Developing your own BW 120 film : Plastic reels or Stainless Steel reels

[glt]

It's me again with one of my posts. This time i'd like to for those of you who develop your own film, whether you use plastic or steel reels. I'm told that the plastic reels don't space the feel enough and hence the film tends to buckle during the developing. This buckle then causes the film to stick together thus screwing up your film.

I hear that the steel reels help reduce this problem. Comments from the more experienced?

 

[kex]

i use plastic reels with good results leh..
but most of the time,i use tray developing in the dark to stinge on chemical haha..also becoz i hate to load 120 in the reel,damn hard to feed it in properly,usually the time i took to load one roll is more than the time needed to develop it..

 

[glt]

i use plastic reels with good results leh..
but most of the time,i use tray developing in the dark to stinge on chemical haha..also becoz i hate to load 120 in the reel,damn hard to feed it in properly,usually the time i took to load one roll is more than the time needed to develop it..

Did you use regular plastic reels (the ones that can load 35 and MF film) or were they specially for MF.

Reason i ask, i find that the regular plastic reels that can convert for MF film has very little spacing between the film as it coils in the reel. As a result some of the film - usally the lead part, would touch the film "above" it in the coil - hence spoiling 1 to 3 shots.

The prob with steel rolls are that it's a pain to load the reel (and if you not carefull, you might even damage your film. But the spacing is good.

I guess the problem would be solve if that there is a plastic reel made for MF that has wider spacing in the reel. This would address the loading and spacing problem.

Anyway, back to my question, do you use a regular reel or a "special" one for MF?

 

[kex]

i use a regular one lor..

 

[glt]

ok. thanks good to know.

 

[ratboy]

for plastic reels, the JOBO ones goto lesser space inbetween film than
the others like Paterson etc etc, thats why you can actually squeeze 2 rolls of 120 onto one JOBO reel

No experience with metal ones
Overall cannot complain about my Jobo ones.

 

[louislai]

Hi GLT,

I use stainless steel reel for both 35 & 120. Advantages are:
1) Use less chemical.
2) The reeling method used by plastic reel can easily bend/crease the 120 negs, which is much softer & fragile compared to 35.
3) Stainless reel & container dry very quickly. Just wipe with tissue paper and you're to process your next roll.

For steel reel, it is actually harder to reel in 35 than with 120. Be careful with the side of the film that is clipped to the reel at the beginning. It can easily bend/crease if you're not careful.

It takes alot of practice. But you won't regret it.

 

[glt]

Thanks Louis. Just bought a couple of double reel steel tanks. Hope to try them out soon.

 

[canturn]

Hi GLT,

I use stainless steel reel for both 35 & 120. Advantages are:
1) Use less chemical.
2) The reeling method used by plastic reel can easily bend/crease the 120 negs, which is much softer & fragile compared to 35.
3) Stainless reel & container dry very quickly. Just wipe with tissue paper and you're to process your next roll.

.

4) You can use drop the stainless steel reel into a heat/ hot air film dryer and get the entire roll dryed in 15 min.

 

[glt]

Can you elaborate? Will it affect the film (curling, water marks,etc)?

 

[kristop]

yup.... i agree stainless steel is the way to go. it takes some practice getting it on the clip in the centre of the reel but much easier to load, and less chemicals. it's also easier to control your temperature in water baths if you are trying to save time with hotter chemistry. but the one thing no one has mentioned yet.....

DON'T DROP YOUR REELS!!!!!!

if you do you might as well throw it out. the slightest bend will make them very difficult to load, this applies even more so to 35mm reels.

 

[student]

I regularly develop B & W 120 and 220 films.

Use only the regular plastic ones that double for 35 mm and 120/220. Never use any stainless steel reels. NEVER any problem with loading the films in the plastic reels, either 120 or 220, UNLESS the reels are NOT STONE-DRY.

I think that is the "SECRET".

Sometimes after a shoot, I can process from 50-90 rolls in a week or two, doing 6-8 120/220 rolls at a go. I had found that problems with loading ONLY comes when the reels are not dry.

But I must admit I am not sure if the steel reels use less developers. Never found that out.

 

[hoppinghippo]

student: may I know if you have any dev times to share for 120 film using either rodinal or hc-110?

 

[student]

student: may I know if you have any dev times to share for 120 film using either rodinal or hc-110?

Sorry, can't help you there. Don't use HC-110. Rodinal only occassionally.

 

[pipefish]

I develop tri-x in rodinal diluted to 1/50 at 20C for 15 min with agitation every 30 sec. I usually shorten the times as my 20C water will become 23-4C water after a while. You can develop it at a stronger concentration as well if you like the grain.

apart from the long dev times, quite happy with it.

btw, i'm a 135 user, but this should apply to 120/220 as well I think.

 

[kex]

i use rodinal @ 1:25 20deg 6mins for Tmax400.
Very very happy with the results i get from rodinal.