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Reels, Tanks, etc

While the most important decisions in black and white film development have to do with...film and developer choices, you can't see the results without the right equipment. I covered the chemicals and solutions on my Chemicals page, and the various ancillary supplies on my Supplies page. So it comes down to the tank and reels themselves.

I decided to not break this out in a bulleted FAQ-style, since it's fairly straightforward.

The tanks to which I am referring on this page are called daylight tanks. This means that you can develop the film in daylight, after you have loaded the reels, inserted them into the tank, and assembed the tank properly. Note that these are NOT "daylight reels." The reels MUST BE LOADED IN ABSOLUTE DARKNESS. You do this either in a real darkroom or, if you can't do that, get a changing bag.

Reels (and, consequently, tanks) come in two varieties - plastic and stainless steel. The reasons to choose one over the other are:

  • Plastic
    • Pro: Usually considered to load much easier, especially for 35mm
    • Pro: Usually best "starter" option, again especially for 35mm
    • Pro: Short of actually breaking them in pieces, they don't get out of alightment or anything
    • Pro: Plastic tanks fill and empty much, much faster
    • Con: Requires more liquid in the tank
    • Con: Can only be loaded if it is ABSOLUTELY DRY
    • Con: Some older reels can absorb chemicals over time (but they can be cleaned off)\
  • Stainless Steel
    • Pro: Can be loaded wet if need be
    • Pro: Often considered easier to load for 120 filim
    • Pro: Uses less liquid in the tank
    • Con: Can be a bit more finicky with agitation
    • Con: Often considered a bit harder to load for 35mm
    • Con: Steeper learning curve (takes more practice)
    • Con: Can get out of alignment if the reels are dropped
    • Con: Tanks are much slower to fill and pour

As you can see, it's really "6 of one, a half dozen on the other." For me, I use plastic for 35mm, and SS for 120. If I were more confident of myself in loading 35mm onto SS and I wanted to put in the time to master it, I would probably go SS for everything.

Plastic Reels & Tanks

Loading a plastic reel and tank is pretty straightforward. Please go here for a detailed tutorial.

Different types of plastic reels

This is the classic Paterson style reel. Technically, these are "generic brand" ones from the local shop, but they are basically the same as the "real" Paterson ones I've used at school. They're perfectly fine reels, except for one thing. In the lower image, please note the two little half-arrow like protrusions on the top and bottom of the reel. These are the guides that help you load the film. The ball-bearings, which do the actual pulling in of the film as you ratchet the reel, are just beyond the arrows (to the left of them in the photo).

The problem with these guides is that they are so small that you have to be very careful when loading the film. I highly recommend that you snip the corners leading end of the film before loading into these style reels. Also, draw the film as far as you can into the reel, past the ball bearings, to help things along.

Finally, since these reels can take a bit longer to load and require more handling of the film, the chance of sweat building up on one's hands and swelling the emulsion is higher.

 
Not surprisingly, while the issue with these small guides is surmountable with 35mm, the much wider 120 film is almost impossible to load without serious bending/kinking, which leads to visible marks on the film.

These are the type of reels I use (they look yellow because of the lighting). You'll notice that rather than two little arrow-type guides, they have a full lip that reaches all the way across the reel (for 35mm). As someone on photo.net once said, the film practically falls into these reels.

Since I don't have to trim the corners off the leading end, I can load one of these reels in about 20 seconds.

These have gone by a number of names. AP Photo is the most referenced, but I have recently seen them under the Samigon brand at B&H.

As you can see, even for 120 these reels would be pretty easy to load.

This goes for all plastic reels. The reels themselves come apart, so that you can pull the film out (you can't just feed them out in reverse of how you loaded), and so that you can convert it from 35mm to 120 (and 127, if you had that format). You just crank the right side past the first stop, then pull the two sides apart. The photo to the right is blurry, but you can see the different stops for sizes, and the stops for normal ratcheting vs. "take apart" rotation.

Be careful about putting the two sides back together the right way, though. Click the lower photo for a mini photo tutorial.

This is one of my plastic tanks. The current Paterson style tanks have a kind of locking lid, rather than a fully-threaded, screw-on one. This is a dual 35mm, single 120 tank.
A look inside the tank. You'll notice the O-ring around the lip, to help seal in the liquid (doesn't work that well, though), and the little nub at the bottom. The center column (see next photo) rests on this nub.

The lid and center column. The reels go on the center column, and the whole assembly goes into the tank. The center column is what makes the tank light tight, and should never, ever be left out.

If you look at the bottom of the center column, you'll note that it is not flat. In fact, it has a rim that goes up and down. This is so that, should you use rotation agitation, the reels will go up and down as the center column rotates.

A reel on the center column. Stick the other reel on there, and the whole thing goes into the tank.
A blurry photo of the tank lid. Notice that the solution pours directly through the middle of the lid to the bottom of the tank when filling. Plastic tanks fill and empty far faster than SS tanks.

Stainless Steel Reels & Tanks

Loading a plastic reel is pretty straightforward. The instructions on my reel-loading-tutorial are for 120. The only change for 35mm is to snip off the leader/tongue.

SS reel and tank info

This is a 120 stainless steel reel, but the 35mm one looks similar (they aren't convertible). Stainless steel reels don't have guides at all. You feed the film all the way to the center of the reel. This particular Nikkor reel has a little clip in the middle. I have heard that Hewes reels (which are considered the best you can get) are a bit different. You then rotate the entire reel to load the film.

This is my single 120 SS tank. It's literally just a metal cylinder - no extras on the inside. The plastic lids are generally preferred to the older metal ones.
The lid of my SS tank. The cap on the right just pulls off. The entire lid just slips on as a pressure-fit; it isn't screwed on or otherwise secured. Keep this in mind if you invert during agitation.

The underside of the lid. You pour the solution in through the hole on the top. It then basically hits the flat plastic disc in the middle, and flows into the tank along the space between that disc and the outer part of the lid. Not surprisingly, this is a pretty slow method for getting developer into a tank.

For my dual 120 tank, which takes almost a quart of solution, it takes close to 30 seconds to fill it.