Re: [Leica] OT: loading 120 film

[V8PWR@aol.com]

Dans un courrier daté du 02/12/01 15:45:50 Paris, Madrid, psu_13@yahoo.com a 
écrit :

> For most of my time doing my own darkroom work, I've worked in 35mm with
>  plastic reels. I like them. They are easy to load since you can trim the 
> film
>  leader with the lights on. They work.
>  
>  But, in the last year I've been branching out into 120, and I have a lot of
>  trouble loading. It's almost to the point where I'd rather just give the 
> film
>  to someone else because handling it in the dark is just such a pain. What I
>  find typically happens is that even if I get the film on the reel (which is
>  iffy) it inevitably buckles or jumps the spiral somewhere in the middle 
and 
> I
>  have to start over. At some point, I do this enough to mangle a good chunk 
> of
>  the film.
>  
>  I've always avoided steel reels because they seem to require and extra bit 
> of
>  manual dexterity in the dark, which I don't have. But, I wanted to see if
>  anyone had ever played with this Kindermann device for loading steel reels.
>  Does it work?
>  
>  Alternatively, without getting into a steel/plastic religous war, is 
loading 
> SS
>  reels with 120 any easier? I'm starting to think it can't be any worse.
>  
>  This message is really just a pathetic cry for help after I turned the 
> lights
>  on at the wrong time yesterday with 3 rolls of 120 in my tank, but the tank
>  open. Sigh.
>  
>  Thanks
>  Pete
>  
>  

For a long time I had trouble loading 35 mm film . I purchased other brands
of reels but this didn't help .
Until I sacrified a cheap film , loaded in full light and discovered what was 
happening :
Actually the reel seemed to be too narrow , squeezing the film when it arrived
at the middle of it .
So what I did was to shorten the 3 plastic tabs that engage into the other 
side 
of the reel by 1 mm , with a cutter . This had the effect of allowing both 
sides of 
the reel to be reassembled with a larger distance from each other .
When I tried again to load , it was pure honey , the film slid like on roller 
bearings .
Try this .

Jo Goodtimes , France 
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