Help !developing reel won't advance

Marino

Marino

Messages
491
Name
MARINO
Edit My Images
No
Hello,

God I’m so frustrated.

Tried to load the film in the reel today and at the beginning it advances ok. I can actually feel it moving. Halfway through it gets progressively stuck to the point it stops moving.

I unrolled the film from the canister/cassette and there’s still lots to go.
By the way i also used a brand new reel, just in case. So it’s not the reel. What am i doing wrong? Tried 3 times, the film must be all bent so far….:grumpy::grumpy:

Any ideas?
 
Probably worth having a read through this as it was quite recent...

www.talkphotography.co.uk

Advice required from experienced home developers

I started home developing about 18 months ago and things have been going well but just recently I have been having problems in the changing bag. For the last few films, when winding the film on to the spiral reels they start getting stuck about two thirds of the way in, so I am having to take...
www.talkphotography.co.uk www.talkphotography.co.uk

My advice: Snip the corners.
 
Update, got it sorted. But still want to understand what happened. Thanks @Harlequin565 . I’ll read it now

Btw, i round the corners(if that’s what you mean), that’s how i was taught
 
Last edited:
I suggest, having sorted it out, and after you've developed, fixed, washed and dried the negatives, use the processed film to practice loading the reel in daylight.
I have had this happen siometimes, most recently on a reel I'd not previously used. I protected the film and got another reel into the bag which loaded fine, then after processing I loaded it into the problem reel in daylight. I realised I was getting the leader of the untrimmed film caught up in the mechanism, so Harlequin's advice was the solution.
 
@lindsay absolutely have to sort it out before using the reel again
I must be doing something wrong, just don’t know what yet.
 
Just went through this thread
Harlequin565 said:
www.talkphotography.co.uk

Advice required from experienced home developers

I started home developing about 18 months ago and things have been going well but just recently I have been having problems in the changing bag. For the last few films, when winding the film on to the spiral reels they start getting stuck about two thirds of the way in, so I am having to take...
www.talkphotography.co.uk www.talkphotography.co.uk
Click to expand...
i don’t understand how humidity would affect the process.
I did start feeling the “heat” when i took the film out of the reel the second time.
I inspected the reels and both looked 100%. One of them was new.
I put both new and older one in the bag and after opening the changing bag turns out i used the older and it worked ok.
 
Humidity = damp (at least potentially). That increases the friction of film against spiral, making it more difficult to load. Hence the advice to always make sure that your (plastic) spirals are completely dry.
 
Right. I think I’m gonna have to conduct a little experiment tomorrow.
Thx for the explanation @StephenM
 
And the sweat from you hands is enough to raise the humidity in a changing bag significantly. Not such a problem in a darkroom, although a smaller dark cabinet might be a different matter.
 
Well i tried again today in the changing bag with an uncut full roll, many times (with the reel that was meant to be the problematic). No problems whatsoever. Also kept my hands in the bag for a long period for the humidity to build up (felt my hands getting really warm) but still no problems.

Makes me wonder if taking the film out of the fridge would cause such an issue. after exposing the film i store it in the fridge because I’m not sure when will i be developing. I left it sitting out for a full day before developing.

Anyway I’ll keep all the advice given in mind next time.
Thanks all
 
Marino said:
taking the film out of the fridge would cause such an issue
Click to expand...
I imagine if you're going straight into a changing bag then the sudden change in temp would almost certainly cause problems. But if you're leaving it out before developing for a day I can't see how that would be an issue.
 
Unless there’s moisture trapped in the film canister/cassette. I might try again to put the film in the reel and splash/rub tiny bit of water on it to see what happens
 
Yep i think i should keep them out. I live in Belfast, only lately the temps were higher than usual, i suppose that’s why i got a bit “worried” about storing them outside.
Funny I’m from Greece and used to leave my film sitting out in temperatures over 35 for days and days
 
@Marino , I don't think anyone has mentioned that some cameras 35mm take up the film with a reverse curl, that is the film goes under the take up spindle rather than over it. Film from those cameras can be more difficult to load into a spiral. My Leica M2 is one of them, I can find it more difficult to load the Paterson spirals if I go to develop the film the same day that it has been re wound, leaving it rewound in the cassette for a day or so seems to help.

From memory other cameras that do this include Pentax 'magic needles' and Praktica with the quick load system, there will be more. Ones that don't do it include all my various Contax and Yashica SLRs , Olympus XA series and any of the auto loading film compacts.
 
In the bessa r it goes under i think. Like my Nikon FM 2. Basically the take up spindle rotates anti clockwise when advancing the lever. If that’s the case I’ll try to flip the film cassette the other way next time to see what happens.
Although i really hope it doesn’t happen again.
Turns out where the film was bent these black lines appeared. Rookie mistake because i got frustrated the 3rd time i tried insert the film in the reel.
Thx for the info @zx9
 
I feel your pain (it was me that started the other thread). My last two films were particularly bad - one roll Kentmere 400 and one roll Agfa APX 400. I have subsequently found out that these are the same film so maybe the film base on this stock is susceptible to sticking in the spiral.
 
that’s interesting….
The film i was loading was also kentmere 400.
That’s all I’m using since i started
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top