Can I Bulk Load with used film canisters?

Has anyone ever tried using the canisters from comercial film? I got a Watson Bulk film loader when I bought my enlarger about a year ago. I have shot a dozen rolls of film at $5 a pop. I bought 2 100' rolls of film but I didn't know I needed canisters. The 1hour photo has tons of canisters that haven't been opened (they just cut the film off.

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1. I could open the canisters gently and press to tops back on with a small hand vise of C clamp.

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2. I could tape my film directly to the film sticking out ( about 1/4" ) and not have to open the cassette.

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3. Or should I buy a pile of these empty canisters? Can they be used more than once?

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Has anybody ever tried this? What kind of results do you get?

The crimp that the film manufacturers use to close the cassettes is

much stronger than that that the reload cassettes have. I have never

been able to open a commercial canister without damaging the rim. I

suggest buying special cassettes intended for bulk loading.

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On the other hand, you could get a few from the lab and try them.

They ought to give a few to you.

Ilford used to sell films in reusable canisters, but I haven't shot

Ilford film in 35mm for ages. They and others might still do so.

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On the other hand beware of canisters from labs. You never know how

they've been treated. I once had a shutter disabled by a thread that

frayed from the lip of film canister from a lab. It would have been

cheaper to buy new canisters in the end, but I was in Eastern Europe

and one couldn't buy such things easily in those days.

Ilford crimp their canisters these days... which is a pity as I found

them to be better made than the reloadable ones available here.

Both the metal and plastic cannisters that are commonly available are

pretty junky. At least they're cheap. I've very carefully pried the

cap off current Ilford film, and in a pinch you could reuse it. I

wouln't trust them, and you need a small clamp to really put the cap

back on. The light trap is far superior however. Ah, for the days of

the Kodak Snap Cap (I think), or the good reusable Ilfords.

The only thing one can do with canisters these days, once the film is

removed, is glue them on a magnet und attach to the fridge door.

Serious, No. 1 is not a real option, I used No. 2 in case of an

emergency, but cut the edges of both films, similar cut to loading on

reels.

No.3 they can be reused 3 to 5 times - I was told, after second use I

tape them to avoid popping open.

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So there is almost nothing like some good old Ilford ones I received

from a friend (Thanks Jochen!).

Still reloadables are Maco and Fomapan, I do not know about Efke,

because I was never able to get a single film only bulk film.

I hardly use anything else but bulk film in 35mm, and I'm still in

mourning for the passing of the Ilford 'roll top' canister. (Take both

ends off, and you could brush the felt trap out to clean it.)<br>All

is not lost. I've discovered that a company is still selling them as

re-useable cassettes, complete with Dx coding label in 100, 200, and

400 ISO. So I've stocked up with a few.<br>Failing that, if you own a

Nikon F, or F2, then the Nikon reloadable cassettes are excellent,

even if they are a bit expensive, provided you have the correct design

of bulk loader to operate the mechanism.<p>Beware of the cheap plastic

reloadable cassettes that are sold in bags of 5 or 6. Some of them

don't have a very good light-trap, and can come undone very easily.

You need to look at the quality of the plastic, and if they're flimsy

and the light trap is buckled, leave them alone.<br>As for the current

glued or crimped commercial cassettes: No, you can't re-use them.

I reload all of my film except when I shoot Iliford 3200. I have

found several locations to get canisters. If you email me I will let

you know those locations.

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I agree with the above post reguarding the plastic canisters. I have

a few and they always seem to cause some kind of problem. Word of

warning though, even though you are careful, be aware that when you

reload you stand a greater risk of scratching your film, I have made

it a rule of thumb to use the reloads as learning tools or sport

shots where a scratch will not cause me any great concern and when I

need to shoot something really important, I use factory loaded that I

keep on hand.(does not guarentee no scratches but odds are way better

that you won't get them on factory loads)

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As to the number of times you can use them, some that I have bought

lasted for a couple of reloads before I had problems, others are

still in use after 15 -20 reloads.

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Also note, I work for a newspaper, when the photographers announced

they were going digital full 100%, I found myself in a great position

as they were getting rid of everything. The head photographer knew

that I was reloading, so he gave me all of the cartridges they had,

haveing sorted through them and throwing out any obviously damaged

cartridges, I have not had any problems with those I have used so

far, and I am sure that they reloaded these plenty of times prior to

my recieving them. A lot depends on how you care for them.

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Good luck!

An easy way to reuse regular commercial cassettes is to tape the back

end of the bulk load onto the cutoff end of the old film, which

usually protrudes about a cm or so. I use them only once (which

avoids grit buildup) and get new ones from one of the local minilabs.

The few times I have tried the tape method, i ended up with one long

scratch on my film, so what I did, I took the spool out of the

cassette, loaded it in my bulk film loader, put the film on the the

spool,

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now your probably wondering how did i get it in the camera without

exposing the film?

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what i did is, i took a brokendown 12 volt cooler approx 3x2x2 ft

that had a clamplock on it. sawed out 2 holes out for hands and then

cut the arms off a black jacket that has the elastic cuffs, only

about 6 inches from the cuff, secured them to the 2 holes. I did this

because I for some reason loose total sence of direction in total

darkness.

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then just put all items in cooler clamp shut, put your arms in and

just take the spool from the bulk loader and load the camera,just

need to make sure your camera does not have any light leaks.

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this also works very well for taking your film from your camera or

cassette to your developing canister. just make sure you have every

thing in the cooler before you start so you dont have pull your hands

out

works very well for me, just thought i would pass along an idea, hope

this helps

I want to thank everyone for their ideas and comments.

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I tried using masking tape to hold the new film to the old film that

sticks out of the used canisters I got from the 1 hour photo. I shot

a couple of rolls over Thanksgiving. I developed the film and looked

at the negatives and I did not find any scratches. I guess the real

proof will be when I start making prints.

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I stopped by a 1 hour at a WalMart and asked for some used canisters.

The lady said Fugi pays WalMart to send the canisters back. I guess

Fugi recycles all or part of the canister. Does anybody know?

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Rodney