Since my return to film photography I’ve quickly found out how much money I could spend on the stuff, especially given the variety out there now! And that’s fine really – it’s part of the hobby and makes beautiful images that can’t be erased with a magnet or a corrupted drive. However, with my annual …
Low Cost Bulk Film Loading for Skinflints – By Robert Wilcox Read More
One of the perennial problems with film photography is getting through an entire roll of 36 exposures in a reasonable amount of time. Film photography isn’t like digital, where it’s common to go out for a day and shoot hundreds of frames (“Spray and pray,” as some of my digital photographer friends call it). Film photography encourages a more deliberate approach, taking care with each exposure. Which means that it can take a very long time to shoot an entire roll of 36 photos. I developed a roll yesterday that had pictures of rain in our neighborhood, and it hasn’t rained in months.
I go through quite a bit of film these days, primarily black and white 35mm and 120. I became interested in loading bulk film onto reloadable 35mm film cassettes. There was an economical argument, but I also was intrigued by the control of the process of loading film onto the spool and learning that part of film photography.I’d like to share some of my experiences and perspective with loading bulk film. And to spoil the answer to the question: is it worth it? It depends. But for me, it has been worth it.
