Reloadable Cassettes for Nikon F

I was digging at my favorite local camera shop the other day and came across a dozen or so of reloadable Nikon branded cassettes-most of them still in their little black Nikon container.

 

I remember reading about this sort of set-up in the F manual, and wanted to try some.

 

With that said, I wasn't sure if they were the same for the F as for the rangefinders, and the shop owner wasn't sure either. He said he KNEW they would work in rangefinders, but wasn't sure about the F.

 

Does anyone know if the two are the same? If not, are there any tell-tales to distinguish the F cassettes from the rangefinder ones?

Hello everyone. Ben, use a "standard" 35mm film cassette & check to see if the spool of the reloadable's are the same dimensions. The camera rewind must operate with the "reloadable". Aloha, Bill

If you have some old film around, why not just load the cassette with a short length, and see how it behaves in the camera?

Nikon Nikkormat Handbook Joseph D. Cooper Amphoto 1974 Chapter 3, P 31

"Separate cassettes - not interchangeable, are available for the Nikon F and F2: neither will fit the Nikkormat. The cassette consists of outer and inner shells and a spool. The figures on the bottom of the outer shell are ASA exposure index numbers. The white spot on the rim is the index. Black figures for Black and white film and red figures for color film. The red dot should be used when the film is exposed." If this is what you have, it sounds like an update of the Leica reloadable cassettes.

Thanks guys. I'll swing by the shop tomorrow if I get a chance and pick up one or two to play with.

 

Truth be told I'm a bit sour on bulk film as at least with Tri-X the savings seem minimal at best. I have been shooting a decent amount of FP4+ recently so that I have at least one B&W film I can standardize across 35mm, 120, and 4x5(and it's the closest match for my beloved Plus-X). From what I remember, Ilford's bulk prices are a bit more economical than Kodak.

 

In any case, I have a Watson kicking around with some TMX that the sticker says I loaded in March of '07. I know it's not at its best by any means, but I think that it would be enough to tell me if the cartridge is working correctly.

 

I was also given another Watson yesterday that has some unknown film in it. The person who gave it to me-most unusually for him-doesn't remember what it is and even more unusually didn't write the details on it. Even so, given that he's big into microscopy, there's a decent chance it's Tech Pan. I don't want to waste THAT film until I have a chance to clip a few inches and look at the edge markings. If it's not Tech Pan(or something else special) I can waste it, but if it is Tech Pan I definitely want to use it carefully and smartly.

Hello again everyone. Ben, and all you other "re-loaders", I have been "reloading" Kentmere 400 & 100 materials the last 12 rolls thru my CMC Fed's. $45-$50 per 100 foot spools, delivered, off Ebay. Here is one of the latest from a Fed-3. K400 & OA, V600 scan. Aloha, Bill

Sorry... Ver 2.1 has gone into spaz mode again. Later

Let's try the pic again. . .

Unprocessed Tech Pan is rather bluish, very distinctive. Could make it easy to know if that's what is in the bulk loader. Also, it's on an ESTAR-AH (polyester) base, and thus pretty much impossible to tear.

Unprocessed Tech Pan is rather bluish, very distinctive. Could make it easy to know if that's what is in the bulk loader. Also, it's on an ESTAR-AH (polyester) base, and thus pretty much impossible to tear.

 

I played with it some last night, and still don't know what I have. It does have a bluish color to it, so that matches up. I also remember thinking that it feels more like sheet film than acetate roll film, which would also match up(since sheet films are on polyester).

 

In any case, I took two snips and couldn't get anything of value out of them. I'd just mixed some D76 and it was still hot, so for the first clip I did a couple ounces of straight D76(in a Nikkor tank) and shook it vigorously for about a minute and a half. I know that's all proper processing techniques out the window, but I just wanted edge markings. I'd guess it the temperature was around 40ºC, so development should have been short. That one came out black.

 

I then did TMAX at 1:4 for 5 minutes(low end of suggested time for Tech Pan in TMAX) with proper agitation although admittedly it wasn't on a reel. It didn't clear when I fixed it(I double checked my fixer with a leader) but left me with a yellow emulsion reminiscent of color negative film. The base side had a sort of dark purple/blue iridescent look to it.

 

So, I don't know where I'm at on it. My first clip was about 5 inches to make sure I was getting film out of the magazine and not the exposed end, and then the second one was three inches(I left it in the changing bag and didn't open the loader between them). I'll open it up and see what the "fresh" unprocessed film looked like.

The Kodak Black&White Darkroom Dataguide 1996 specifies Technidol for Tech Pan roll film , 6.5 min @ 30 C. Don't know if it is worth getting for a remnant, or even if it is still made.

I've done a bit of research on it, and I'm finding suggestions for low-dilution Rodinal and a few other developers to process it for normal contrast. From my recollection, Technidol is fairly high contrast albeit also quite sharp.

 

Just by taking the loader apart in the dark and feeling, there's probably 50-75 feet still there, so if it is Tech Pan I think it's well worth salvaging.

If it is the Watson 100 loader that you have.

STUDY the loader and the instructions if you have the instructions. And an EMPTY cassette.

As I recall the Watson 100 has the ability to close the cassette, before you open the loader to remove the loaded cassette. I do not remember the details as I have not use the Watson 100 with a Nikon cassette for decades.

With any other bulk loader, you have to remove the cassette in the dark, then close the cassette by hand.

 

Ben check your PM

Edited June 3, 2017 by Gary Naka

The Watson, unlike the Lloyd (and similar) does not have a felt light trap and requires the film door be opened when loading or film would be scratched. Alden loaders used the same arrangement.

I have a couple of Watsons kicking around, so I'm familiar with the open/close the light trap procedure. In fact, when I used a decent amount of bulk film I use to only open and close the loading flap of the loader in the dark so that I didn't have to worry about losing a few frames at the end of the roll.

 

In any case, I haven't really played with the film anymore other than taking a piece and trying to tear. I used a piece of acetate film as a "control." The stuff in the bulk loader was VERY hard to tear and when it did I was left with a jagged edge and plastic "fringes." It was nothing like acetate film.

Sorry, I did not mean the trap for the bulk film.

 

What I was referring to was the knob on the side of the loader, on the opposite side from the hand crank, is used to close the Nikon cassette.

The Nikon cassette is loaded with the 2 halves in the open position, but the cassette has to be closed (so the 2 halves overlap) before you open the bulk loader.

If you attempt to load the film with the cassette closed, you will most likely scratch the film as you drag the film between the inner and outer halves of the cassette.

 

I do not know about the Nikon rangefinders, but the ones that I used, did work on the F and I "think" the F2.

The F3 and later cannot use them, because they do not have the back release key on the base of the camera, which operated the mechanism to open and close the cassette.

Edited June 3, 2017 by Gary Naka