your area, and if you ask them nicely they could let you use their darkroom. They should have some device usually table with hand crank that'll help you cut your negative in small portions, without getting all scratches fingerprints etc when trying to do it in changing bag.
You could ask them for spare spools, cans black paper bags.

 

[kiemchacsu]

it's quite late i guess, but found a video about Leitz 400ft loader. First time I see it.
And interestingly, there's one available on ebay if anyone interested.

VideO:
https://youtu.be/pVXTd-8lFzM

Link ebay article from KEH for $400

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Leitz-1939...sh=item56d97580bf:g:KqgAAOSw6yBejhb6#viTabs_0

Hi there!

I recently bought 400ft of b/w film at a local shop that offered it really cheap.
I already have a bulk loader for rolls up to 100ft, but how do I get the 400ft into my cassetes?
I thought about doing it manually in a darkroom or a changing bag, but that seems a little difficult...
any tips you could give me?
or is there even a bulk loader that supports 400ft rolls?

thank you!
chris