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  #1  
Old 29th October 2017, 01:08 AM
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Roy in Silver Roy in Silver is offline
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Smile Recommendations for reloadable 35mm cassettes

Hello, all,

For the past several months I have been loading Ilford FP4+ film from a bulk roll into some Kodak-branded metal cassettes that I had bought on the Internet. However, I don't have great confidence in the cassettes: they have snap-on end-caps and the cassette bodies seem to deform quite easily when I am struggling to load them in the dark. I suspect that I shall be enduring some light leaks, if not now, then in the near future.

Can anyone recommend any good quality reloadable cassettes? Most of the ones I see on the Internet seem to be plastic: they may be satisfactory but I just don't know. I have the intuitive feeling that screw-on end caps will be more reliable than the snap-on end caps I am using with my current cassettes.

Thanks for any advice! I am based in the USA so I shall probably have to search for any recommended cassettes over on this side.
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Roy
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Old 29th October 2017, 09:28 AM
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Check out Shirley-Wellard labyrinthine cassettes. British made and slightly complicated; but they do come up on eBay. Message me if you can't find instructions for them online.

They are a bit like Leica cassettes, which I also use but which work properly in Leicas only.
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Old 29th October 2017, 10:25 AM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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I haven't looked recently but the Shirley-Wellards were as scarce as hens' teeth last time I looked. They are a superb piece of kit but I suspect you will pay handsomely for the scarcity and engineering involved. However if you can manage with one cassette for at least a period( you will be extremely lucky to find two for sale at once) then it will last forever

I have the plastic screw-on type and they work very well. I cannot see how, once screwed on, they will ever unscrew or present light leaks. However like my comment on factory cassettes the velvet light trap will eventually wear. Not such issue of course with Shirley-Wellard cassettes

My slight issue is that on the auto-rewind which is all my camera has they are inclined to stick. Sometime pressing the rewind button again has worked but on occasions I have had to open the back to free the film.

This may be due to my batteries not having the power required due to the plastic inner spools not running as freely as metal spools although there is never a problem pulling the film on, only back.

If you have a manual rewind camera then no problem.

The better solution in my case is to obtain free of charge manufacturers' cassettes from the local mini-lab from which film has been processed. Such cassettes always run freely and have about half inch of film to which you can attach you bulk roll with thin clear tape such as sellotape.

Eventually the velvet lightproof lips will shed their velvet but I have used a cassette at least twice before discarding it. There is an endless supply from the lab.

Mike
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Old 29th October 2017, 12:21 PM
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Not so rare. eBay shows at least 8 completed listings in the last couple of months. They can also cost under £20, which seems to me not unreasonable for a cassette you won't have to discard after a bit.
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Old 29th October 2017, 05:02 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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I bow to your greater knowledge of e-bay in recent times, Michael. 8 listings in a couple of months is pretty good as is under £20 for a lifetime of use.

Incidentally, Roy, in addition to Michael's offer of help with instructions, the Roger and Frances photography website has an article on the Shirley-Wellard cassettes as well

Mike
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Old 29th October 2017, 05:36 PM
John King John King is online now
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There is a company based not far from Nottingham in England called Morco. I recently bought a dozen new metal reloadable cassettes from them to load bulk film into. I cannot recall how much they were (about a £1 each) but they can be supplied already DX coded for film speed.

I have no complaints about their quality. The website is http://www.morco.uk.com/. The cassettes are not listed but they have them
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Old 29th October 2017, 09:28 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by John King View Post
There is a company based not far from Nottingham in England called Morco. I recently bought a dozen new metal reloadable cassettes from them to load bulk film into. I cannot recall how much they were (about a £1 each) but they can be supplied already DX coded for film speed.

I have no complaints about their quality. The website is http://www.morco.uk.com/. The cassettes are not listed but they have them
I take John that as they are not listed you have to phone them and ask for them? I like the idea of the option of having them already coded. Handy for bulk rolls if you have a camera that cannot input the ISO independently

Good info for most of us but just a pity that Roy is about 7 thousand miles away. A quick and cheap call from the state of Washington on the west coast of the U.S. to Mansfield in the U.K. is probably not really an option.

Mike
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Old 29th October 2017, 10:47 PM
John King John King is online now
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike O'Pray View Post
I take John that as they are not listed you have to phone them and ask for them? I like the idea of the option of having them already coded. Handy for bulk rolls if you have a camera that cannot input the ISO independently

Mike
I had just bought 30 metres of Delta 100 and it was an off the cuff question if they kept re-usable cassettes in stock and the answer was they did. I don't know if they are a regular item but I have enough to be going on with.

Another supplier is Firstcall down near Taunton but they are only have the plastic version so I am told. Plastic = dust, so not for me.
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Old 30th October 2017, 12:23 AM
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Roy in Silver Roy in Silver is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike O'Pray View Post
I haven't looked recently but the Shirley-Wellards were as scarce as hens' teeth last time I looked. They are a superb piece of kit but I suspect you will pay handsomely for the scarcity and engineering involved. However if you can manage with one cassette for at least a period( you will be extremely lucky to find two for sale at once) then it will last forever

I have the plastic screw-on type and they work very well. I cannot see how, once screwed on, they will ever unscrew or present light leaks. However like my comment on factory cassettes the velvet light trap will eventually wear. Not such issue of course with Shirley-Wellard cassettes

My slight issue is that on the auto-rewind which is all my camera has they are inclined to stick. Sometime pressing the rewind button again has worked but on occasions I have had to open the back to free the film.

This may be due to my batteries not having the power required due to the plastic inner spools not running as freely as metal spools although there is never a problem pulling the film on, only back.

If you have a manual rewind camera then no problem.

The better solution in my case is to obtain free of charge manufacturers' cassettes from the local mini-lab from which film has been processed. Such cassettes always run freely and have about half inch of film to which you can attach you bulk roll with thin clear tape such as sellotape.

Eventually the velvet lightproof lips will shed their velvet but I have used a cassette at least twice before discarding it. There is an endless supply from the lab.

Mike
Many thanks, Mike!

I think I shall try to get my cassettes returned from the lab where I send my films to be processed. I have just remembered that the last time I sent cassettes to them, they were a mix of "virgin" cassettes from Fujifilm and the reloadable ones that I described. In the instructions that I wrote fro the lab I requested that they return all my cassettes but they only returned the reloadable ones. Either they misunderstood my request or they cannot return the others, for some technical reason. I shall try to make myself clearer next time.
I shall not buy the plastic ones because a few of my cameras are indeed auto-rewind and are likely to suffer in the manner that you described.

Thanks again for the information!
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Roy
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Old 30th October 2017, 12:25 AM
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Roy in Silver Roy in Silver is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by John King View Post
There is a company based not far from Nottingham in England called Morco. I recently bought a dozen new metal reloadable cassettes from them to load bulk film into. I cannot recall how much they were (about a £1 each) but they can be supplied already DX coded for film speed.

I have no complaints about their quality. The website is http://www.morco.uk.com/. The cassettes are not listed but they have them
Thanks very much or the information, John. I shall check out the website you refer to.
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Roy
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