I'm going to be trying to develop my first roll of 120 film (Tri-X, if it makes any difference) in a day or so. Can someone explain to me how to remove the paper backing?

Is the paper bonded to the film for its entire length or just at the ends?

Does the film run the entire length of the roll, or are the front and back leaders just paper?

Aside from dealing with the paper, is there anything else different from loading 35mm film onto a stainless reel?

-- Peter Schauss (schauss@worldnet.att.net), March 27, 2002

Answers

120 film is a bitch to work with in the dark. It would be definitely worth your time and effort to buy another roll of film and work with in the light until you get the proceedure down pat. Otherwise, you stand a very good chance of damaging the roll you have already exposed.

-- Willhelmn (wmitch3400@hotmail.com), March 28, 2002.

I would second the recommendation to try a practice roll. 120 film is connected at only one end with tape. The tape will be on the inside of the roll near the spool after it is exposed. Be careful when peeling the tape off, if you do it too fast it can cause static electricity (some say it is a chemical reaction of the tape) that can fog the film. You can use scissors to cut the film off the paper if you want. The paper runs the entire length of the roll on 120 and only on the front and rear portions on a 220 roll. When unwinding the roll, just pull on the paper and let the film coil up into a tight roll, then pull or cut the tape off.

Like 35mm on a stainless reel, it is very important to make sure the film is centered in the reel after you attach one end on the center film clip. You can check this by feeling the edges relative to the reel edge after you attach it to the clip. When winding on the reel, slowing spin the reel with one hand while it is on a flat surface, and put a slight cup on the film with your other hand a few inches away from the reel. But I assume you know this since you already do 35mm.

-- Michael Feldman (mfeldman@qwest.net), March 28, 2002.

I don't see the problem. The film is only attached to the backing paper at one end, by a small piece of adhesive tape.

Here's how to proceed:
Before you start; make sure your hands are clean and as dry as possible. ie, not sweaty or greasy, if you'll pardon my saying it.
Take the film into your darkroom or changing bag together with your developing tank and reel.
Slit the adhesive band with your fingernail, then unwind the backing paper until you get to the film itself (About 18" or 40cm of backing paper). The film will most likely spring away from the backing paper as soon as you reach it.
Proceed carefully from this point, by taking the film by its edges and rolling it up in a fairly loose roll.
Concentrate on what's happening to the film, and forget the backing paper, just let that spill on the floor or curl up in the changing-bag.
When you reach the end of the film, you'll find it stuck to the paper by a short piece of tape running the width of the film.
Fold the backing paper across the tape where it joins the film, and crease it away from the film, so that you have a double thickness of paper and half the tape on one side of the crease, and the film and the rest of the tape on the other. Now just gently tear the tape in two down the crease.
You should be left with the film in one hand, and the paper in the other.
Drop the paper, and again just concentrate on handling the film roll gently by the edges.
Load your reel and tank with the film.
Cap the tank.
Open the bag, or turn on the light.
Clear up the mess of backing paper and spool.
Job done.
Sit down and have a celebratory cup of tea.

-- Pete Andrews (p.l.andrews@bham.ac.uk), March 28, 2002.

I haven't processed a roll of 120 in a while, but my technique is to unroll the paper till I find the loose end of the film, insert it into the reel, roll the film onto the reel, letting the paper take care of itself, till the end of the film with the paper taped to it comes along and then pull off the tape and the paper and drop them into the wastebasket. All this is done in the dark, of course, and should be rehearsed with an old roll of film, with the lights on and then off. Completely separating paper and film before loading the reel just takes more time, although it works fine.

-- Keith Nichols (knichols1@mindspring.com), March 28, 2002.

As Pete and Keith say, it's really not that hard at all... one piece of tape, tear it off (the tape will be at the inner most part of the roll) and load it to the reel. If you are using plastic reels, snip each corner a little bit so it loads on the reel easier. If you are using SS reels, just make sure you have a little play (pushing the film back and forth) as you roll it on the reel. If you stop having a little play you have a kink and if you don't take care of it by backing out, you will get over lap and ruin some negs! Just back it out until you have play again. There again, as others state, practice with a waste roll and practice until you can do it with your eyes closed. This will help with keeping the chances of the "ever popular" half moons in your film to a minimum. If you have trouble getting it on the reel in your hands, once you clip the film to the center clip of the reel, put the reel down on a clean tabletop and just roll the reel while holding the film. It usually does a good job of getting the film on the reel "almost" by itself. Goodluck and just take your time.

-- Scott Walton (walton@ll.mit.edu), March 28, 2002.

A couple of other thoughts on loading 120. I now leave the last exposure as waste (blank) to allow for some fumbling in the dark and keeping the half moons (crimp marks)on the area of the wasted frame. I start the film in the reel and load directly as the film comes off the spool. This eliminates touching any of the negative area.

With 35mm, I leave the leader out and start loading the reel in the light, then kill the light to finish up. As you probably know, getting the film attached to the reel correctly is the key to smooth loading.

-- Gene Crumpler (hassieguy@att.net), March 28, 2002.

What Gene said reminded me of my own quirks with 120 film. For some reason I can rarely get the first frame (exposure number 1) to be crimp free, and this causes the half moon effect. So I decided years ago to always expose the first film frame blank. I am only getting 11 exposures this way, but at least I don't ruin the first frame with crimps. Over the years the number of blank frames have added up, and I sometimes regret the fact that I have never discovered my film rolling error. Maybe being lefty has something to do with it. I wonder if anyone else has had this problem.

-- James Webb (jwebb66@yahoo.com), March 28, 2002.

One more view, based on 40+ years experience. Once in the dark, after the tank is open, and the reel it out and oriented in the proper direction, turn the light out. Break the seal on the roll, and begin to unwind it. When you come to the film, separate them letting the film roll into its own roll [handle it only by the edges]. When you get to the end of the film, gently [holding the film] peel it away from the paper, LEAVING the tape on the film. Drop the paper on the floor to be disposed of later.

Holding the roll of film by the edges, fold the tape across the end of the film. Yes, leave it on the film. Then use THAT end to insert into the center of the reel under the catch [assuming use of SS reels here]. The tape only takes a little bit of film and won't intrude into your first image if you loaded the film right into the camera in the first place. 120 film IS thinner than 35mm film and therefore is more subject to easy kinking, which leaves little "half moon" spots on your developed film, so try to feed the film straight as possible into the reel, holding the reel with one hand and the film by the edges with the other.

The most important part of the reel loading process is the "first turn", that is the beginning of the winding process once the film has been attached to the catch inside the center of the reel. Make that first turn firmly, checking to see that the film is indeed centered on the reel. Once that is done, you can easily wind the film until the reel is full. By getting that winding process started correctly, you won't get those spots where the film in one winding gets out and touches the film in another winding, thereby ruining any exposure where the film touches and prevents processing.

Do buy a cheap roll and practice all this in the light first. Good luck.

-- Alec (alecj@bellsouth.net), March 29, 2002.

Thanks for all the responses. It turned out that the hardest part was tearing the tape which keeps the exposed roll from unrolling. I found that the paper cover is longer by about two or three frames at each end of the roll. I used a pair of scissors to cut the front end of the film away from the tape which holds it to the paper cover. After that, threading it onto the reel was the same as for 35mm.

After I run off a few prints tonight, I will find out how much of a bargain that $45 Yashica A really was. (Of course, by the time I am done buying a 90mm lens, second lens board, and 6x6 negative carrier I will be out considerably more than the cost of the camera. :-) ).

-- Peter Schauss (schauss@worldnet.att.net), March 30, 2002.