How many rolls on 100' bulk film and how far will developer go.

This summer im moving to colorado i i want to buy a bulk loader and some velvia.

My question is how many rolls i can get out of 100' and if i buy Kodaks Gallon

E-6 kit how many rolls i can process out of this

A 100 foot roll of 35MM film is 750, 24x36mm frames. The rolls (or sq inches), per gallon, should be available on the literature for the chemistry.

Aprox 18 , 36 exposure rolls of film, off of a 100ft bulk roll.

I've never seen a Kodak Gallon E-6 kit, but they do sell a 5-liter kit. A quarter liter of solution will process two 36-exposure rolls, so if your shooting schedule allows you to always fill your tanks with reels you should be able to get 40 rolls out of the full kit, or two 100' rolls.

 

Best yield will come from rotary tube processors, where the 250 ml actually is the right amount of solution for a two-reel tank. Inversion-agitated tanks will take twice as much solution in the tank, so you'd have to figure out how to recover the right amount so that the next two rolls still get enough processing.

 

Van

it's not a great idea to get color film in bulk rolls, unless you are really serious. your life will be spent with a timer and thermoneter, not with a camera. it requires care and great attention to detail or it is not worth doing. there is no tolerance for any variations.

 

most labs will not touch bulk loaded film.

so if you tire of processing your own color film, you will be stuck with a lot of " undevelopable" film.

 

I did 200 feet of dupes one summer and it's a lot of work, even with help mounting the slides.

 

true there are some savings . but unless you really have experience

developing color film and are really committed, to it, it would be a mistake.

 

the risks of fogging or scratching film when you reload film is another thing to consider.

 

color film. unlike B&W, is often offered at a discount,and is much easier to find.

 

the chore of exposing and developing many rolls of color film may be more effort than you will be willing to exert.

 

the film would have to be exposed and developed in a short timespan. as the color solutions will not keep for any length of time. and the results from reusing a solution may give poor results.

 

I was able to do 4-36 rolls in a pint kit ( 2 at a time)

and then had to mix a freshpint kit.

 

I think the ONLY justification for buying a 100 foor roll of color film is if you are duping slides. and buying the smaller kits. so you can start with fresh solutions. the filtration and exposure would be recorded so you can correct for any problems you encounter.

It depends a little bit on which style bulk-loader you use.

 

I usually get 19 36-exp rolls, and a 20th short load.

So I usually spool off twenty 35-exposure rolls.

35-exposure rolls store conveniently as seven 5-exposure strips,

which makes contact printing easier, too.

 

These days, bulk-loading doesn't really save much, especially if you count

your time and factor in the risks of scratching etc. Last time I looked, you can

BUY 20 rolls of Velvia from one of the PhotoNet sponsors for $105, delivered

to your door - - I'm not certain that a 100' bulkload is cheaper than that.

 

There's a certain pride in developing your own slides. That said, you can now

get your 20 rolls of slides developed and mounted for about a hundred bucks

- your cash savings on DIY are minimal.

 

But it is fun.

 

As has been said, I think E-6 now comes as "5 liters" of chemistry.

 

Back when I was using the gallon size, the instructions were for 4 rolls per

quart, and a second use with extended development time. When I was

feeling especially poverty-striken, I would sometimes run a third 1- or 2-roll

batch with same quart of tired chemistry, but I dunno as I'd recommend that

until you're comfortable with the process and know the chemistry pretty well.

But using distilled water and scrupulous procedures, you might push a gallon

into processing 40 rolls.

 

But the short answer is "8 rolls per quart, 32 per gallon". The five-liter size

should therefore be 40 rolls.

 

Good luck, it's good to see that people still try this at home.

I get about 18-20 rolls. I bulk load all my 35mm film, no problem getting them processed; the lab will collect and return the cassettes in a baggie on request.

If your really cheap, you can get more out of a bulk roll by cutting exactly for 36 exp and spicing on a clear leader. I got the idea as Kodak spliced leaders on Infared film and since I had a splicing jig it was easy. I've neer had a splice break.

 

Perhaps more practical is to trim the leader before development as the leader wastes the number of sq. inches of film that can be used. Of coarse sometimes the one shot method usually used for color may result in a volume that easily accomidates the leader anyway, in which case, it doesn't make any difference.