70mm perforated films... what is still available?

I am looking at a couple of older medium format aerial cameras that

take 70mm perforated film. Anyone out there have a good handle on

what films are available in this size? It seems not too many are

still made.

B&H lists High Speed IR and Plus-X (under aerial films) and VPS in 100 foot rolls. They have discontinued Tri-X (or so their customer service people tell me -- 70mm "is no longer factory stocked and requires a minimum order of 36 rolls. Any amount over 36 rolls needs to be ordered in multiples of 18"). Ilford's customer service emailed me last fall that they no longer offer HP5+ in 70mm. Agfa offers three speeds of black and white 70mm aerial film (max speed ISO 200) in 30 meter rolls, but it is a special order item (I had a friend check in vain with several major German photo dealers last summer).

 

So basically it is HIE, Plus-X, or VPS

See:

<a

href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=000gr1">Old 70mm film list</a><p>

 

I've copied the list below. The list is a little old, but most of them are still available. N. Perf stands for No perforations. There is not a ton available, but enough variety for 99.9% of photographic purposes. You have black & white, color negative, color reversal and of course Infrared. What more could you ask for? Perhaps a color negative infrared film?<p>

BLACK AND WHITE FILMS <p>

 

CAT. #.........SIZE.........LETTER CODE.......SPEC #.....LIST PRICE <p>

 

Ektapan Film ISO 100 <br>

 

1526797 75' N.Pref. EKP 473 $97.95 <br><br>

 

Plux-X Pan Profesional Film 2147/ Estar Base <br>

 

165 0480 100' N. Pref. PXE 473 $114.50 <br><br>

 

TMAX 100 Professional Film /TMX <br>

 

801 1702 100' N. Pref. TMX 473 $97.00 <br><br>

 

Tri-X Pan Film ISO 400 <br>

 

852 7616 100' N. Pref. TX 473 $93.10 <br><br>

 

Infrared Aerographic Film 2424 EI=250 <br>

 

162 1580 150' Perforated NA 494 $256.40 <br><br><br>

 

COLOR NEGATIVE FILMS <br><br>

 

PORTRA 160NC FILM (Also Available in a N. Perf. format) <br>

 

833 0458 100' Perforated 160NC 475S $140.20 <br><br>

 

PORTRA 400NC Film <br>

 

819 5554 100" N. Perf. 400NC 474S $141.60 <br><br>

 

I also think Konica still manufactures a 160 ISO portrait film in 70mm format, but I'm not positive. <br><br><br>

 

Color Reversal Films <br><br>

 

Ektachrome Film E100S <br>

 

110 13023 100 Perforated E100S 475 $279.60 <br><br>

 

Aerochrome II Infrared Film 2443 Process AR-5 or E-6 <br>

 

898 5616 100 Perforated n/a 494 $242.40 <br><br>

 

SPECIALTY 70MM FILMS <br><br>

 

KODAK VERICOLOR III PROFESSIONAL FILM This film is used for the creation of digital negatives. <br>

 

891 6371 100' 475 475 $140.20 <br><br>

 

Kodak Internegative Film <br>

 

856 5186 100' N. Perf. 5325 473 $247.40 <br><br>

 

Kodak Aerocolor II Negative Film <br>

 

ISO A equivalent 64. Process AN-5 Chemicals <br>

 

878 9737 100' n/a 494 $199.40 <br><br>

 

Ektachrome Slide Duplicating Film / 5071 <br>

 

173 0480 100' Perforated 5071 475 $131.60 <br><br>

 

Fuji also manufactures a 70mm duplicating film, but I do not know the catalog number of it. <br><br>

 

-- Rolland Elliott, December 04, 1999; 05:16 P.M. Eastern

Dan I knew the films were around but the processing is another matter. I don't know who it was, maybe Roland, who was manufacturing developing tanks. Somewhere in a hidden thread there is a response concerning the tanks. I have a couple of older Kodak folders (616, 617) that could use 70mm film but I didn't want to get into the developing end ot it at this time. Pro Labs doing 70mm are few and far between as far as I know. I would be interested in a lead concerning this.

Hello Dan

 

As noted by the other posters, not to many emulsions is readily available on the shelf. My experience (from here in Europe) is that "todays" users of 70mm film is high-volume users buying rather large quantity of film directly from Kodak or other producer. 70mm film have been used quite a lot for small format aerial photography as well as for metric purposes, where the customer is likely to buy a large quantity of film. One solution is thus to buy surplus films from aerial-photography companies using 70mm, and/or to contact them before they submit their film-ordering and see if You can fit inn a part-order for 70mm. Color-labs doing medium-format duplicates uses 70mm film (which is ordinary E6 or C41 films), and is thus able to prosess your 70mm stock as well. If You want to process the films yourself, Jobo makes all the needed equipment for prosessing up to 15' length (they also have reels for 70mm - 5' length for use in the standard-tanks in the 2500/2800 family). Kindermann have for decades made stainless steel reels & plastic tanks for 15' 70mm. Earlier, Nikor prodused identical reels but vith SS tanks. Inexpensive plastic reels for about 14' - 70mm film can be bought from companies distributing X-ray systems: seems that 70mm film have been used extensively in this field. I have one of these, an it works fine.

Last but not to forget: The film-section on Ebay allways show 70mm film of some kind for sale, including often the mentioned 70mm color-neg version by Konica at low price.

 

Good luck to You.

 

(PS: Let me hear from You, Dan, if there is any 70mm aerial cameras left after You've been shopping!)

It's good to hear that someone else is using the plastic X-ray film reels for 70 mm., Tor. I have a couple myself and have been very pleased with them. But I have a problem that I'd guess many others in my situation have.....how to get a reasonably priced tank to use with the reel. The reels I use are about 16 cm diam (6 1/4") and stand about 8 cm. high (3"). I currently use a variety of pots and pans, pressure cookers, black plastic garbage bags, etc. You don't want to know - it's not a pretty sight. What do you use for a processing tank?

 

Pete Schermerhorn, in the glorious Berkshire hills of western Massachusetts

Answer to Peter about tanks for 70mm: To get a high-quality tank, I asked a local metal-shop (who is specializing in making stainless-steel products of sheat metals (kitchen-sinks and stuff) to make me a stainless-steel tank that fitted the 70mm reel exactly. To keep cost/work-time down, I told them to build the tank as a bucket with a push down/inside-type lid, and with an 8 cm. diameter round hole sentral in the lid. The tank is lengthened to approx 15 cm to fit on a motorized roller/agitator-unit, and thus the "bottom" of the tank is soldered in place halfway up the tank-body. In the hole in the lid, I glued in place the top part (i.e. the light-trap and the neck/filler plug assy.) of a cannibalized 35/120 plastic developing tank (the light trap/filler-cap part would othervice be the most expensive thing to make from stainless steel). This gave me an about $ 100 very high quality stainless-steel tank suitable for roller-processing. Any black plastic or stainless metal-tank with the proper diameter and a fitting lid can of course be converted to "daylight developing tank" with a top part of a plastic developing tank - it comes to my mind that cupboard where you store your cooking-pans might be a place to start searching....

 

Good luch

 

Tor Kviljo

Jobo does nont produce devl. tank for 15 feet length any more.

They deliver reels for 70mm films but only for 4 feet lengths, for tank system 2500. Kindermann retired from such productions completely.

I am also looking for the sutable dev. tank for 15 feet rolls. Are there any other manufactures available? The reels used in X ray technology could help me, but who is producing them?

thanks.

Coincidentally, I have just listed two 70mm processing tanks and reels on ebay. One is for the 15' length and the other will do up to 7'. Both are Nikor stainless steel. Jobo no longer makes the 15' reels, loaders and tank. They do have the 5' length available yet. Kindermann also makes tanks and reels.

Zigric,

 

I purchased my 70mm reels from Henken Industries in Texas about 2 years ago. The website is currently undergoing "reconstruction", but

>>> http://www.henkenind.com/developingnf.htm <<< will show you what they look like, and in case you have trouble getting back to the info on addresses, etc.,

it's at >>> http://www.henkenind.com/index.html <<<.

 

The reels won't quite hold the 15 feet but I bulk-load, so it's not a major problem for me. I can get about 12 feet on a reel. Two years ago, the reels were $7.50 each, plus shipping, etc.

 

Pete Schermerhorn, in the glorious Berkshire hills of western Massachusetts

I tlked to HEWES in England and they make a 70mm reel. They don't export to the US, but JOBO uses one of there 70mm reels in their product according to HEWES. Hewes is not set up to do mail order but did offer to sell me reels if I was willing to do a wire transfer. No master card or such accepted.

 

Has anyone used the "conversion" from perf to non perf that is offered on e-bay. Does it work?

I recently found a Nikor SS tank and reel for 70mm for a good price. I have not tried to load it yet. I have two questions that this thread may help me with 1) What is the best agitation pattern for the Nikor 70mm tank (inversion each minute or what) 2) In loading the 15' cassettes with perf 70mm film in a bag, how can you tell how much film is on the roll by feel? Do you load it to fill to the edge of the film roll?

I bought a Hewes 70mm 15' reel from Calumet Photo (Chicago) in 1992/3. They may still have some.

 

I built a tank using a PRINT drum that I cut down, and epoxied a cut off piece of a regular SS 16oz tank. A standard Kinderman tank top works fine.

 

Watch EBAY for 70mm reels. Last year I got a Nikor 70mm reel for $25.

 

As for film, I'm down to my last roll of 100' Tri-x in my freezer. I guess I'll switch to Plus-X when it's gone.

 

Tony

I don;t know about the rest of the list he posted, but Roland has recently been selling a new Color Infrared Chrome that can be processed C41 in the 35 mm size. I checked Kodaks site and they say this film is also stocked in the 70mm size x 100 ft.

B&H does not list it but I would imagine can special order it. $200-300 I would guess.

 

Roland long ago in another thread said he had a way of cutting this 70mm film down to 61mm to fit your MF cams. Give you at 30+ rolls of 120. Imagine a falsecolor infrared you can shoot in your MF, and process either c41 or E6.

 

Roland, hope you don;t mind me spreading the word.

 

-mk

It was great to see the list above of films available (then) in this format. Can anyone

update it?