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7222 Daylight Spools say "load in complete darkness" – do I need to?


M Joel W

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Yes I've been somewhat mystified when they say this on the label.  I've always loaded the spools in subdued light without any problem.  The leaves of film protect the film underneath, even for super-16.  The only thing to be cautious about is a possible bent spool.  Subdued light can be quite dim as long as you are confident with the loading, so using as much film footage as possible.

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Thanks, for loading spools for exteriors can I go to my car and load them in subdued light or would I want something darker than that? I don't mind the look of light leaks for this project if they're not overwhelming. 

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14 minutes ago, M Joel W said:

Thanks, for loading spools for exteriors can I go to my car and load them in subdued light or would I want something darker than that? I don't mind the look of light leaks for this project if they're not overwhelming. 

If it's genuine shade that's not  'bright' shade it should be fine loading in your car.  Maybe put something over the window just to be sure.  

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I don't know if you find this.  Very often I seem to get a decent shot right at the end of the film.  Something to do with getting immersed in what you're shooting ?  ?  Not sure.   So to avoid losing any of this footage I sometimes unload the spool in the dark,  much easier to do than the loading.  It's worth noting also that when you send your film to a lab, they also handle the 'daylight spool' in the dark, so no footage gone.

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  • 1 month later...

It is one of those "not because I can but because I should"  situations. I operated on the "assume the worst, then anything better is a bonus" doctrine and learned to load my Bolex with 100ft rolls in the dark or under a dense cover. That can also go horribly wrong if you mis-thread the film. Being a tight@$e (translation = cheapskate) in my younger days, I would also load my Yashica stills camera in the dark in the hope of gaining a few extra images out of a roll of film. 

Edited by Robert Hart
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So try and find out, load a 100ft roll in open light and load a roll in darkness, this is a medium experiment for yourself.

If you load your Bolex in bright sunlight you will most likely get allot of flares on the edges of your film stock. If you load your Bolex under a blanket you will get not much or no edge flares on your daylight roll.

Hold your daylight roll up to Sol and get super mad flares on the roll.

 

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I did end up with flares at the edges of the film stock but as I wasn't shooting S16, they weren't much of a problem. But the first nine or ten seconds of film was flashed or totally white when I loaded in subdued daylight (the flares at the edge only lasted another half second or second maybe but in S16 likely more).

Given the relatively short duration of a daylight spool, I see why there's the recommendation...

Edited by M Joel W
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Try to keep the windings together on the supply spool with your little finger. Pull the film off from under the finger or let the mechanism pull the film in that way. Keep the film always lightly taught between first sprocket roller and supply spool. Once the spool on its spindle, keep film taught, start mechanism for a second like described in many manuals. This tightens the spring on the supply spindle so that you can release the roll.

Do not expose more than 4,000 frames on a nominal 100-ft. roll. Lab workers need the freedom to shorten the developed length back. Else a portion will get longer and longer by the overlength you claim and the leader added by the lab, if necessary for printing. Of course they will respect the netto length how ever it lies within the brutto, say, 109 feet.

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On 9/27/2022 at 7:55 AM, Simon Wyss said:

Do not expose more than 4,000 frames on a nominal 100-ft. roll. Lab workers need the freedom to shorten the developed length back. Else a portion will get longer and longer by the overlength you claim and the leader added by the lab, if necessary for printing. Of course they will respect the netto length how ever it lies within the brutto, say, 109 feet.

We only really cut a few inches off either end of the roll to build a processing flat (usually up to 2000 feet of film) so I would recommend just shooting the whole roll and be aware that the beginning (usually exposed from loading) and the end will have a bit taken off for processing.

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