One big advantage with bulk rolling is that you can roll a custom amount of shots for smaller projects and shoots without having to use an entire 36/24exp roll.
Yes! If I load a roll of 36 frames, it's likely to stay in the camera for weeks. I roll cassettes of 12-16 shots, which I can generally finish in one outing and process before I forget what I took pictures of. Pro tip: If you have a dark bag (or a darkroom) and an empty bulk loader, you can feed a full roll of 36 frames into it and easily create two to three short rolls. Great for turning 36-frame color rolls into shorter rolls. Check out my article here: www.35mmc.com/11/11/2020/how-i-make-three-rolls-of-film-from-one-by-eric-norris/
@@campyonlyguy Also, running a normal roll of 36 through a bulkloader is a good and CHEAP way of testing if doesn't leak, scratch the film etc. before committing an expensive 30m roll to it.
I have been bulk loading my own film for about 4 years now and wish I started a lot sooner. When I bulk load, I personally like making 24-25 exposure rolls. I usually get around 30 rolls from a 100' bulk roll.
I am the same I like 25 to 30, takes me a while to go through 36 frames unless I am travelling and I recently got into half frame so definitely no 36 in those cameras lol. I recently ordered bulk rolls of 250D and Double X from the FPP 😁.
I hope Kodak will some day relaunch some of their professional C-41 films in bulk format. I would buy a big roll of Portra tomorrow, if it were available.
Especially whilst they’re having trouble canning 35mm rolls fast enough for retailers to keep stock and are losing sales to re-canned Kodak motion picture film.
@@mynewcolour Movie stock is good only for scanning - not darkroom RA-4 printing. As such, it is of no use for me. Motion picture films are intended to be color corrected either digitally, or by additive exposure with separate R, G and B ECN-2 negatives are very flat for this reason. For more density, you can develop Vision3 in C-41, but color crossover in green/magenta axis is quite bad, and not always possible to correct by analog subtractive color filtering. Additive printing might work (never tried), but doing it manually is quite hard. Then, there is remjet in movie stocks. It can be removed, but you still get particles from it in your developer. Most of the kids inly scan their films now, even B&W. and I´ve been told many times that "nobody" prints C-type anymore. This means I´m mr. Nobody... Kodak has been crying for years about the bottleneck in finishing. Some 10 years ago, Portra was sold in 100 ft. bulk rolls. So was its predecessor, Vericolor III in the 1990´s. I don´t get the idea of not selling any bulk color negatives.
@@b6983832 I’m afraid Kodak may not be well-run. They seem to be profitable due to circumstances not of their own making. I too love colour printing in the darkroom (although I’ve not done it for 20 years). Sadly no darkroom printing is practical for me now.
For UK viewers: I'm working my way through a bulk roll of Barfen CX100 - remember that brand? Couple of tips: 1. if you have room, store the loaded bulk loader between "sessions" in a poly bag in the freezer to keep the film fresh and 2. if the loss of the inch or two of film when cutting the cassette free bothers you, you can learn the locking sequence for the loader and do that stage in a changing bag along with starting the next cassette. Fiddly but doable.
I have 2 LPL dayrollers. One for HP5 and one for FP4. You definitely save money bulk loading. I use them as my base film stock, ie once you've found your goto film use that in the bulk roller. Also you can tailor your number of exposures on each roll to suit your shooting style, i find 28 exp suits my usage as opposed to 36 or 24. Reusing cannisters is fine too. Would recomend bulk rolling to anyone who is shooting film regularly.
I bulked loaded in the 70s and recently decided to do it again ... I have a roll of Kentmere that I will use for a summer project!!! Nice video that explains it well!!!
I recently bought a 400ft roll of kodak double x. It’s a cine black and white stock. Exactly the same stock as cinestill just put out in 120mm. It’s super cheap and i love the stock. I completely agree with all that you said!
Double-X is a great stock and getting the 400ft rolls allows for tons of shooting for sure! It's really popular even outside of the cinestill brand and people like the Film Photography Project sell rolls of it in 35 as well. Cinestill of course is the only one that has it in 120 though
@@milesian1 Ahh you’re right! It 120.. I love XX! I’m about half way through the 400ft. At this price I can shoot whatever I want. Right now I’m thinking about buying a 400ft Vision 3 250d roll. I just like the fact of having a good deal and a lot of film.
You can give Kodak a call, they sell motion film to individuals and it’s cheaper than B&H. I just buy the 5294 (literally e100 which is $20 per roll) $520 and $50 loader + $50 empty canisters = around $10 per roll
Shop around for HP5 and Tri-X. There are $6/roll prices out there for multi packs. I’ve bulk loaded and enjoyed it for special projects but I’ve found if cost is the sole reason then it’s probably not for you. Great video, loved it!
HP5+ is priced very high for the bulk rolls. Jump (down) to Formapan and you're at $3.90 per 36 exposures vs $6.29. Saving $2.40 a roll pays for your developing chemicals and then some.
Hi. I use my bulk loaders with Foma and Arista films. The 100ft rolls are really affordable here and a 36 exposure film costs less than 3 bucks that way.
I bulk roll 35mm black and white . After the initial purchase of the loader and the 35mm film cassettes in the UK it reduces the cost to about half the cost of pre rolled film in cassettes. I load the loader in a dark closet which takes about ten minutes, and then spend an hour or two sat on the sofa loading a bunch of cassettes in daylight.
Thanks for the video, this is great! I want to start bulk rolling because of two reasons: 1. I want to be able to do simple exposure tests at home with different lighting and different speeds, mainly pushing 400 ISO films to 800 and 1600 (this will be even better when I start developing on my own). This way I can load just 4 or 6 pictures in a roll and not have to worry about wasting or shooting other stuff on a full roll. 2. I want to experiment with DIY technicolor "three strip process" - taking three B&W shots with RGB filters and recombining them digitally with CYM "dyes" to create technicolor style color images with weird parallax effects and such.
I bulk roll black and white film because I like to keep a few short rolls of film on hand to experiment with. Particularly in the exposure/development process. I'll typically roll off a few twelve exposure rolls and bracket them off on one subject. Then I can stand develop or push/pull and I don't risk an entire 36 exposure roll.
@@dangoldbach6570 LOL. Back when I was young and single and didn’t have any responsibilities but to myself. When I retire soon, I’d love to get back into it.
@@dangoldbach6570 I'm 40 and single and use bulk cassettes to re-load my New England Patriots disposable camera to do short rolls from 36 exposure rolls at 3:00 AM. And I develop the black and white in the Ascorbic Acid Eco-Pro developer and the color in the CineStill CS41 powder kit.
I worked in a motion picture lab so I have hundreds of feet of blank leader film and even some 35mm color slide. I cut my own leader and the end of the roll with leader. I get 20ish rolls of 36
I was about to buy 10 rolls of 36exp black and white ilford for about the same price as this 100 ft roll. This couldn’t have come at a better time! I was think about developing myself - now even rolling myself will REALLY make me feel involved with the whole process!
I started bulk rolling a few months ago. I am using one of the those strange shaped over designed bulk rollers. The hardware is not user friendly, however, overtime through experience it feels natural. I have a few suggestions based upon my background. I look for discounted film rolls. Right now I am using a 30 year old low ISO film from the former Soviet Union. I created a few test rolls to see how to set the camera times, f stop, etc. Once I did figure it out, it saved me quite a bit of money and worked well. Based upon a bad experience, I will only load one roll at a time. I had a second roll in a light sealed box that popped open unexpectedly and spoiled the film. I would also NOT use it on older rangefinders (e.g., Leica III series and similar) since the camera is extremely sensitive and prone to error if there is not enough tension. I have jammed up a couple of rangefinders this way. Overall I prefer bulk rolling since it gives me complete control of the process.
I have bulk rolled film, but there is not a lot of savings, especially when using Kodak films. Right now the best value is probably the Foma and Arista films. I find some waste when bulk loading, I end up losing a an inch or two per roll.
Bulk loading is great! I bought 152 meters of 35mm polypan f 50 bw film and didn't get friends with the bulk loader so I do it Manually by hand and guesstimating the length of my rolls in total darkness! Its a process to get used to but it works great!
Bulk loading used to be even cheaper. When I first discovered it in 2015, you could get 100' of Delta 400 for 70 dollars, that works out to $3.8 a roll, a 40% discount. Today, divide up a 100' of Delta 400 and you're looking at LESS than 20% discount. On the other hand though. Kodak is beginning to offer Ektachrome in 400' rolls, and divide that up into 72 36 exposure rolls, you're looking at a hair over $9 a roll which is an extraordinary 55% discount over the latest adjusted 2022 price of 19.99. If you can stomach the $650 up front and store it properly, you'll have Ektachrome on the cheap for years On the bright side. The narrowing of discount in bulk loading could be a sign that film manufacturers like Kodak and Ilford are picking up in economies of scale, to the point where finishing canisters of 36 exposures is just not that much much more expensive than spooling and boxing 100' of unfinished stock. Or it could also just be that the increasing appetite for film means that it makes less business sense to sell 100' to a niche market of bulk loaders at the same steep discount they used to. Honestly I won't complain either way.
It's 2023. And color film is still around. My position on this is: shoot color film while it's still around. I am buying the Kodak made in USA Fujicolor 200 3-packs for about USD17 - yes, a little more than half the normal retail price. My local camera store sells them cost, "to feed their lab" by allowing people to shoot more film. I bought hundreds of rolls at that price, shooting it cheaper than most people buy BW film at. I will gladly transition to BW once color disappears (which I hope will never happen). But while color is still somewhat affordable, I will keep shooting it.
I pull out some film in the dark and wind it into used film canisters. Works fine and the last frame doesn't get fogged since it is all done in the dark. The disadvantage is of course that instead of risking a roll if something goes wrong you risk an entire bulk roll. Also I think kodak has started making bulk rolls of ektachrome for motion picture use.
Great video!Very realistic.One tip: don't really need a bulk loader to bulk load film.Just do it by hands in the darkroom or use dark bag straight from 100ft roll. All the best!
In the old times I loaded rolls of Kodak Portra, when it was available in VC and NC versions. The old good times, no only for that but because I was 20 years younger 😁😉.
Back in the days of film in the early 1970s I remember I used to load bulk rolls of Kodak Ektachrome. You could get it in daylight or tungsten. I also remember back in the early 70s a 100ft roll of Kodak Tri-x was under $10.
We need C-41 color, and bulk color would be an easy new film option for Kodak. Until kodak realizes this, many people including myself are bulk loading Kodaks vision3 film from 400ft spools and sell them for $5 a roll.
I was also lucky to get my hands a few years ago on a free giveaway of well stored 100' roll of Fuji Provia 100F color slide film in aluminum box which would cost a fortune now. Still using film from this box.
Cine color film can be found for cheap if you know what you are looking for. Fresh cine film usually is worth buying a whole 400ft roll. The only not overpriced tungsten film available is Vision 3 500T which is $4.5 a roll of 36 if you buy it bulk on B&H
fot those looking to bulk load color film get a roll of kodak vision 3 and you can process it as normal negative film after washing off the remjet with baking soda solution or just grab a ecn2 kit and do it all at home, your photos will look sick on motion picture film
You can get 20 rolls of 35 exposures out of 100' if you tape a 4 frame leader to the front end. 35 exposures because that's what fits in a 5 exp x 7 rows print file negative protector.
Nice video! I'm considering bulk loading because I restore/repair old cameras (as a hobby for my own, not commercially) and I'd like to get test rolls of 8 or 10 exposures. Breaks your heart and your wallet to test with a 36 exposure EKTAR roll only to find out there is major light leak or a malfunction.
Why are you testing with $15 Ektar? Throw some Formapan 100 or Kentmere at it to prove it out. You can test multiple cameras on a single 36 exp roll. Shoot 6 or 9 frames. Rewind, move it to a new camera and simply run through those exposed frames again with a fast shutter and the lens covered.
Agree with all points. I have a Lloyds bulk loader I much prefer to the Watson oblong style. I put white tape on the side after loading a bulk roll, and write 18 hash marks that I cross off as I load film. That way I know how many rolls I have left. I also prefer the plastic reloadable cassettes to the metal. Though some cameras, notably the Canonet QL17 Giii, will jam up with them.
I bulk load for 42 exp rolls, which is roughly maximum to fit in the canister. The camera counter counts only to 36, but I don't care, shooting until it resists. I wind the canisters by hand in black bag, without any machinery. I wind them till the film starts to resist and then pull film little back from canister. So I get not always the same length, but I don't care. I use Foma bulk film, which gives extremely low price per roll. With Foma bulk film there's really crazily significant price difference bulk loaded roll vs. factory made Foma roll. With Ilford you will not get so big difference Ilford bulk loaded roll vs Ilford factory roll. Btw. recently some fan group in czechia bought big roll Foma 60mm film for bulk loading (around 100 meters). Foma does not do that normally, but based on some arrangement is willing to do such nonstandard things.
Thanks Noah -- been putting off bulk-loading -- mainly trying to snag a used *FINE* bulk-loader to save a few bucks. But it looks like the typical per-roll savings (not counting the one-time (hopefully!) cost of the bulk-loader and a batch of cartridges) is about $2 US -- so at max 18 rolls per bulk load, that's at least saving $30 per bulk load. Not bad. Buy a large batch of the cartridges up front, and have a marathon bulk loading (but I do not recommend doing it in the shower!!!) a few different formulas of film and then you will have a fridge or freezer *FULL* with a few choices (instead of getting "bored" while working through 18 rolls of one specific emulsion....)....
What would anyone recommend as far as the first aspect of trying to save money with film photography; bulk loading, home developing, or home scanning? As in which would be the first one to start with?
I'm thinking about hunting down some bulk color rolls so can I can bulk load my own stuff. But that should be *after* I get what I need for development.
I'd love too, but those are pretty out of my price range and I'd want to get hands on with them before creating videos involving them! I've got some further Super 8 and 16mm stuff lined up for the next few months though!
I do bulk loading since 2016 and saved a fortune by doing so. It saves me for a roll of 36 frames about 40% of the price compared to a regular canister. Best are Lloyd bulk loaders since they don't waste much film between cuts. Watson loaders are worst here. Biggest con is that Kalt cassettes tend to pill that loose fibers can interfere in the frame.
How about canister loading in the dark ? You just have to know by the touch and snip the film and close. Then when loading again - just open in the dark and repeat the process. I didn’t use the one you mentioned but I have the AP/ Kaiser one.
Check out film photography project. They have some really good color films for bulk loading. Been playing with Svema color film from them and their prices are really good!
The cost savings quickly go away when you account for the price of the bulk loader. In my case those go for about 130€ so you would have to use 4 30,5m bulk rolls before you break even on the bulk loader.
interesting though I kinda moved to color because development is cheaper - though I suppose ONE DAY it would certainly be so much cheaper when self developing, scanning, printing etc.
One of the biggest benefits of bulk loading is getting to use the reloadable cassettes made for many cameras, like the FILCA or IXMOO for Leicas. FILCA specifically allows for proper frame spacing in screwmount Leicas that you don’t get from simply dropping in a commercially pre-loaded cart, and you also get a smoother feeling friction-free film transport since there’s no felt or anything contacting the film!
It's worth mentioning that you can always load in darkness without a loader. It just require some practice and kinda surgical planning of every movement.
A fair amount of colour negative film used to be available in bulk as well, I've seen a bunch of different ones on ebay but it's all obviously pretty expired and not that common to find by now.
How fast do I have to bulk load to get the static damage? Also, appreciate the great overview and how to. I think I'll start bulk loading now. EDIT: also, I've stopped developing color at home. Storing, testing, and disposing of chemicals was too much to deal with. Lost a roll because the c-41 chemicals were exhausted and I was too lazy to test it. BW home dev is still on the table though; long shelf life.
if you can get lucky there's still bulk rolls of Portra VC and NC though i cant really say much money you'd save in the long run with those. I think if theres any color film id want in 100ft rolls itd probably be ektachrome or portra
The frame counter mechanism of my Alden bulk loader has broken. If I gently wind to refusal, is that about 36 frames worth of film, or am I going to waste a lot of film?
I have a Rebel 2000 body that's in fine shape, but no lens for it at the moment! So many people obsess over the like 60/70/80s cameras and the designs and styles from that period, but I know that later SLR's of the later 80s and 90s are great choices for shooting as well that usually come up as a fraction of the price because they lack the more popular style and look to them.
@@AnalogResurgence -- LOL -- it was your comment about not knowing what Kodak does or does not do for the film community -- an obvious reference being the spotty availability (production?) of their color films, and why no 100' rolls of the color films -- they make it in much larger lengths for normal production, how hard can it be to cut/roll 100' lengths (they obviously do it for most of their B&W stocks)? But I thought that back behind the words there was some lingering frustration and sadness over the Kodak Super 8 camera.... Que sera, sera....
Do you have a link for that? I was sure Kodak didn’t offer their new Ektachrome in bulk rolls at all. I know they used to before it was all originally discontinued, but when Ektachrome was brought back in 2018 I’ve seen no fresh bulk rolls of it.
@@AnalogResurgence Looks like I misspoke, they're only selling it in 16mm and Super 8. www.kodak.com/content/products-brochures/Film/Kodak-Motion-Picture-Products-Price-Catalog-US.pdf
Kodak making 100 foot bulk rolls of color film is about as realistic as saying politicians never lie. Other than color cinefilm, seeing a roll of Ultramax or Gold 200 is going to be nothing more than a pipe dream. But, stranger things have happened and I could be proven completely wrong, tomorrow. If you subscribe to the MWI (Many Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics), then there are a near infinite number of worlds where this has already happened. Our problem is we're stuck in the universe where they (the film companies) decided to be grinches and ruined it for everybody.
Bulk rolling 120 isn't really an option for most film stocks. Because 120 requires the backing paper it can be difficult to do and people like Ilford don't offer bulk rolls in that format. There's also not bulk loaders that handle that kind of film and it's mostly only an option for 35. It can be done of course and this article details some options for it! emulsive.org/articles/how-to-bulk-load-120-or-220-film-using-65mm-kodak-250d-5207
Those "bulky" film loaders (Watson) are great if you use metal reloading canisters from Leica, etc... because they allow you to open and close the film gate in those canisters.... the smaller ones do not
@@AnalogResurgence Wasn't being disrespectful to Canada, by the way. In case it came across that way. I saw a lake in one of your roll reviews and it reminded me of some tropical locations for some reason. And then I thought it would be nice to see you take photos in those locations.
One big advantage with bulk rolling is that you can roll a custom amount of shots for smaller projects and shoots without having to use an entire 36/24exp roll.
Yes! If I load a roll of 36 frames, it's likely to stay in the camera for weeks. I roll cassettes of 12-16 shots, which I can generally finish in one outing and process before I forget what I took pictures of.
Pro tip: If you have a dark bag (or a darkroom) and an empty bulk loader, you can feed a full roll of 36 frames into it and easily create two to three short rolls. Great for turning 36-frame color rolls into shorter rolls. Check out my article here: www.35mmc.com/11/11/2020/how-i-make-three-rolls-of-film-from-one-by-eric-norris/
@@campyonlyguy Also, running a normal roll of 36 through a bulkloader is a good and CHEAP way of testing if doesn't leak, scratch the film etc. before committing an expensive 30m roll to it.
That is true, though you’ll lose exposures in the long run. It’s a trade off.
It’s an advantage only if you process your own film as d&p places have a minimum charge of 24 exposures.
@@sexysilversurfer you learn something new everyday
I have been bulk loading my own film for about 4 years now and wish I started a lot sooner. When I bulk load, I personally like making 24-25 exposure rolls. I usually get around 30 rolls from a 100' bulk roll.
I am the same I like 25 to 30, takes me a while to go through 36 frames unless I am travelling and I recently got into half frame so definitely no 36 in those cameras lol. I recently ordered bulk rolls of 250D and Double X from the FPP 😁.
@@erichartke4331 36 in half frame takes AGES to finish 😂
@@heogu3588 typically I would be the same way, when travelling or on vacation I've been blasting through 72 images in my Pentax 17!
I hope Kodak will some day relaunch some of their professional C-41 films in bulk format. I would buy a big roll of Portra tomorrow, if it were available.
Especially whilst they’re having trouble canning 35mm rolls fast enough for retailers to keep stock and are losing sales to re-canned Kodak motion picture film.
@@mynewcolour Movie stock is good only for scanning - not darkroom RA-4 printing. As such, it is of no use for me. Motion picture films are intended to be color corrected either digitally, or by additive exposure with separate R, G and B ECN-2 negatives are very flat for this reason. For more density, you can develop Vision3 in C-41, but color crossover in green/magenta axis is quite bad, and not always possible to correct by analog subtractive color filtering. Additive printing might work (never tried), but doing it manually is quite hard. Then, there is remjet in movie stocks. It can be removed, but you still get particles from it in your developer.
Most of the kids inly scan their films now, even B&W. and I´ve been told many times that "nobody" prints C-type anymore. This means I´m mr. Nobody...
Kodak has been crying for years about the bottleneck in finishing. Some 10 years ago, Portra was sold in 100 ft. bulk rolls. So was its predecessor, Vericolor III in the 1990´s. I don´t get the idea of not selling any bulk color negatives.
@@b6983832 I’m afraid Kodak may not be well-run. They seem to be profitable due to circumstances not of their own making.
I too love colour printing in the darkroom (although I’ve not done it for 20 years). Sadly no darkroom printing is practical for me now.
@@mynewcolour I think the problem is not Eastman Kodak, but Kodak Alaris.
For UK viewers: I'm working my way through a bulk roll of Barfen CX100 - remember that brand? Couple of tips: 1. if you have room, store the loaded bulk loader between "sessions" in a poly bag in the freezer to keep the film fresh and 2. if the loss of the inch or two of film when cutting the cassette free bothers you, you can learn the locking sequence for the loader and do that stage in a changing bag along with starting the next cassette. Fiddly but doable.
I have 2 LPL dayrollers. One for HP5 and one for FP4. You definitely save money bulk loading. I use them as my base film stock, ie once you've found your goto film use that in the bulk roller. Also you can tailor your number of exposures on each roll to suit your shooting style, i find 28 exp suits my usage as opposed to 36 or 24. Reusing cannisters is fine too. Would recomend bulk rolling to anyone who is shooting film regularly.
Hi what would the comparable saving be on hp5? Never done it before but would be interested
12:30 can we all appreciate the commitment to this bulk loading gag?
(p.s. noah, you have earned a subscriber)
Lol I had to do a double-take on that intro
Subscribe-worthy!
Ilford seems to be one of the best film companies, still cutting for unusual format cameras!
I bulked loaded in the 70s and recently decided to do it again ... I have a roll of Kentmere that I will use for a summer project!!! Nice video that explains it well!!!
I recently bought a 400ft roll of kodak double x. It’s a cine black and white stock. Exactly the same stock as cinestill just put out in 120mm. It’s super cheap and i love the stock. I completely agree with all that you said!
Double-X is a great stock and getting the 400ft rolls allows for tons of shooting for sure! It's really popular even outside of the cinestill brand and people like the Film Photography Project sell rolls of it in 35 as well. Cinestill of course is the only one that has it in 120 though
@@AnalogResurgence I really enjoy diving into one film stock. Getting to know everything about it!
@@daanvv7137 It’s just 120, not 120mm. How are you finding the XX? I’ve found that it pushes really well to 800 and 1600. Love that stuff.
@@milesian1 Ahh you’re right! It 120.. I love XX! I’m about half way through the 400ft. At this price I can shoot whatever I want. Right now I’m thinking about buying a 400ft Vision 3 250d roll. I just like the fact of having a good deal and a lot of film.
My heart dropped after you pushed that Olympus off the table in the intro 😨
You can give Kodak a call, they sell motion film to individuals and it’s cheaper than B&H. I just buy the 5294 (literally e100 which is $20 per roll) $520 and $50 loader + $50 empty canisters = around $10 per roll
Shop around for HP5 and Tri-X. There are $6/roll prices out there for multi packs. I’ve bulk loaded and enjoyed it for special projects but I’ve found if cost is the sole reason then it’s probably not for you. Great video, loved it!
HP5+ is priced very high for the bulk rolls. Jump (down) to Formapan and you're at $3.90 per 36 exposures vs $6.29. Saving $2.40 a roll pays for your developing chemicals and then some.
Hi. I use my bulk loaders with Foma and Arista films. The 100ft rolls are really affordable here and a 36 exposure film costs less than 3 bucks that way.
I bulk roll 35mm black and white . After the initial purchase of the loader and the 35mm film cassettes in the UK it reduces the cost to about half the cost of pre rolled film in cassettes. I load the loader in a dark closet which takes about ten minutes, and then spend an hour or two sat on the sofa loading a bunch of cassettes in daylight.
Thanks for the video, this is great! I want to start bulk rolling because of two reasons:
1. I want to be able to do simple exposure tests at home with different lighting and different speeds, mainly pushing 400 ISO films to 800 and 1600 (this will be even better when I start developing on my own). This way I can load just 4 or 6 pictures in a roll and not have to worry about wasting or shooting other stuff on a full roll.
2. I want to experiment with DIY technicolor "three strip process" - taking three B&W shots with RGB filters and recombining them digitally with CYM "dyes" to create technicolor style color images with weird parallax effects and such.
I bulk roll black and white film because I like to keep a few short rolls of film on hand to experiment with. Particularly in the exposure/development process. I'll typically roll off a few twelve exposure rolls and bracket them off on one subject. Then I can stand develop or push/pull and I don't risk an entire 36 exposure roll.
Used to bulk load Ilford back in the day then develop my own at 2am. Best times of my life. Of course I was young and single.
Dude I'm 41 and am loading bulk film at 1:30am... what's this young and single stuff all about! 😅
@@dangoldbach6570 LOL. Back when I was young and single and didn’t have any responsibilities but to myself. When I retire soon, I’d love to get back into it.
@@dangoldbach6570 I'm 40 and single and use bulk cassettes to re-load my New England Patriots disposable camera to do short rolls from 36 exposure rolls at 3:00 AM. And I develop the black and white in the Ascorbic Acid Eco-Pro developer and the color in the CineStill CS41 powder kit.
@@brentfisher902 I really like the cinestill cs41 too, just picked up their reversal developer kit to try some ektachrome!
I worked in a motion picture lab so I have hundreds of feet of blank leader film and even some 35mm color slide. I cut my own leader and the end of the roll with leader. I get 20ish rolls of 36
I was about to buy 10 rolls of 36exp black and white ilford for about the same price as this 100 ft roll. This couldn’t have come at a better time! I was think about developing myself - now even rolling myself will REALLY make me feel involved with the whole process!
Wish color c41 bulk film is available too, I have used black and white bulk roll and kodak vision 3 as color
I started bulk rolling a few months ago. I am using one of the those strange shaped over designed bulk rollers. The hardware is not user friendly, however, overtime through experience it feels natural.
I have a few suggestions based upon my background. I look for discounted film rolls. Right now I am using a 30 year old low ISO film from the former Soviet Union. I created a few test rolls to see how to set the camera times, f stop, etc. Once I did figure it out, it saved me quite a bit of money and worked well. Based upon a bad experience, I will only load one roll at a time. I had a second roll in a light sealed box that popped open unexpectedly and spoiled the film. I would also NOT use it on older rangefinders (e.g., Leica III series and similar) since the camera is extremely sensitive and prone to error if there is not enough tension. I have jammed up a couple of rangefinders this way. Overall I prefer bulk rolling since it gives me complete control of the process.
I have bulk rolled film, but there is not a lot of savings, especially when using Kodak films. Right now the best value is probably the Foma and Arista films. I find some waste when bulk loading, I end up losing a an inch or two per roll.
12:37 That's a great dvd and vhs collection!
Bulk loading is great!
I bought 152 meters of 35mm polypan f 50 bw film and didn't get friends with the bulk loader so I do it Manually by hand and guesstimating the length of my rolls in total darkness!
Its a process to get used to but it works great!
Bulk loading used to be even cheaper. When I first discovered it in 2015, you could get 100' of Delta 400 for 70 dollars, that works out to $3.8 a roll, a 40% discount. Today, divide up a 100' of Delta 400 and you're looking at LESS than 20% discount.
On the other hand though. Kodak is beginning to offer Ektachrome in 400' rolls, and divide that up into 72 36 exposure rolls, you're looking at a hair over $9 a roll which is an extraordinary 55% discount over the latest adjusted 2022 price of 19.99. If you can stomach the $650 up front and store it properly, you'll have Ektachrome on the cheap for years
On the bright side. The narrowing of discount in bulk loading could be a sign that film manufacturers like Kodak and Ilford are picking up in economies of scale, to the point where finishing canisters of 36 exposures is just not that much much more expensive than spooling and boxing 100' of unfinished stock. Or it could also just be that the increasing appetite for film means that it makes less business sense to sell 100' to a niche market of bulk loaders at the same steep discount they used to. Honestly I won't complain either way.
It's 2023. And color film is still around. My position on this is: shoot color film while it's still around. I am buying the Kodak made in USA Fujicolor 200 3-packs for about USD17 - yes, a little more than half the normal retail price. My local camera store sells them cost, "to feed their lab" by allowing people to shoot more film. I bought hundreds of rolls at that price, shooting it cheaper than most people buy BW film at.
I will gladly transition to BW once color disappears (which I hope will never happen). But while color is still somewhat affordable, I will keep shooting it.
Thats crazy i just bought decided to buy my first bulk load of hp5. Great video
I pull out some film in the dark and wind it into used film canisters. Works fine and the last frame doesn't get fogged since it is all done in the dark.
The disadvantage is of course that instead of risking a roll if something goes wrong you risk an entire bulk roll.
Also I think kodak has started making bulk rolls of ektachrome for motion picture use.
Great video!Very realistic.One tip: don't really need a bulk loader to bulk load film.Just do it by hands in the darkroom or use dark bag straight from 100ft roll.
All the best!
Bulk rolls for any film stock is lovely. Been wanting to get a bulk loader for a while now so the timing on this video couldn't have been better!
In the old times I loaded rolls of Kodak Portra, when it was available in VC and NC versions.
The old good times, no only for that but because I was 20 years younger 😁😉.
Back in the days of film in the early 1970s I remember I used to load bulk rolls of Kodak Ektachrome. You could get it in daylight or tungsten. I also remember back in the early 70s a 100ft roll of Kodak Tri-x was under $10.
We need C-41 color, and bulk color would be an easy new film option for Kodak. Until kodak realizes this, many people including myself are bulk loading Kodaks vision3 film from 400ft spools and sell them for $5 a roll.
I was also lucky to get my hands a few years ago on a free giveaway of well stored 100' roll of Fuji Provia 100F color slide film in aluminum box which would cost a fortune now. Still using film from this box.
Cine color film can be found for cheap if you know what you are looking for. Fresh cine film usually is worth buying a whole 400ft roll. The only not overpriced tungsten film available is Vision 3 500T which is $4.5 a roll of 36 if you buy it bulk on B&H
Damn, you just gave me the push to actually use the FILCA cassettes I have, will be grabbing a bulk loader soon
fot those looking to bulk load color film get a roll of kodak vision 3 and you can process it as normal negative film after washing off the remjet with baking soda solution or just grab a ecn2 kit and do it all at home, your photos will look sick on motion picture film
You can get 20 rolls of 35 exposures out of 100' if you tape a 4 frame leader to the front end. 35 exposures because that's what fits in a 5 exp x 7 rows print file negative protector.
Thanks for the video. Love the intro Analogue Resurgence at the start, so 70’s.
Nice video! I'm considering bulk loading because I restore/repair old cameras (as a hobby for my own, not commercially) and I'd like to get test rolls of 8 or 10 exposures. Breaks your heart and your wallet to test with a 36 exposure EKTAR roll only to find out there is major light leak or a malfunction.
Why are you testing with $15 Ektar? Throw some Formapan 100 or Kentmere at it to prove it out.
You can test multiple cameras on a single 36 exp roll. Shoot 6 or 9 frames. Rewind, move it to a new camera and simply run through those exposed frames again with a fast shutter and the lens covered.
Agree with all points. I have a Lloyds bulk loader I much prefer to the Watson oblong style. I put white tape on the side after loading a bulk roll, and write 18 hash marks that I cross off as I load film. That way I know how many rolls I have left.
I also prefer the plastic reloadable cassettes to the metal. Though some cameras, notably the Canonet QL17 Giii, will jam up with them.
I bulk load for 42 exp rolls, which is roughly maximum to fit in the canister. The camera counter counts only to 36, but I don't care, shooting until it resists. I wind the canisters by hand in black bag, without any machinery. I wind them till the film starts to resist and then pull film little back from canister. So I get not always the same length, but I don't care. I use Foma bulk film, which gives extremely low price per roll. With Foma bulk film there's really crazily significant price difference bulk loaded roll vs. factory made Foma roll. With Ilford you will not get so big difference Ilford bulk loaded roll vs Ilford factory roll.
Btw. recently some fan group in czechia bought big roll Foma 60mm film for bulk loading (around 100 meters). Foma does not do that normally, but based on some arrangement is willing to do such nonstandard things.
And the archival time on black and white negatives is extremely long, over 500 years. Would like to see a color negative do that. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Noah -- been putting off bulk-loading -- mainly trying to snag a used *FINE* bulk-loader to save a few bucks. But it looks like the typical per-roll savings (not counting the one-time (hopefully!) cost of the bulk-loader and a batch of cartridges) is about $2 US -- so at max 18 rolls per bulk load, that's at least saving $30 per bulk load. Not bad. Buy a large batch of the cartridges up front, and have a marathon bulk loading (but I do not recommend doing it in the shower!!!) a few different formulas of film and then you will have a fridge or freezer *FULL* with a few choices (instead of getting "bored" while working through 18 rolls of one specific emulsion....)....
Last month I got a bulk loader and some old spectrographic film and haven't looked back 👍
I think it's great for making short rolls, like 12 or 8 exposures, but it would be a waste of film on the leaders
Some of that static damage looked interesting. This was so new to me.
The answer is yes, if you're shooting film you should be bulk loading.
Now I'm gonna watch the video
would totally recommend buying short ends of motion picture film!!!!!!!!!!!
What would anyone recommend as far as the first aspect of trying to save money with film photography; bulk loading, home developing, or home scanning? As in which would be the first one to start with?
I'm thinking about hunting down some bulk color rolls so can I can bulk load my own stuff. But that should be *after* I get what I need for development.
Great video.
Are you doing any videos on 35mm motion picture cameras in the future.
I'd love too, but those are pretty out of my price range and I'd want to get hands on with them before creating videos involving them! I've got some further Super 8 and 16mm stuff lined up for the next few months though!
I do bulk loading since 2016 and saved a fortune by doing so. It saves me for a roll of 36 frames about 40% of the price compared to a regular canister. Best are Lloyd bulk loaders since they don't waste much film between cuts. Watson loaders are worst here. Biggest con is that Kalt cassettes tend to pill that loose fibers can interfere in the frame.
How about canister loading in the dark ? You just have to know by the touch and snip the film and close.
Then when loading again - just open in the dark and repeat the process.
I didn’t use the one you mentioned but I have the AP/ Kaiser one.
I wish bulk loading was available for color film instead of just black and white
Kodak vision3 short ends are the only option
@@jonnoMoto Trueeeee
Check out film photography project. They have some really good color films for bulk loading. Been playing with Svema color film from them and their prices are really good!
I have a few black and white every few colour rolls just to have Some black and white shots
The cost savings quickly go away when you account for the price of the bulk loader. In my case those go for about 130€ so you would have to use 4 30,5m bulk rolls before you break even on the bulk loader.
yes but americans are always getting all those things for pennies at garage sales and such.
interesting though I kinda moved to color because development is cheaper - though I suppose ONE DAY it would certainly be so much cheaper when self developing, scanning, printing etc.
One of the biggest benefits of bulk loading is getting to use the reloadable cassettes made for many cameras, like the FILCA or IXMOO for Leicas. FILCA specifically allows for proper frame spacing in screwmount Leicas that you don’t get from simply dropping in a commercially pre-loaded cart, and you also get a smoother feeling friction-free film transport since there’s no felt or anything contacting the film!
It's worth mentioning that you can always load in darkness without a loader. It just require some practice and kinda surgical planning of every movement.
where can I find the manual for this bulkloader?
A fair amount of colour negative film used to be available in bulk as well, I've seen a bunch of different ones on ebay but it's all obviously pretty expired and not that common to find by now.
How fast do I have to bulk load to get the static damage? Also, appreciate the great overview and how to. I think I'll start bulk loading now.
EDIT: also, I've stopped developing color at home. Storing, testing, and disposing of chemicals was too much to deal with. Lost a roll because the c-41 chemicals were exhausted and I was too lazy to test it. BW home dev is still on the table though; long shelf life.
Good stuff. Thanks!
ok... static looks dope and I want that
I wish they should available in color negative and reversal
if you can get lucky there's still bulk rolls of Portra VC and NC though i cant really say much money you'd save in the long run with those. I think if theres any color film id want in 100ft rolls itd probably be ektachrome or portra
@@areallyrealisticguyd4333 I’m talking about the current ones
@@areallyrealisticguyd4333 but yeah it’s interesting
The frame counter mechanism of my Alden bulk loader has broken.
If I gently wind to refusal, is that about 36 frames worth of film, or am I going to waste a lot of film?
You might get up to 45 shots
How did you make your new logo?
Created it in after effects, shot it off of a monitor onto 16mm with a bolex, had it processed and scanned by Pro8mm!
Fomapan is about 50% cheaper here in bulk!
How many rolls do you get from a 25ft bulk roll?
Can you recommend a website to get color film in bulk please
You're the best! do you have any film canon cameras like the film canon rebels or nikons like look like dslrs?
I have a Rebel 2000 body that's in fine shape, but no lens for it at the moment! So many people obsess over the like 60/70/80s cameras and the designs and styles from that period, but I know that later SLR's of the later 80s and 90s are great choices for shooting as well that usually come up as a fraction of the price because they lack the more popular style and look to them.
@@AnalogResurgence YAYYY you made my day thanks for replying! I picked up a few and have wondered why they don't come up in conversation more often :)
Try as I might I can not find metal film, canisters anywere. Only plastic. and the felt looks awful in the display picture.
Great intro!
105 dollars? Wow, I got a roll for 53 euro (62 dollar). And also, that 'static damage' looks kinda awesome :))
Can I bulk load my SD cards?
Aren't you exposing it to light when you pull it out to attach to the canister?
Only slightly when bulk loading! You may lose the very last frame on a roll, but not much more as long as you're careful.
Bulk loading slide film is a possibility now that Ektachrome is available in 35mm morion picture format.
Perhaps the biggest upside to bulk loading your own film is the smell of fresh film! Mmmmm!
Hello, would you be interested in doing a video on pushing and pulling film in development?
Noah -- did I detect a subtle, hidden reference to the mythical (modern) Kodak Super 8 movie camera???
That thing could not be further from my mind these days honestly! Absolutely no news
@@AnalogResurgence -- LOL -- it was your comment about not knowing what Kodak does or does not do for the film community -- an obvious reference being the spotty availability (production?) of their color films, and why no 100' rolls of the color films -- they make it in much larger lengths for normal production, how hard can it be to cut/roll 100' lengths (they obviously do it for most of their B&W stocks)? But I thought that back behind the words there was some lingering frustration and sadness over the Kodak Super 8 camera.... Que sera, sera....
Kodak sells Ektachrome in bulk rolls, but like you said... expensive
Do you have a link for that? I was sure Kodak didn’t offer their new Ektachrome in bulk rolls at all. I know they used to before it was all originally discontinued, but when Ektachrome was brought back in 2018 I’ve seen no fresh bulk rolls of it.
@@AnalogResurgence Looks like I misspoke, they're only selling it in 16mm and Super 8.
www.kodak.com/content/products-brochures/Film/Kodak-Motion-Picture-Products-Price-Catalog-US.pdf
I want to bulk load tri x sometime soon
i got really scared when you just pushed all that film off of the table in the begining
Nice t-shirt!
Kodak making 100 foot bulk rolls of color film is about as realistic as saying politicians never lie. Other than color cinefilm, seeing a roll of Ultramax or Gold 200 is going to be nothing more than a pipe dream. But, stranger things have happened and I could be proven completely wrong, tomorrow. If you subscribe to the MWI (Many Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics), then there are a near infinite number of worlds where this has already happened. Our problem is we're stuck in the universe where they (the film companies) decided to be grinches and ruined it for everybody.
So tell us how to bulk roll Ilford HP5 for 120 medium format. .......Ill wait.
Bulk rolling 120 isn't really an option for most film stocks. Because 120 requires the backing paper it can be difficult to do and people like Ilford don't offer bulk rolls in that format. There's also not bulk loaders that handle that kind of film and it's mostly only an option for 35.
It can be done of course and this article details some options for it! emulsive.org/articles/how-to-bulk-load-120-or-220-film-using-65mm-kodak-250d-5207
great video
Sounds like bulk loading is quite expensive. Foma has cheaper film, €50 for a 100ft roll.
very cool!
Those "bulky" film loaders (Watson) are great if you use metal reloading canisters from Leica, etc... because they allow you to open and close the film gate in those canisters.... the smaller ones do not
The TriX Bulk Roll 100' are now $170.... wtf
When are you travelling outside of Canada to take photos of exotic locations around the world? I wanna see THAT in your Roll Reviews.
When the channel makes me rich! I'll be shooting rolls on Mars
@@AnalogResurgence 😂
Future video title once you're there: "Adjusting aperture, shutter speed and ISO to suit the sunlight on Mars." 😁
@@AnalogResurgence Wasn't being disrespectful to Canada, by the way. In case it came across that way. I saw a lake in one of your roll reviews and it reminded me of some tropical locations for some reason. And then I thought it would be nice to see you take photos in those locations.
Static Damage = Aliens
A friend and I split a 400ft roll of Double-X into 4 100ft portions-I think it's the cheapest way to shoot brand new 35mm film!
Goodbye Velvia 100
#fomapanbulkloaderz 🤘😜🤘
Fuji... Fuji... FUJI...
Great video
Very helpful
Thank you 🙏
OK but that static contamination looked really cool