70mm film for Hasselblad

Anyone out there have experience with using the 70mm film back for

Hasselblad and if so, do you roll your own film?

 

If you develop it, how do you accomplish this?

 

Thanks.

This has had quite a few threads over the last few years.

 

I have two 70mm backs. The only easily available film is C41 color negative in 70mm type II perfs, Koday 160NC.

 

If you shoot B&W you are out of luck. KodaK will supply Tri_X or Tmax in 100' rolls but you will have to order 36 rolls. B&H sells Plus_X Arial film 150' rolls that will work as well.

 

I have a 70mm bulk loader that lets you take a 100' roll and load into 70mm cartiages, made by Alden.

 

I use 70mm SS reels that hold 15 feet of film and I have a homemade daylight tank that I made by cutting down an Omega print tank.

 

Most pro labs can process 70mm C41. E6 can be done but the film is very expensive as is processing.

 

Hope this helps!

Hello James,

I've had good recent success with 150 foot rolls of Kodak Survellance EI400 film I bought on Ebay. I have 15 rolls (150' each) in my deep freeze. I sofar prefer it to Tri-X! I process it in Pyro PMK+ in a Kindermann 70mm daylight tank, with a medical xray reel I found on the internet for $8. I also have Kodak unperfed 160 and 400, deep-frozen. I bought two Hasselblad A70 "rubber wheels" on the ebay and have had pretty good success running unperforated 70mm color through my 500CM's, ELM, and a Hartblei 1006M.

 

Good Luck to you! 70mm is cool.

Hello Again,

Thought I'd add a few points. I bought a 70mm Alden bulk film loader, for nearly a hundred bucks, which is an utter waste of money. You can load the cartridges by hand (Wash your hands and dry them before proceeding). You can always use a piece of string stretched across the room to measure out 15ft. I just wind the roll, by feel, keeping it tight so it won't scratch the stock. You can get about 80+ shots with the Hassleblad A70. I have three of them that work well, and four of them that do not.

 

Finally, IMO the -only- advantage of 70mm is exactly what is described in the original Hasselblad literature. That is, not having to look at the frame counter whilst shooting is a major advantage. You can blaze away and edit later. The down-side is that the film is hard to find, it can be expensive, and everybody has different logistical problems, depending on what can be scrounged up. Once you have the problems worked out, 70mm is a joy, and I for one enjoy the challange of getting it to work. It is more expensive than roll film and can be a PITA. But it is worth the trouble, to get it going.

-Dan

James,

used Hassy 70mm backs are inexpensive now, you can get a mint one for ~ 100-150 bucks on eBay I belive. Availability of 70mm films is a different issue. You have to buy bulk roll and respool the film from long roll in the darkroom or get Alden 70mm bulk loader, it makes the job easier.

Some kind of 70mm films are unperforated, for Hassy 70 magazine you need type II perforation film. If you have good technician it is possible to convert Hassy 70mm back to any type of perforation. My Wiese Fototechnic mechanic did beautiful adaptation joining Hassy 70mm back with my old Kiev 88 (not Hartblei) and it works great !

 

We have not so big choice selecting 70mm films now. At B&H for example we can get Kodak Portra 160NC Type II - 100' Roll.

For B&W they have Kodak Plus-X Aerographic Film #2402 70mm 150'Roll - the bad news is the minimum order Qty 18 !

They have also Kodak Edupe 70mm 100' Roll Ektachrome t.II and Fujichrome CDU-II 70mm 100' Roll for duplicating transparencies.

 

The 70mm darkroom stuff is rare to find and sometimes it looks obsolete, but it works for me great. I have Kindermann 70mm daylight long roll development tank and stainless steel reels for film strips up to 5 meters (16.4 feet). For short (5 feet) strips I'm useing plastic 70mm JOBO #2517 reels for 2500 series tanks. I love HEWES 70mm reel loader - elegant solution to the problem of loading my Kodak Plus-X Aero thin Estar base film on large ss reels.

 

70mm system is ideal for school, scientific or wedding photographers, but it's popularity decreases because of digital era I think. From time to time I can catch bulk roll (350' or 500') of Kodak Plus-X Aerographic 2402 Film on eBay for ~$20 per roll ! I'm geting fine grain, full tonal range, old technology (silver rich), beautiful film for penny. Big deal for bargain hunters. So, 70mm system is worth effort for me continually.

 

As Daniel said, 70mm is COOL !

Maco has black and white 70mm film but without the necessary perforations for use in the 70mm backs. They say no one in Europe can make them. Al Landsdale (ALSFilm@AOL.com), located near Los Angeles, could perforate 70mm in comlete darkness in 2000 foot lengths for .25 cents a foot, but he'd need to get some new dies from Germany to make the proper holes. I had considered buying him the dies if there was enough interest that I could eventually get most of my investment back, but when I posted an inquiry here, it had some typos and there seemed to be very little interest.

Hello Jan,

 

I too have 500' of the Aerographic 70mm type-2 Plus-X. I've cut a bit off, to try through the backs (it works well) but how are you developing it? It's a really thin base film, tending to fold-over onto itself and prone to damage from that.

 

I would also like to hear a bit more about how Weisse adapted your 'blad back to fit a standard Kiev88.

ALl, thanks this is supre helpful! Where else but on PN?

Kodak will coat most of their emulsions on 70mm stock if you buy enough(25 100'rolls). All you have to do is ask. I've been using 70mm Plus-X for years even though it has not been in their catalogue since the eighties.

 

Wayne

Wayne,

 

What do you pay for the Plus-X 100' rolls when purchased 25 rolls at a time? Do you go through a dealer or does Kodak sell to you direct?

 

What is the lead time?

 

And, last question, do you have a 100' roll that you would like to sell?

I personally love the 70mm but I also own an aerial lab that allows me the ability to process B&W, C-41/AN-6, E-6 easily. Film wise I have found several places that you can still obtain the film. If you are looking to do B&W and can not find the film you may wish to use either Kodak 2444 or Agfa X-100 cut at 70mm (they are perferated). I have several N-400 (the standard orange masked film) frozen that I will be using up and letting a few go.

 

Honeslty I would love to invest in a 100 foot magazine because then I would just load a roll shoot till done process and go to the next full roll. I do have one that is about ended on e-bay with film and cassettes right now.

 

Kevin

hartblei once had a 70mm-back. developping cn in hot-process is easy with jobo cpa2 or cpp. i used testdrum(for 10x40cm prints) plus 2517-reel. 220-lenght.500ml. solutions but i replenished. i used tetenal chemistry. adjusting contrast etc is easy. i used kodak hc, vps III(dont use vps III for vegetation or aerials, your greens get lost), agfa avicolor n400, agfa xrs 400. will use avicolor x100, x400 and n400 and n800.have old h100(very contrasty), i was told that x400 does not get full 400 iso? will check this out.

my aerial 3d-stereopano was made with n400. very very sharp original.

www.europanorama.ch.vu

michael przewrocki

My Wiese Fototechnic mechanic did beautiful adaptation joining Hassy 70mm back with my old Kiev 88 (not Hartblei) and it works great !

 

Jan, can you describe the adaptation? I have a K88 and an a70 back that I want to pair. Out of the box it does not work.

Ilford HP5+ is available as special order every year, check the ilford site.

 

ILFORD Photo ULF and custom film size manufacture 2017 - Ilford Photo

Have you seen the price of 70mm film? Last time I looked it was something like $129 per roll with a 5 roll minimum and a 4 week wait to get it. Stick with 120 or 220 if you can find it.

70mm? I'd be happy with B&W 220. Those backs are going for a song, but so far no one seems to be producing it. You might think this would be a good little business.

I bought a roll of the HP-5 70mm from the ULF sale this year (2017).

 

1. Only 50" long.

 

2. Very expensive!!!!!! $160 per 50' roll.

I bought a roll of the HP-5 70mm from the ULF sale this year (2017).

 

1. Only 50" long.

 

2. Very expensive!!!!!! $160 per 50' roll.

 

When you consider that Kodak charges $120 for 100' of 35mm Tri-X, or roughly the same amount of film, that doesn't sound terrible considering its special order status.

 

Of course, when you compare it side-by-side with bulk 35mm HP5+ it's about 2.5x as expensive($62/100'). From what I've seen, that's not terribly out of line with Ilford's special run prices.