I fought the film and the film won!

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AliB

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Grrrrrr I tried developing a B&W 120 roll tonight. There I was in the cellar, in the dark, with a changing bag. I had made up my stock developer, diluted the fix, all ready.

Here I go, smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast and all that.

Except............I messed it right up!:thinking:

Could I get the film on the thingie from the developing tank? Could I heck. It's like trying to complete a rubiks cube in the dark! How the hell did assistants manage to do so many of these?

So eventually I had to give up. So I now have a length of film that is, shall we say, a tad overexposed so I can practice this in daylight.

yeah, I fought the film and the film won..........for now! There will be a rematch! :bat::bat:
 
I have one sheep! I just ended up all tangled up with the paper bit and I couldn't get the film to feed at all.

Better luck next time eh? :bang: lol
 
well, I never let it beat me that badly, my first roll went on the reel, bent buckled & creased to buggery...but it went on:LOL:
And I went straight to a forum afterwards and spit fire and brimstone about the single most stupidest ridiculous frustrating piece of plastic goat wazz ever created by an obvious idiot.
I could easily have thrown the lot and myself off Scammondon bridge that night.:wacky:
It might not seem like it but 10 rolls of practice and you'll start to get the hang of it, dunno about a changing bag though, personally I think it would get in my way, I just black the room out and coat the bottom of the door.
Are you clipping the corners of the lead edge, (the bit that goes on the reel first)
Push the film on to the reel gently and let it find it own way round..
 
Beg, borrow or otherwise acquire some old outdated film and practice the procedure in the light until it's second nature.

Also make sure the spiral is bone dry - the slightest bit of moisture will cause it to stick. Lubricating the spirals with the tip of a graphite pencil can help a lot.
 
I agree with Joxby btw, it's not difficult to black out the room sufficiently to do the job - even use a wardrobe or large cupboard.
 
Oh it's easy! Just getting the knack!

I can unwrap, load and be ready in about 15 seconds.

here's a tip, unwrap the entire 120 film till you get to the sticky tabbed end which sticks on the backing paper. Peel it off the backing paper and fold/stick it on the film. Use that end to start loading, the sticky paper helps keep a little rigidity in the beginning process.
 
Yup, 120 is a bit trickier than 35mm.

As suggested, I would get rid of the bag, light proof your room (or wait till dark ?) then try loading.

I get an old dev tray and put everything I need in there so I'm not fumbling about the darkroom trying to find stuff.

Oh - most important - practise with a waste film (you've got one now :) ) in the light until you are perfect, before you try in the dark.

I assume you are using Paterson Super system 4 tanks ? I wouldn't use anything else for 120.

Keep at it. (y)
 
The trouble I found with changing bags was that my hands got hot.
This caused the humidity in the bag to go up and made the emulsion surface sticky.
The most embarassing thing I did was load the backing paper in the spool.:bang:
Speed is of the essence unless you are a reptile.
 
Practicing with waste film in the light was how I learned to load 35mm. Then you do it with your eyes shut, then you do it in the dark.

Ah, that reminds me of learning to do this at college. There was a specially blacked out cupboard for loading film, just about big enough for two people at once. Sometimes the film wasn't the only thing to get wound up :naughty:
 
I'm intending to try this myself soon, as i'm shooting more and more 35mm and getting them processed is costing a small fortune! Just got to think that if that wobbly old lady can do it at sainsbury's surely I can!
 
I always had trouble doing 120 rolls, one trick is not to let it get too warm which I know is difficult in a changing bag, warm = soft and floppy.
 
Thanks for the tips folks!

I'm fortunate that I have a room in the basement at home with no windows and a sink. (no I did not buy the house just because of that lol) So loading into the dev tank, (Yes it is a Paterson 4 tank that I'm using) should be OK without the bag

I'd hate to get warm and all soft and floppy like Steep ;)

And I heartily agree with Joxby and I did indeed spit fire and brimstone about the single most stupidest ridiculous frustrating piece of plastic goat wazz ever created by an obvious idiot.

Was someone watching? looks over shoulder in mild embarrassment :)
 
Its the same for everyone, loading 120 crops up all the time because it take a little practice, for 4 or 5 rolls I thought "this ain't happening I should give up".
They say stainless steel reels are harder to load but the fastest method.
I've noticed something with plastic reels, they're not all made of the same plastic, I have a few ordinary plastic and one thats kinda nylony, this nylon one never fails, I have more trouble with the ordinary plastic ones.
 
Another tip is to make sure the spirals are absolutely bone dry, try putting them in a airing cupboard for a couple of hours before you start.

(y)
 
Ok, john-oh forces pre-cautionary tale.
the reason I noticed the difference in plastic is because I had 6 rolls to develope and only one tank, so to get a bit of a production line going I opted to dry the reel with a hairdryer to speed things up.
Well....I melted the reel:bonk:and nothin would go on it, so I searched through my glory box and found a spare I'd never used before....nylony one....love at first load, the wedding is next Wednesday:love:
 
Well, I am getting better at loading the reel. I practiced with my piece of film until I could do it literally, with my eyes closed. Then I had a go with a film for real and BINGO! It went on first time. Result:clap:

SO into the developing tank it went followed by the developer at the right temperature. 13mins and a quick wash before the fix went it. Oh I could hardly wait now!

Another 15 mins of washing and out it came. Where were my superbly composed and exposed shots? I have no idea! Where did they go? Did someone nick them?

Oh blast! The damn film had not gone through the camera. I don't think I had wound it onto the insert properly. So now I have two films to practice with! :bang:
 
Oh blast! The damn film had not gone through the camera. I don't think I had wound it onto the insert properly. So now I have two films to practice with! :bang:
Click to expand...
Absolute magic :LOL:, you don't get all this fun with digital.

As long as the shots were not irreplaceable it's all good experience.
 
AliB said:
I have a mamiya 645 with an 80mm f2.8 and a metered prism. I'm getting plenty of practice handling it lol.:wacky:
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LOL Well in the same way you practised loading that developing tank you really need to practice loading and unloading your Mamiya with old film - it can be quite tricky when you're not used to it.
 
Just back from a quick trip to London guess which camera I took? Yep the EOS 5D! lol.
I'll have another bash with the Mamiya soon, after all you all need the comedy!

Blooming good job I bought a bulk lot of film, at this rate I'll be half way through it before I get a photo out of it. Still, I will not be denied (Or I'll set fire to it!)
 
although this may of alreday been covered. What i do is put the film already in plastic holder in daylight (only the very end of course) then take it into the dark.
 
You don't need to be loading 120/220 film in complete darkness as long as you keep it tightly rolled. Subdued light is a safety factor, but I've loaded in bright sunlight just by shading the camera with my body during loading.

CLICKY
 
well ive just loaded my first ever roll of 120 .went on no probs , ive done loads of 35mm so i had a bit of an idea of what to expect . the only problem was i was using a single reel paterson pot ,and it dosent take a 120 , the lid ( the light tight one ) wouldnt fit back on , luckily i had a 3 pot tank in the darkroom with me so used that .just about to go and start developing it ,if i manage it , and theres somthing on it ,,,,,stay tuned ( thanks for your info yesterday ct .)
 
:LOL: ... :LOL: ... :LOL: ...


Just read through this and haven't laughed so much in ages ... :cautious: ... had me right creased up from the off ... (y)


Classic through and through ... :D ... keep 'em coming ... ;)





:p
 
well thats the first one out of the way .ilford delta 100 dev in id 11

img583_Medium_.jpg
 
Brilliant donutagain. What do you shine your dog with? That's one shiny dog!

And Ven, glad you are having a giggle I don't mind poking fun at myself, after all, it saves some other bugger doing it!

Might have another go at it tomorrow, weather permitting. Watch this space! lol.
 
Thats a fine looking dog
I dont normally alter peeps photos, but it looks kinda mid-tony.
I think b/w is all about contrast, so I had a 3 sec twiddle.
photo impressions (circa 2002)

2zyl6j6.jpg


because, Capture NX....didn't have a clue:thinking:

jieyjo.jpg
 
donutagain said:
well thats the first one out of the way .ilford delta 100 dev in id 11

img583_Medium_.jpg
Click to expand...

Well done, but don't forget why you went to all that trouble in the first pace - apart from the fun of course. ;)
img583_Medium_edit.jpg
 
Sorry Joxby! :D

I lost the shadow detail a bit anyway.
 
AliB said:
Brilliant donutagain. What do you shine your dog with? That's one shiny dog!

And Ven, glad you are having a giggle I don't mind poking fun at myself, after all, it saves some other bugger doing it!

Might have another go at it tomorrow, weather permitting. Watch this space! lol.
Click to expand...

Never mind mate, if all goes to plan, I'll be doing a bit of medium format myself soon and they can all laugh at me - it's been a while!
 
as im not a digital person i tend to not adjust anything so it was sacanned on an epson v500 then posted straight to here , i think if i wet printed it ,, it would come out a bit better, it may have been slightly under exposed as well .the camera i used is a bit hit and miss maybe with the shutter speeds , i took the light readings with a western mk 5 . i must say i prefer very contrasty pics in black and white as well ,, and AliB dont know why Donut shines like that ,a lot of people say the same about him , you dont think the cherry blossom has anything to do with it do you ?
 
and another thing i dont know if any of you have used a t.l.r. but they are weird ,,,,dog moves out of shot to left i follow him to the right ,,oops wheres he gone? oh the other way . and also how have i managed to get mr D looking fairly upright but the fence is as ****ed as hell ? unless of course he was leaning over as well ..
 
Epson scan software is pretty allright if you let it do auto levels, infact you can edit the curves histogram pretty quick and not have to go anywhere near a stand alone edit software.
Most focus screen cameras are back to front, my Bronica is the same, leveling things up can send you bogeyed aswell.
Not as bad as L/F cameras, they are back to front and upside down:wacky:
 
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