End of roll question...

OK, so I've shot my first roll of 120 film. Tri-X. No problems loading,

winding, unloading or any of that.

 

But I have a really really silly naive question:

 

Once you've taken the film out of the camera, it's my understanding you're

supposed to "seal" the end paper by licking it.

 

Now for the life of me, I've slathered & slobbered all over the first few

inches of that end paper -- on both sides -- & I can't find a sticky patch of

glue, anything that peels off to expose a sticky surface, or anything even

remotely adhesive. I unrolled the paper to the point where I was concerened I

was gonna fog the film -- nothing.

 

(And I'm definitely at the correct end of the film because it says "fold over

before sealing")

 

Eventually I gave up & simply wrapped a rubber band around the roll...

 

So where IS this sticky patch???

 

Thanks.

Once you have wound the roll up it should be very obvious the paper band

that is partly stuck to the roll and you need to lick it to wrap the band around

the roll. If the paper band wasn't there at all then I would look inside the

camera to see if something in the camera caught it and pulled it off your film.

 

Yes don't lick the paper backing. You can just use a piece of tape wrapped

around the roll.

Thanks -- there's nothing inside the camera, nothing stuck to the spool, nothing that fell out of the camera.

 

And no tape-like tab or anything with any sort of minty-tasting glue or whatnot attached anywhere to the backing paper. Odd.

 

Well -- I'll see what happens next time.

There is no sticky patch. You just lick the end tab, pull tight and press it against the roll. It will stick just like a mail envelope.

or just get a piece of tape and tape the end of the roll. works just fine and ive never had a problem with my lab.

Oh I see what you are saying. Hmmm, that's weird. I've never had a roll that was missing the end tab but it sounds like that is what you are "missing."

As far as I can tell, there's nothing at the end of this roll of film other than plain old backing paper. It sort of gets narrower at the tip where it fits into the slot of the spool, but that tip doesn't have any substance that gets sticky when you lick it.

 

And there isn't any separate tab-like or tape-like or band-like entity anywhere in this construction.

 

...unless it works like those old-time cigarette rolling papers where your wet saliva held the cigarette together without adhesive -- I could never get those to work, either.

 

[i just don't want to have to carry around a roll of Scotch tape or a pocket full of rubber bands if I get more involved in this medium-format thing]

Ted, this might seem a silly question, but did you keep on rolling on the film on to the end after the last shot, or did you somehow re-roll it back to the start?

Actually I just figured it out:

 

Just a minute ago I loaded the film onto developing spool & stashed it in the tank (had very few problems with all that -- although I've done thousands of rolls of 35mm) -- so afterwards I was able to examine the backing paper. Yeah there was some paper-tape like stuff on there, but I guess had been trying to peel it off from the wrong end. And it was lickable and stickable.

 

Anyway, thanks for your time. Hopefully this thread will be helpful to some other "newbie."

Show us your tongue!

 

Funny you mention this, as just the other day, for what I think is the FIRST time, I had a roll of Agfa Optima that had no gummed band at the end. I tucked it back into its foil pouch until I got ahold of a fellow shooter's roll of gaffer tape.

 

It's not unusual for the band to have become stuck to the paper, and then you have to use you finger nail to pry it up, and hope you get enough loose to reseal the tab.

 

yum!

 

Ray Hull

Thats the secret of the success of Fuji, you dont need to lick the film.^^

Yechh - I hate the taste of that stuff....

Ah, the minty flavour of Agfa APX! It was always a pleasure to reach the end of the film. The Ilford's don't taste anything, which is such a disappointment. With Fuji there's no charm at all... ;)