Switch to Bulkfilm?

jolefler said:
The film only travels throu the trap once, and in the outward direction.
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Do you not rewind the film? Or do you unload the camera in the dark? I had to do that a few days ago when the film came out of a Leitz spool. Very embarrasing.
 
Once during the loading process....what happened with the Leitz cassette to force a darkroom unload? Or was it a camera glitch?

Oops, musta slipped off the spool, eh?
 
I put a piece of tape at 24 exp and 36 exp length on the wall in the bathroom. In the dark I can measure it out against the wall to the spot. All I need is reusable canisters, scissors and some tape. In about 5 minutes I can make 4 24 exp rolls.

A 100' roll of Tri-X, TMAX or Plus-X here is about ¥4500 ($40) whereas 20 rolls of Acros or Presto is ¥7000 ($65) ... too bad for Fuji on that one.
 
I've pretty much switched over to bulk film. I have five or six loaders around, from various darkroom deals.

Like Tom A, I have discovered Eastman 400' movie film, and I have about 1100' of Eastman XX, and 400' of Eastman Plus-X, ready to go. I'm slowly starting to use it up :)

I loaded up on Fuji Super Presto 1600, I have seven 100' rolls of that. And ten rolls of Fuji Presto 400, right before it was discontinued, from Megaperls. And bought fifteen 100' rolls of just-expired Aristo (Ilford Pan F) when Freestyle had it for $11.00/roll.

And I have about 30+ rolls of 70mm film in the deepfreeze for my Hasselblads, but I won't got there :)
 
I never load short rolls. If I only shoot a few frames and want to soup the film I just tear off the exposed film and load the reel, then make a new leader and mark the cassette "short roll". With cameras where the back opens it's easy to cut the film in the right place. With bottom loaders it can be b'guess 'n b'gosh but I rarely cut through exposed frames. Mostly I waste a bit of unexposed film. "Short rolls" are great if you have a half frame camera like an Olympus Pen.

At one time Ilford was making 72 exposure rolls on a very thin base. Nikor made reels that would hold the entire ten or so foot length. That might be the way to go if you tend to cram too much film into your cassettes.
 
Just wondering here. For those of you that complain about scratched film...

Are you opening the lever that lets the film pass the light tight opening? If not, all the film is going through the closed light seal and would definitely scratch. I recycle my cannisters and do get some scratches, but not more than a little nose grease can correct for when printing.

Bulk is the way to go!
 
arowe said:
...How do you get 'lids' back onto the cassettes from 'normal' films if you get them used from a film processor? When I take the lids off normal films they tend to get bent, and even in daylight it's virtually impossible to push them back on so they stay there. - What's the trick?
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Don't use a can opener. You can never find one in the dark anyway! Press the spool on a table and the canister top pops off without deforming.
 
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