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Old 6th May 2015, 02:38 PM
DaveP DaveP is offline
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Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Sheffield
Posts: 990
Default Wisdom of rolling your own by hand

Afternoon all.

I'm finding 36-exp rolls of 35mm a bit long for my tastes when I'm using 400 speed film. I find myself sticking a roll in the Xpan due to low light, shooting half a dozen shots (there's 20 on a roll with the Xpan), then it goes dark and the next day I'm wanting to go back to 100 speed but instead have a camera full of 400 to shoot through or waste.

So, I was looking into buying some 400-speed as a 100ft bulk roll and rolling my own half-length cassettes. I was wondering what anyone's experience of rolling their own by hand is, instead of using a bulk loader?

I don't own a loader and would have to buy one, and some of them look quite expensive these days new. I do have a huge changing tent so space isn't a problem, and dust should be OK. I was thinking of sticking a couple of nails in an old wooden ruler about 85cm apart, hooking the sprockets on the nails to measure, cut, then manhandle into cassettes.

Is this a bonkers idea? Would life just be a lot easier with a loader? I wouldn't be doing dozens of rolls day in day out, maybe just do a half dozen which would last anything from a week or so to a few months. I'd be keen to hear other people's widom/horrorstories on this subject.

Cheers
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