loading film spiral

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puggie

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Bill
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I ran off a roll of Fomapan 400 this evening and when trying to load it on the spiral the tail end of it was very springy and tightly wound and I could not get it to feed onto the spiral once I had cut the film canister off.

any advice on this, I just had a strop and wound it round the outside of the spiral then stuffed the lot on the developing tank. the Adox CHS and ilfiod HP5 both racheted on the spiral no problem.

how robust is the film surface to being handled before development?
 
It's OK since the outside of the film (non-emulsioned) is the bit your tab would be rubbing against. I tend to just fold it out at 90 degrees and tuck it all in the tank - same as you did it sounds like (y)
 
I don't even cut the film canister off - just pull and snap it away, then fold the rag-end of the film back on itself with the tail outwards. With half decent film I'd not worry - though with some of the "lucky 100" fleabay stuff, the emulsion was a little more fragile. Also, some of the more "traditional" film bases (Rollei Retro 100) are "softer" than say Ilford/Fuji stock, especially after processing.
 
took it out of the tank, pulled it all off and started again this morning, damaged 2 frames (and 1/3 didn't expose as I forgot flash sync was 1/60sec) but it spooled on fine and some of the pics came out ok.
 
puggie said:
took it out of the tank, pulled it all off and started again this morning, damaged 2 frames (and 1/3 didn't expose as I forgot flash sync was 1/60sec) but it spooled on fine and some of the pics came out ok.
Click to expand...

So you'll not be entering it in the "1 roll challenge" then :LOL:
 
maybe I should, I could get away with just scanning one of the frames where I had it set to 1/250sec and flash, cos about a 3rd of the roll all looks the same :) would make scanning quicker :p
 
Agree with Mark on this. From my painful experience it is best to get some quality film to start i.e. Kodak (or what has been mentioned already). It is nice and thick and runs in the spiral a treat. A great way to learn and then move on to the 'esoteric' stock.

An example from the other evening: a shout from the lounge to me in the kitchen whilst struggling with thin film in the black bag - STOP that LANGUAGE. It all very nearly went through the back door and across the garden!
 
puggie said:
I ran off a roll of Fomapan 400 this evening and when trying to load it on the spiral the tail end of it was very springy and tightly wound and I could not get it to feed onto the spiral once I had cut the film canister off.

any advice on this, I just had a strop and wound it round the outside of the spiral then stuffed the lot on the developing tank. the Adox CHS and ilfiod HP5 both racheted on the spiral no problem.

how robust is the film surface to being handled before development?
Click to expand...

It sounds to me like you are trying to put the last of the film into the spiral. I am not surprised it is curled.
 
it was probably the last 12" of film that had the worst of the curl.
 
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