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How do you cut film?
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 10:50 pm    Post subject: How do you cut film? Reply with quote

I'd like to ask you, how to you cut film into smaller stripes?
So far I have used scissors, but it's very difficult to make a precision cut, especially with small format film.
Is there a more effective way?


PostPosted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 11:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I cut film with scissors and never had problem.. it isn´t as difficult as it seems, just few practice and you won´t cut a shot. It isn´t neccesary to be precise in microns:)


PostPosted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 11:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've tried a couple different methods but have always come back to scissors. I found that a pair of very sharp fabric scissors works best as opposed to a simple pair of household ones. I bought a pair specifically to cut my strips.

~Marc


PostPosted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 12:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

search ebaY Photo section for "film cutter"


PostPosted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 2:00 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The old exakta had a film cutter built in Cool Cool


patrickh


PostPosted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 2:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I use a small piece of glass as a base (A4 size) and cut on top of it with a sharp cutter and a metal rule. It works very well for me.

This was the way I learned to cut leather past year but it does apply successfully to other materials, as the film.

Regards.

Jes.


PostPosted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 4:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Jesito wrote:
I use a small piece of glass as a base (A4 size) and cut on top of it with a sharp cutter and a metal rule. It works very well for me.
This was the way I learned to cut leather past year but it does apply successfully to other materials, as the film.
Regards.
Jes.


Thanks Jes. So you are able to hold the film steady while using the cutter. I am afraid it would slip under the cutter pressure.


PostPosted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 5:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

How about a rotary guillotine?


patrickh


PostPosted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 5:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

patrickh wrote:
How about a rotary guillotine?
patrickh


I would not like to spend that much, Patrick.
I'm preferably for some clever homemade solution, like that of Jes.


PostPosted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 9:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

What film do you want to cut to which dimensions? For cutting developed film to enlarger, scanner and archive friendly strip length, any quality scissors will do, and will indeed do better than cutters and cutting mats or even the slide cutters of old, as scissors don't need any contact with the image area, while the mentioned methods press the picture onto some cutting mat or rail or even drag it across the same.

You'll need dedicated machinery if you want to cut unexposed film to some other format, as you'll have to cut in complete darkness and achieve tolerances in the order of 0.1mm over the full length of the film (while cutting to strips is done in broad daylight with a tolerance of 3mm over 35mm length).

For cutting sheet film down to another size (e.g. 4x5" to 9x12cm), I've had good results with a professional grade guillotine cutter where I screwed alignment rails for either dimension onto the base plate (i.e. you'll need one cutter per target size). For cutting 135mm down to 110 or Minox there are special cutters - some companies still make them (often distributed though Japanese Minox and Pocket fan sites), and there are recipes for DIY ones (usually involving parts from daylight loaders) on the net.


PostPosted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 10:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've always used scissors, I keep a small sharp pair for cutting negs.


PostPosted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 10:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I cut my 135 or 120 rolls with a Dahle branded guillotine paper cutter. I align the film border with the guide positioned on the side of the cutter plane and carefully aim at the middle of the space between two frames. The result are perfectly clean 90 degrees cuts.
Marty.


PostPosted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 11:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I use small sharp straight fabric scissors. For 35mm I look at how the frame edges line up with the nearest sprocket holes, make the line-up as close as I can to the centre, and snip cleanly. As I've been doing it for a very long time now, I've finally got the hang of it. Rollfilm is much easier. I don't like pressing a film against any surface such as a cutting mat, so I rely on a steady hand, fingers perpendicular on the edges, and cut in mid-air. I've never yet had a mis-cut. I usually scan rollfilm (on an Epson 4990) before cutting it, as I find it easier. I line up one edge of the frame with a little datum mark on the film holder so that I know the first frame 'marquee' will always be in the right place for all subsequent frames.


PostPosted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 7:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

marty wrote:
I cut my 135 or 120 rolls with a Dahle branded guillotine paper cutter. I align the film border with the guide positioned on the side of the cutter plane and carefully aim at the middle of the space between two frames. The result are perfectly clean 90 degrees cuts.
Marty.


That's a sound idea!. I got one of those small guillotines to cut paper, it should be somewhere in the garage...
Since it has an alingment edge it will be very fine to cut the film at 90º...
Thanks for sharing!!

Jes.


PostPosted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 7:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Orio wrote:
Jesito wrote:
I use a small piece of glass as a base (A4 size) and cut on top of it with a sharp cutter and a metal rule. It works very well for me.
This was the way I learned to cut leather past year but it does apply successfully to other materials, as the film.
Regards.
Jes.


Thanks Jes. So you are able to hold the film steady while using the cutter. I am afraid it would slip under the cutter pressure.


It won't. I glued a leather strip on the back of the metal rule to avoid damaging the film, and it keeps steady enough. I always use a sharp cutter, I haven't had any troubles so far. But the option of the Dahle guillotine seems to be much better... Smile

Regards,

Jes.


PostPosted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 5:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Small russian made scisors. i mean they could have been from any country on the world but hey Cool i never cut a frame, there is a 2mm space between each which is enough for me.


PostPosted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 6:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Tiny very sharp scissors for me.


PostPosted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 6:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Jesito wrote:
Thanks for sharing!!

You're welcome