Roll your own film?

[snaggs]

How hard is this, just got a price on R3 film over here, and its A$10.70 a roll or A$99 for a 30m roll. I've done some 4x5 and can load double-darks in a change bag.

Also, can you roll your own DELTA/TMAX 3200? I was thinking the re-usable canisters might not be light protective enough.

Daniel.

 

[Doug]

Hi Daniel -- The fastest film I've bulk-loaded has been ISO 400 but I've never seen any hint of light leaks. A bigger concern has been grit particles caught in the felt light trap, having three or maybe four chances at scratching the film on the way through. I vacuum them... Bulk loading can be quite a saving if you shoot a lot. You might also use the RFF site's new Google search feature to dig out previous discussions on this subject!

 

[RayPA]

It's very easy; with a small initial investment, you can be on your way. If you're going to do it, save up your plastic light-tight cannisters (from the roll film you buy or have bought). You can use them to protect your bulk load film. Doug is right, though. The bulk load film cans take a beating. The felt can pick up dust, and also come loose, ending up in the darnest places. Treat them nice and they'll treat you nice.

 

[BJ Bignell]

Yeah, it's pretty easy. Unless you're a dork like me, and go rolling the film on the spools backwards... 😡 I have four spools to manually re-roll tonight because of that! GRRRRRRR!

Except for that, I'm happy rolling my own. Saves a bit of money, not a lot of work, and rounds out the whole craft: Roll film, shoot film, develop film. One day, I'll have a darkroom and I'll be able to print, too!

 

[Rick Waldroup]

Many years ago I worked for a small local newspaper. One of my jobs was to hand roll B&W film. I would sit and roll up as many as 10 100 ft. rolls at a time. I cannot tell you how many rolls of film I have rolled over the years. I still do it today for myself. I have had very few problems and I reuse my cannisters many, many times before I throw them away. If you can find the old style Kodak cannsiters, they are the best. Just make sure you keep everything clean and you should be okay.

 

[phototone]

Cleanliness is vital. The felt traps are a magnet for dust that can scratch.

 

[sockeyed]

I have three bulk rollers and use them constantly (one with Tri-X, one with HP4 and one with APX 100). No point in buying rolls of film anymore, unless it's colour! One bonus is that you can roll off short rolls - 12's or 20's if you just want to test a camera or lens, or developing times.

One problem with the 3200 ASA films is that I don't think I've ever seen them in bulk.

 

[kiev4a]

Short rolls are a main advantage of bluk loading B&W. When I get a new camera I can roll up 10 or 12 exposures and develop it to check for shutter problems, light leaks and the like. Wish I could do the same with 120.

 

[Jarvis]

Bulk loading is another one of these "photo" things I would like to do .... but at 1,89€ ($2,50) for a roll of Tri-x (120 or 135) I don't see the point.
I do not understand why in some parts of the world film is so expensive. It might be worthwhile to have large quantities shipped from Europe .... Alle B&W film is pretty cheap here, as is developer etc...
If interstested see the german language web-site www.phobatec-shop.de, when ordering large quantities you can surely make a better price than the allready low prices on the site.

 

[doubs43]

Presently I have six bulk loaders with film in them. I also have three more rolls of film on backorder but only one additional loader so I may be looking for more loaders soon. Five of my loaders are B&W in speeds of 25, 50, 100 & 2 in 400. The sixth has Fuji color negative film that I haven't had the nerve to try yet.

Walker

 

[doubs43]

Bulk loading is another one of these "photo" things I would like to do .... but at 1,89€ ($2,50) for a roll of Tri-x (120 or 135) I don't see the point.

I can get 18 rolls of 36 exposures from a 100 feet (30.5 meters) roll of film. The cost, including shipping and my cassettes will be less than $35 so I figure I save at least $10 over the cost to you for the same 18 rolls, assuming you're buying 36 exposure rolls and not 24 exposures which would make the difference much greater. That's not a huge amount but over a few years and many rolls of film will certainly add up.

Walker

 

[Roman]

...
If interstested see the german language web-site www.phobatec-shop.de, when ordering large quantities you can surely make a better price than the allready low prices on the site.

WHOA, and I thought www.nordfoto.de had the best prices for Neopan 400...
Thanks for that link!

Roman

 

[Jarvis]

Roman, it is actually a wholeseller... but they do not loo to carefully. The handling is great, the product are fresh ... what else do you want ....

(I used to buy at Nordfoto to)

 

[Roman]

A wholeseller - yep, found that out in the meantime, when I looked closer; and the prices are net prices - if you ad VAT, a roll of NP400 is around 2.60 Euros, which is only very slightly lower than Nordfoto's 2.66.

But still worth remembering once my just refreshed stock is getting low again...

Roman

 

[snaggs]

Thanks for all the posts. Can bulk loaders set DX codes? The one I can get locally is by a company called "Photolab".

 

[phototone]

DX codes as used by the camera are set by the bare metal patches on the film cassettes. The bare metal patches are set when the cassette shells are printed durning manufacturing. The pattern is the bare metal rectangles left where there is no printing. I do not believe there were any dX coded re-usable cassettes. All the DX cassettes have crimped ends which are destroyed when you remove them for taking the film out for developing.

One could possibly duplicate the pattern with metal foil tape on standard reloadable cassettes.

 

[RayPA]

actually, you CAN get reusable DX-coded cassettes:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=83091&is=REG

 

[Doug]

Seems odd to have DX coded reloadable cassettes... Those who would bulk-load them are the same folks who develope their own film and adjust film speeds to their developing techniques. If there's any interest in DX coding by these folks at all, thinking of myself as one of them, I'd think there should be more interest in DX coding stickers available in many ISO codings. Tri-X at EI 1250 intended for Diafine? Cool, stick on the ISO 1250 sticker... And these stickers could be as useful for factory-packed film too, which we might like to shoot at some non-standard EI.

 

[RayPA]

Seems odd to have DX coded reloadable cassettes... Those who would bulk-load them are the same folks who develope their own film and adjust film speeds to their developing techniques. If there's any interest in DX coding by these folks at all, thinking of myself as one of them, I'd think there should be more interest in DX coding stickers available in many ISO codings. Tri-X at EI 1250 intended for Diafine? Cool, stick on the ISO 1250 sticker... And these stickers could be as useful for factory-packed film too, which we might like to shoot at some non-standard EI.

Doug,
Sounds like a business plan for a small business. What a great idea!

 

[cp_ste.croix]

ok, i have a question about bulk loading...

I've done it a tonne, way back in highschool, but what I'm wondering is if i am going to bulk load do i have to develop as well? I've done that way back in the day too, but my memory is a bit fuzzy, how much would some start up kit cost me?

Do you folk print your own too? Or is it digital scans? Should I even bother bulk loading before I have a scanner? Can you develop bulk loaded film at a photofinishers?