How to load these SS 120 film reels?

I'm preparing for my very first attempt in film development. I bought a Nikor tank with two reels. One reel is Nikor the other one has no name on it, only a label W Germany which I presume stands for West Germany. These reels look different than what I've seen in instructional videos on how to load reels. Can you provide me some guidance on how/where to attach the film.

 

 

On the Nikor reel it seems to me like I should lift the metal plate that's secured by the two outer notches, insert the film underneath it and then close the metal plate. This action would bend the film caught under the two metal notches and hold it tight against the inner wire/brace. Does that sound right?

 

 

On the second reel (with the brown center section), I think I'm supposed to push the film under the black plastic clip that wraps around the brown center. The plastic clip is very stiff, there doesn't seem to be any mechanism to loosen it up when insert the film. I think I will simply have to force it underneath it, it seems to have a tiny bit of room to wiggle film under it.

 

 

Thoughts? Thank you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first two inches/ 50 mm of 120 film are mainly image free. Use two fingers to firmly seat the film end, and then gently curve the film as you begin loading. GENTLY, because if you crease the film when loading you will get crease marks on your images.

Here's David Vestal's hint on loading metal reels. It's for 35mm, but generalization is possible:

120 film isn't strong enough to push under any sprung clip. You need to push or press the clip partly open and place the film under it.

 

Personally, I'd shun those spiral designs with a complicated clip like those shown. Hewes, and most unbranded spirals, use a simple bent-wire clip that can just be pushed open with the tip of a thumb. Leaving a hand free to position the film under it.

 

However, some unbranded spirals have a poor positioning of the clip. As shown below.

 

Anyway. The thing to do is practise and practise and practise loading with a scrap film.

Edited January 8, 2021 by rodeo_joe|1

Keep practicing with the lights on until you can do it with your eyes closed.

Anyway. The thing to do is practise and practise and practise loading with a scrap film.

 

Another one for using a whole roll of film, sacrifice some if necessary, for practice. You have to learn to do it by feel. The thing to watch out for is kinks or places where film touches film.

 

Unfortunately, in my experience this is not like riding a bicycle - it seems to me that I have to learn it all over again every time I do it --

answer is clearly that I need to do it more often...

 

Doing it with a wet reel also makes it much more difficult - for me, anyhow.

Thank you everyone for your advice. I sacrificed a roll of film and practiced. Use of these reels is exactly as I expected and wrote up in my original post. It was much easier than I expected. Rolled the film on both reels few times pretty easily. The only thing that seems to be recurring is that when the film is fully spooled onto the reel, the end of the film sometimes touches the film layer below it and I have to manually lift it back into the spiral. This is because the film naturally curls and wants to just curl inward. I'll have to be careful here not to scratch the film or put finger prints on it as I'm lifting it up. Any advice on that?

 

Here are photos of how the film hooks into the reel.

 

 

 

FWIW, I never use the clip at all in 120. I just kind of tuck the end into the center of the reel and go from there.

 

I never used clips in 35mm either until I became a Hewes convert.

If you can find one of these loading guides it will simplify things. Some say that they scratch the film, I never found that to be so.

If you can find one of these loading guides it will simplify things. Some say that they scratch the film, I never found that to be so.

[ATTACH]1371355[/ATTACH]

I actually bought one of those, bit it’s still stuck in USPS backlog :(

I have not seen either of the clips/retainers that are on the reels that you have.

 

I do NOT use the center clips, 35mm or 120.

In my experience, if I do not perfectly center the film when I put it under the clip, as I roll the film onto the reel, the film will tend to drift off center and kink.

Instead, I just push the film into the center, and use my finger to hold it in, while I start turning. With the film loose in the center, the film will self-center, and not kink. Once I have a turn on the reel, it won't slide out.

 

For me, it was easy.

When I bought a bunch of used 120 reels at a shop, I asked them if they had a dummy roll that I could try. I rolled it on correctly, the first time.

All those years of loading 35mm film came back. Even though the 120 film is wider and more flexible, I had no problem. The good Nikor reels helped.

Next I want to try a 220 roll.

The only thing that seems to be recurring is that when the film is fully spooled onto the reel, the end of the film sometimes touches the film layer below it and I have to manually lift it back into the spiral.

If the film is correctly spooling into the spiral it should be impossible for it to touch the previous layer.

 

Check your spiral for bends in the wires. Also, while you're loading, gently squeeze the spiral cheeks together. If there's a creaking noise, that tells you the film is out of place.

 

It's possible that your practise film has got a kink on the edge. This could make it drop out of the spiral too.

 

What's the history of those spirals?

You might have bought a bunch of 'rejects' that somebody else found difficult to load. They look like a motley assortment. All of the 120 SS spirals I've ever seen look similar to the Hewes one I showed above.

 

A spiral that bends the film back on itself from the clip definitely doesn't look like a clever design to me.

Edited January 9, 2021 by rodeo_joe|1

Next I want to try a 220 roll.

You probably don't!

If you can find any 220 it's going to be well out of date.

 

The spirals also have much thinner wire and a closer spacing, which impedes agitation. You'll most likely have to increase the developing time for the above reason, and because you have twice the area of film developing in the same volume of developer.

 

There are good reasons that 220 never really caught on.

Keep practicing with the lights on until you can do it with your eyes closed.

Yes, sacrifice an old roll of film for practicing purposes.

If the film is correctly spooling into the spiral it should be impossible for it to touch the previous layer.

 

Check your spiral for bends in the wires. Also, while you're loading, gently squeeze the spiral cheeks together. If there's a creaking noise, that tells you the film is out of place.

 

It's possible that your practice film has got a kink on the edge. This could make it drop out of the spiral too.

 

What's the history of those spirals?

You might have bought a bunch of 'rejects' that somebody else found difficult to load. They look like a motley assortment. All of the 120 SS spirals I've ever seen look similar to the Hewes one I showed above.

 

A spiral that bends the film back on itself from the clip definitely doesn't look like a clever design to me.

 

The spiral looks perfectly uniformed, no obvious damage. The film loaded perfectly on the full length, the problem is only at the very end of loading the film (the last half centimeter) when the end of the film wants to curl down and the front edge of it points down and touches the layer below. The entire length of the film behind it stays nicely in the spiral all the way to the center core.

 

Last night I developed my first film. Loading experience was the same. Loaded TMAX 400 perfectly, but the end wanted to buckle down. Since I was prepared for it I figured out a gentle technique to reposition the end. Film is dried up and looks great, now need to scan it. The only thing I didn't realize is how close the first frame is to the beginning of the film, need to be careful not to put finger prints or creases on the first frame as I'm attaching it to the reel. There's only 1 1/4" space before the first frame starts.

I learned from my grandfather when I was 10. He explained to use the guide the

first few times, but then I would get used to doing without the guide.

(Guides I know are not wired to the reel, but just give the right amount of

curl to the film.)

 

The important thing is to give the film enough curl to fit between the wires,

but then let it flatten out for the wires to hold it.

 

The 35mm reel I had for many years (that I inherited from my grandfather)

doesn't have a clip, but I never had any problem with it.

 

For my first try with 120, I didn't use the clip. The film started moving

toward the center of the reel during processing. They weren't especially

important shots, but I didn't want that, so later ones I used the clip.

 

Unlike some others, I didn't find that I forgot, even after many years,

on how to do it. There is, though, a certain feel that tells you when it

goes in wrong. That is, when it crosses over the spiral. That one I

did try to relearn, just to be sure. But mostly they go in fine.

 

After having problems loading a plastic reel with 127, I bought a

stainless steel 127 reel.

For loading120 film I use a guide that fits in the palm of my hand. This avoids the kinks that 120 is prone. For 35 mm just stick film into center and turn. Bought my palm guide in late 1960s, so have no idea if available new now.

For loading120 film I use a guide that fits in the palm of my hand. This avoids the kinks that 120 is prone. For 35 mm just stick film into center and turn. Bought my palm guide in late 1960s, so have no idea if available new now.

 

I might have already said this, but as I learned from my grandfather. Use the guide at first, maybe a few rolls.

Then when you learn the right amount of curve, of squeeze to get the film right, do without the guide.

 

Without the guide, some of the feel of the film going in wrong comes through to your fingers,

otherwise it doesn't.

 

I don't have a 120 guide, but didn't have any problems with that one.

 

I do have a 116 guide, but I think I won't use it.

I have been loading wire reels for over 60 years, and can share a few secrets for roll film. Every thing I say about roll film applies to 35 mm, which is much more forgiving.

• I don't use guides. They tend to scratch film (especially 35 mm), and make it harder to feel and hear how the loading is progressing. They're also another thing to get lost or damaged.
  
• I don't use the center clip. It tends to wrinkle the film making it hard to get a smooth start, and it's not needed to hold the film in place.
  

I start by unspooling the film and separating it from the backing paper. Holding the roll in the palm of my left hand, loose end on top, I pull it out in sections, letting the film spool up in my right hand. At the end, I peel the tape carefully from the paper and fold it over the end of the film. Peeling it from the film distorts the film. Leaving it in place but folded stiffens the end which goes first in to the spool.

 

I transfer the film to my left hand with the loose end on top, toward my palm, guiding it with my thumb and forefinger, using my middle finger to cup it from the emulsion side.

 

I insert the loose (taped) end into the reel in my right hand, close to the center spool, and grasp it lightly from the ends of the reel to keep it centered and in place. Unlike plastic spools, metal spools are loaded from the inside out.

 

Still holding the edges of the film in the spool, I turn the spool to the right, guiding it with my left hand and fingers (as above). After two turns or so, the film will not slip.

 

The film will slip easily into the grooves with an even sound, if you hear a click or feel roughness, the film has kinked and slipped in the the underlying groove. If that occurs, unspool it gently until the kink comes free, then respool it carefully so the kink stays in the correct groove.

 

This operation requires some dexterity and individual finger control, comparable to putting on cufflinks or a real bow tie. Anyone can do it, just practice with a spent roll until you can do it in the dark ;)

 

I really need to make a video. So many people despise metal reels because nobody showed them how to load them correctly.

I now use the clip on 120 film.

 

My first roll of 120 film, during processing, moved toward the center, with about one frame inside the center part of the reel.

(It wasn't an important roll, and I didn't miss it all that much.)

 

Well, I suspect it was older film, with more than the usual amount of curl, and so wanted to be there.

 

My 35mm reels don't have a clip, and have not had that problem.

I have now developed 5 rolls and loading both of the steel reels in my original post has been very easy. I was nervous for the first two, but after that it's going really easy. I did purchase the loading guide too, tried it, don't like it, it's easier and faster for me to load it without it. Luckily it wasn't very expensive. Thank you everyone for your advice.

Metal tanks agitate by inversion, which is less likely to move the film than by rotation. It is also more consistint than rotation, IMO.

Metal tanks agitate by inversion, which is less likely to move the film than by rotation. It is also more consistint than rotation, IMO.

 

Less likely, but it did in mine.

 

I didn't figure out how, and started using the clip.

 

I do have a lot of old film, which has been rolled up for years, and likely to stay rolled.