Bulk film

Mitica100 · Aug 4, 2006

How many of you film-hardcore guys and gals still bulk load your 35mm cartridges? I discovered a Watson loader and lots of older and reloadable cartridges and bought some 100' of Ilford BW film (ASA 50) and decided to do it again.

DocFrankenstein · Aug 4, 2006

I keep wanting too, but I don't shoot too much and just keep buying roll film.

Once I get the darkroom set up I will definitely get ahold of a loader and roll my own.

How much do you save exactly per roll of 24?

PlasticSpanner · Aug 4, 2006

Roll my own B&W especially for astro stuff where I can make rolls of just 10 exposures. This way I can process the film at the end of the night rather than waiting for another night to use the remaining shots.

For B&W I think it's about a third (maybe a quarter) of the cost of buying roll film.

joyride · Aug 4, 2006

getting a bulk loader was one of the best things I bought! It was costing me around $4 a roll for tmax and the bulk stuff is way cheaper. I saw some tmax in bulk on BH for around 30 for the roll. You cant beat that price! Not to mention, you can roll whatever exposures you want.

Torus34 · Aug 4, 2006

You can come close to paying out the loader, cassettes and containers with the first 100' roll. Also, there's is no difference [US buyers] between the grey market and US Kodak film. I have 3 Watsons: Pan-F, Plus-X and Tri-X.

If you want to do your own calculations, you can get about 21 rolls of 24 exp/100'.

journeyman · Aug 5, 2006

A guy at a photography store told me not to waste my time when I asked. He said for the hassle and the possiblity for screwing it up it's safer to spend a little more and buy them already rolled so you know it's good.

Now I guess it was just a hunk of bull to keep from losing business. Now I gotta look into that.

mysteryscribe · Aug 5, 2006

Since I have a tabletop dark box (homemade of course) I bought a fifty foot roll of asa 50. I cut myself a string to give me whatever size film I want then just roll it up in the box. I like that better than a bulk loader but thats just me.

Unfortuantely I only shot one role of it in the last six months. I really do very very little 35mm. I bought like fifty cassettes since you cant buy just five. Thats the only down side to me. I have so much junk laying about.

Philip Weir · Aug 5, 2006

I now shoot digital, but for over 30 years I loaded all manner of bulk film and must have saved a fortune doing so. Once you get the hang of it, and you do it slowly & carefully, you won't have a problem.

ksmattfish · Aug 5, 2006

I've been rolling my own BW for long time. My bulk loader of choice is Lloyd's. I keep 4 of them loaded with Arista Pro 50, 125, 400, and Tri-X 400.

I have over 1000' of ISO 50, 125, and 400 in my darkroom fridge. When Ilford had their troubles, and Arista Pro film (repackaged Ilford for 1/2 price) was discontinued I bought up all I could afford. These days it's mostly just going through my Widelux so it should last me a while.

Torus34 · Aug 5, 2006

"Quick, Watson! The game's afoot." [S. Holmes, bulk-loader?]

PlasticSpanner · Aug 6, 2006

journeyman said:
A guy at a photography store told me not to waste my time when I asked. He said for the hassle and the possiblity for screwing it up it's safer to spend a little more and buy them already rolled so you know it's good.

Now I guess it was just a hunk of bull to keep from losing business. Now I gotta look into that.

The most risky part is loading the film into the loader. To accidently expose 30m of film would be slightly annoying! :shock:

Once loaded though the process is relatively fool proof, quick & easy.

Torus34 · Aug 7, 2006

PS;

Nice Vega image. Now down, down some more, more yet, and a bit to the left - - Ahhhh. There's the Smoke Ring!

ksmattfish · Aug 7, 2006

journeyman said:
A guy at a photography store told me not to waste my time when I asked. He said for the hassle and the possiblity for screwing it up it's safer to spend a little more and buy them already rolled so you know it's good.

It's very easy to do. I've bulk rolled thousands of rolls, and only ever screwed up and lost a few inches of film a few times. I do tape my end caps everytime. They wear out, and get loose, but a little tape keeps them on tight. Bulk loading BW film will save you at least 50%, which depending on how much you shoot, could be a whole lot. C-41 or E-6 is probably more expensive, but there's still a savings.

When the guy at the camera store tells you stuff like this it could mean:

1) he doesn't really know what he's talking about
2) they don't have bulk film rolling supplies in stock to sell you
3) they really don't want to lose that extra 50%

mysteryscribe · Aug 7, 2006

Did you ever notice a three inch deep paper developing tray to fit 8x10 prints is about five bucks in the photo store... an eight inch deep dishpan is 50 cents in walmart. The advice from a camera store is suspect to say the least.

ksmattfish · Aug 7, 2006

mysteryscribe said:
Did you ever notice a three inch deep paper developing tray to fit 8x10 prints is about five bucks in the photo store... an eight inch deep dishpan is 50 cents in walmart. The advice from a camera store is suspect to say the least.

I have definately noticed this, and those extra 5" of splash guard are priceless. I have a stack of Rubbermaid dish trays in my darkroom. Unfortunately it starts getting a lot harder to find suitable tray substitutes larger than this. I looked all over (in stores and on the internet) before I finally gave up and ordered actual photo trays for printing up to 16"x20". A lot of the Rubbermaid type trays are just a smidge too narrow. I know someone has to make cheap, deep, plastic trays that will work (other than official darkroom trays), but I haven't been able to find them.