ruben_salcedo Posted November 28, 2004 Share Posted November 28, 2004 I have received some excellent advice on film handling from the kind people here at photo.net. Due to the increased costs of hand developing from my local B&w film/ printing shop, I've opted to turf out some space in the house for this project. I have many odds and ends but will need some new reels/tank. what are your recommendations for best quality. My sincerest thanks again to all in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael erlich Posted November 28, 2004 Share Posted November 28, 2004 Hewes (or Jobo, which are made by Hewes). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david_goldfarb Posted November 28, 2004 Share Posted November 28, 2004 Hewes. I recommend getting the 220 reels. They're no harder to load, and they give you the option of processing 220, if you should ever need it (or loading 2 120 rolls on one reel if you're clever, or 4 120 rolls back to back on one reel if you're really clever). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff_lu Posted November 28, 2004 Share Posted November 28, 2004 hewes last the longest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frank.schifano Posted November 28, 2004 Share Posted November 28, 2004 Hewes reels are the best of the bunch. Traded in some cheapies for a set of these and have never looked back. They load correctly first time, every time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goemon Posted November 28, 2004 Share Posted November 28, 2004 I have a Hewes 120 reel, and a Jobo 120 reel; even though they're both made by Hewes, the Jobo has a better attachment device IMHO. I wouldn't screw around with anything less than a Hewes these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronald_moravec1 Posted November 28, 2004 Share Posted November 28, 2004 Nikors have lasted 40 years. Buy used if you can. Stay away from any other Japanese imitation like Brooks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jay_de_fehr Posted November 28, 2004 Share Posted November 28, 2004 Another nod to Hewes. Excellent! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al_kaplan1 Posted November 28, 2004 Share Posted November 28, 2004 Either Nikor or the old Kinderman. I have a bunch that I bought used 40 or more years ago that are still working fine. Not bad for $2.00 second hand reels! (at that time list price was $4.95) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lee_shively Posted November 28, 2004 Share Posted November 28, 2004 "General Brand" from B&H. Yeah, I know Hewes are the best but the cheap ones are okay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert_marvin Posted November 28, 2004 Share Posted November 28, 2004 I have an assortment of Nikor, Kindermann, Hewes, and generic Japanese 120 reels, mostly bought used. I find the Nikor reels easiest to load followed very closely by all the others. FWIW Hewes are the nicest looking, but don't seem to have any real advantage IMO. I also have assorted tanks and find them about equal, but prefer to use Kindermann plastic tops on them all. BTW, for 35 mm I ONLY can consistantly load Kindermann reels, with the separate Kindermann loader, but for I20 I find the Kindermann loader to be more trouble than it's worth. I load Kinderman 120nm reels by hand, like the other brands Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spanky Posted November 28, 2004 Share Posted November 28, 2004 What a great idea! Two 120 rolls on a 220 reel. I never thought of that. I guess once you get one roll on the reel, the second starts where the other ends. Does this second roll stay snug? There is nothing holding it tight while agitating. What about developer? If I have a 16oz tank, will 15 1/2 oz of developer be enough for two rolls? Cheers, Marc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly_flanigan1 Posted November 28, 2004 Share Posted November 28, 2004 Some of my Nikor reels are 40 years old; and still work well. So was Hewes around then? They seem to always get plugged here on Photo.net . Used stainless reels can be bent; and be poor to load. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al_kaplan1 Posted November 28, 2004 Share Posted November 28, 2004 Forty years ago there was Nikor, called Honeywell Nikor for a few years, and Kinderman. The first Japanese reels were marketed through photo dealers under the Acura name and also by the mail order company Spiratone under their own name. Hewes is a relatively recent entry to the market. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly_flanigan1 Posted November 29, 2004 Share Posted November 29, 2004 Al; thanks for the added info!<BR><BR>If anybody knowns when the "Hewes brand" was born; please speak up!<BR><BR>One of my decades old Nikor reels was before they bonded with Honeywell. The red box was the "Nikor Products; West Springfield, Massachusetts" The instruction sheet says they were then Distrubuted by Burleigh Brooks Inc; in Englewood New Jersey; ( Pre Zip Code Address). The "About Nikor" history on the instructions mentions that a New Englander who acquired a Leica; founded the Nikor Company in 1929. The Nikor then was the first all stainless circular tank for developing the long Leica 35mm film. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al_kaplan1 Posted November 29, 2004 Share Posted November 29, 2004 We have all discussed the reels but not the tanks! The various brands all had caps with a straight baffle across the fill/pour opening. Nikor had the first "rapid fill" top with the circular baffle starting (if my memory is working) in the late 60's. The early Kinderman tanks came with a wide rubber band to keep them from leaking around the lid (not the little cap) joint. Nikor warned you to not mix up tanks and lids because they were fitted to match, and the didn't leak at all! The chance of buying a used one now with the original matching lid is probably very slim since I suspect few people actually were able to keep the the sets together without mix up. Again, sometime aproaching 1970 Kinderman came out with the plastic top tanks which were leakproof. Of course they need periodic replacement. The original 220 Nikor reels fit oversized tanks which also accepted Nikor wide spaced 35mm reels. At one point Nikor made a wide spaced "20 exposure" 35mm reel that had a center clip, lacking in their standard 36 exp. reels, and fit the standard tanks. The Japanese introduced the narrow spaced 220 reels that fit standard tanks through Spiratone and under the Acura brand. In the early 60's single a reel Nikor tank listed for $4.95, same as the reels, while the double tank was $6.95, and $8.95 bought you a four reeler. Kinderman was about the same. By the time Japanese reels hit the market at $2.98 Nikor and Kinderman had increased to $5.95, and I remember paying $12.95 for my second 4 reel Nikor tank. Cigarettes were 28 cents a pack and some restaurants were trying to get a quarter for a cup of coffee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lee_shively Posted November 29, 2004 Share Posted November 29, 2004 I loved using Nikor tanks as long as the tops didn't get mixed up. That happened constantly at the newspaper where I worked and processing was a messy affair. Kinderman's plastic tops were a godsend. I have several stainless tanks of various brands but I use the generic plastic tops on them all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terry_m1 Posted November 29, 2004 Share Posted November 29, 2004 Does anybody know where I can purchase unused 127 stainless steel reels? I am going to shoot some 127 MACO film in my baby Rolleiflex camera. I know that the Patterson reels can be adjusted to the 127 size, but I stopped using them a long time ago because of persistent 35mm film loading mishaps. Thanks, all! Terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill_clark___minnetonka_mi Posted November 29, 2004 Share Posted November 29, 2004 Doesn't make any difference to me what stainless steel reel to use. Just an idea to help you. Take a cheap roll of unexposed 120 film and take it off the plastic reel. Remove the paper backing and tape which is where it starts in your camera. In daylight load it on to your reel. Practice it over and over. Then load the same film in the dark and look at it to see if it's OK. Practice, practice this until you are comfortable with your reel and the proceduce for correctly getting the film on to it. Now try a test roll of exposed film. Load it in the dark and then develop it. How did it come out? Hope this helps you! Happy Holidays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al_kaplan1 Posted November 29, 2004 Share Posted November 29, 2004 Terry, consider yourself lucky if you can get some USED 127 reels. It's been years since they were last made. On the plus ide they're made of heave guage wire and unlikely to be bent or malformed. I sold my two on the auction site a few years ago when I sold the Sawyers Mark IV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben z Posted November 29, 2004 Share Posted November 29, 2004 The only stainless reels I can load at all are the Kindermanns, be it 35mm or 120. I have a bench-top loading jig for them which is more comfortable than the plastic handheld ones. I have not seen another benchtop one in the last 10 years though. For me loading these reels is a 10-second operation: stick the film through the template into the center of the reel and turn the little prong on the reel like a crank. I've tried conventional SS reels, with and without a metal curving thing, and I can't load any of them even in the light, let alone inside a changing bag. I would use the plastic type if not for Kindermanns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kc_dougherty Posted November 29, 2004 Share Posted November 29, 2004 A couple of my stainless steel reels are Nikors and I don't know what the others are. When I first started out doing my own B&W I used plastic reels for about five years then switched to stainless steel because I though they would be easier to keep clean. I like stainless steel because I can tell right away if the film is crimping and fix it. For me, they work better than plastic. I have two tanks that hold a quart of solution, one that holds a pint and one that holds 8 ounces. One plastic top works on three tanks and one of the quart tanks has a fitted steel top. I also have used them on a roller base with great results (the tank gets put in a short length of PVC since the tanks themselves don't have a big enough diameter). I don't know if you will find a 127 reel. Your best bet is to find a Jobo adjustable reel that will acommodate 127. I have one but don't remember the model number. I can look when I get home and post it tomorrow. You will need a tank that will fit the reel since I found that it didn't fit in my stainless steel tanks. I found it at a camera show and it works well in a Jobo tank I use for processing 4x5. I tried adjusting one of my Paterson reels for the 127 but it just didn't work. KC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john_shriver Posted November 30, 2004 Share Posted November 30, 2004 I got a 127 reel at a camera show. I got a 116 (70mm x 5 feet) reel via classified ad on photo.net, and a 122 reel via a contact here on photo.net. They are all the heavy gauge, although I will admit that the 122 reel is a bit "interesting" to load, being so very wide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kc_dougherty Posted December 5, 2004 Share Posted December 5, 2004 I finally dug out my Jobo reel to see what number it was. It's a Duo Set 2004 self-loading reel for Jobo Tanks System 2000 and it fits in my Multitank2 #2521. It will take 126, 127 and 120. KC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lex_jenkins Posted December 6, 2004 Share Posted December 6, 2004 Just to kick in my dos pesos... I paid around $20 or so for a single 120 Hewes reel for use in my single reel tank. Then at a camera show I found a boxed set of an old Nikor double reel tank with two 120 reels and a reel lifter for five bucks. The box was a little stained but the reels, lifter, tank and lid were perfectly serviceable. I also found some older tanks and reels that weren't readily identifiable by manufacturer but were made pretty much like the Nikors. Heavy wire on the reels, sturdily made. Very cheap, a la carte. If you can't wait around for a bargain I'd still consider the regular retail price for the Hewes reels to be reasonable. But be on the alert for bargains in older equipment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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