120 film did not spool tight in take up spool

KingRoach · Joined: 21 Dec 2013 Posts: 87 Location: United Kingdom

Hi guys.

I've just finished shooting my first roll of 120 film (dated Provia 100f) on a Fujifilm GS645s Professional.

The last few frames were difficult to advance, so I knew something was wrong inside the camera. Couldn't tell what.

The last frame was WHREALLY difficult to advance and then when the whole thing was over, I could still feel lots of resistance and the sound of something "crunching" inside. I was just hoping the film was not badly inserted and was creasing.

Well, it wasn't that. It was just that the take up reel did not really spool the film TIGHT. It was a bit loose, and was therefore a much MUCH bigger diameter than it should. You could press it with your finger and feel how much loose it was.

I tried at first to take it out of the camera in a dark bag but no luck as I couldn't even pull it out of the camera due to the new thickness of the roll, but I could feel there was only paper and that it was straight not creased.

So I took it out of the dark bag in order to finally be able to take it out of the camera but guess what. The 'flaps?/edges?' of the paper were even outside the diameter of the big circles on the two sides of the reel/spool (which is the right word?)

I've since sealed it with gaffer tape, but my question is: should I expect the film is ruined? Light leak? Is the actual film MUCH narrower than the paper that I may expect very little light reaching in between the protective paper?

mmelvis · Expire: 2015-05-09

Your film should be fine. Check the size of your new spool that film came off of to the old spool. May just be an old spool or the paper on the new film is just a bit thicker. What camera are you using?

KingRoach · Joined: 21 Dec 2013 Posts: 87 Location: United Kingdom

Hi mmelvis,

Like I said I was using a Fujifilm GS645s.
The film was Fujifilm Provia 100f.

The spools are all standard size. My GX680 spooled them well so I know how tight they should be. At least not thicker than the edge of the plastic spool. In this case, the paper reel became thicker than the plastic edge due to spaces in between the layers. I'm worried about light leaking in, but now the only way to find out is to develop.

Need chemicals.

bernhardas · Expire: 2017-05-23

Edited

KingRoach · Joined: 21 Dec 2013 Posts: 87 Location: United Kingdom

Yeah it's just like every other 120 medium format camera. The take up pulls the film. This is why it's quite weird this happened. It might be one of two things:

Maybe the film was not tight from the beginning, so a gap was taken in along with the film and expanded along the roll.

Or the film itself is not spread tight inside the camera, i.e. a problem with the dark back which pushes the film along the roll.

I suspect maybe the former but I'm worried about wasting another film now just to find out.

Siguy · Joined: 04 Apr 2014 Posts: 10

My first roll of film I shot through my RB67 I put the roll in upside down (even though I asked the lady at the camera store if I was doing it right) so that the backing paper ended up facing outward, and I ended up paying $7 for a completely blank roll of film a week later. I actually put a second roll in, before I got the first roll back, and did exactly the same as the first time, not knowing I'd made a mistake. When I finished shooting that roll and opened up the back, the film literally jumped off the roll, as it was wound the wrong way around the take up spool and therefore under more tension than normal. Wasted two perfectly good rolls of 120 film.

It's possible you might have done something similar, and if so the best thing to do would actually be to respool it and shoot it again, because it would have come out completely unexposed.

KingRoach · Joined: 21 Dec 2013 Posts: 87 Location: United Kingdom

Thanks for your comment, Siguy, but I can assure you the film was facing forward, that it was exposed (tight or untight, it was exposed), and it did move correctly and entirely from the film roll to the take up spool.

The RB67, RZ67, m645, FujiGX680, and pretty much every medium format that uses a "film insert" can be confusing to load the first time because you have to guide the paper around the insert in a particular way.

The Fuji GS645s is basically a rangefinder similar to a 35mm system, so you just put in the roll, open it, stick the end in the other spool and advance until you reach "start".

ASDA do not process 120 film so I will keep an eye on some chemical on eBay and when I get them it will be the first thing I do.

This must need be processed.

KingRoach · Joined: 21 Dec 2013 Posts: 87 Location: United Kingdom

This is when I actually loaded the film. See the video in this post:

http://photographeronbudget.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/loading-fujifilm-gs645s-with-120-film.html

You can probably see what caused the problem. As I was advancing the first section of the paper, the tab that goes into the groove actually pushed the paper up and away from the spool, keeping that gap, which built up until the whole reel had spaces in between the layers of film.

I have now developed the film in Tetenal Phototab C-41, there were some very slight light leaks that did not make it into any of the frames.

I will share once I get them online, somehow.