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70mm film back

goofybird

New Member
I am trying to use a 70mm film back with my 500 EL/M and am looking for any advise I might get on:

1) where to buy the film?
2) which bulk loader do you recommend?
3) Processing?

Thanks in advance - Ted Rose
 
70mm is getting hard to locate which is a real shame. Having the option of shooting 50-60+ shots on a roll of film was awfully nice at times.

Kodak Portra is still fairly common (used a lot for "mass" portraits like school pics, etc) , and the B&W aerial film that is still available is a slightly more IR sensitive (to cut through haze) version of Plus X. I believe there are a few others, but the selection is drying up fast.

Most of the 70mm equipment will be found used, on Ebay for the most part, these days. It may take a few months for everything to "pop up", but I have seen several of all the items below there in the past year...

A Watson 70 bulk film loader will let you roll your own cassette from the long rolls. Nikkor made a 70mm tank/reel that you can still locate on Ebay from time to time. Often just the reel is available by itself meaning you have to improvise a tank of some sort. I would look for one of those and develop your own.
 
Mr. Rose: I have used an Alden 74 for loading bulk 35mm for years. I have never had a problem with them. They are easy to use, and reliable. I suspect the ones for medium format would be the same. Good luck.
SitmoM
 
> I picked up a bulk 70mm loader off Ebay last year. 70mm films are > slowly disappearing, but Kodak Porta 160 NC will be around for a good > long time and is readily available in 70mm perforated spools for > Hasselblad. You'll need to keep track of the items regularly on Ebay. > I believe a 70mm loader shows up about every 6-12 weeks. You may also > want to "search" for 'Burke & James' or 'B&J' since they also sold a > 70mm bulk loader ( I believe it was the same as the Alden, just > branded with their name for promotional reasons) during the 1950-60's > .
 
Hi - do any UK members have contacts for the supply and processing of 70mm film. The backs come up frequently on e-bay but I wouldn't want to take the plunge if its hard to maintain.
Thanks !
 
> If you are a "do it yourselfer", ebay has 70mm stainless reels fairly > regularly ( every month or so at least). Nikkor 70mm tanks are much > scarcer (although a dark closet and a small paint bucket will also > work). There are Kidmann and Jobo versions also available.

> Bulk loaders were made by Adlen and Watson , and usually are called > "Watson 70" or "Alden 70". They also show up regularly on ebay. Be > careful as the "74" models are 35mm!

> Although I have never tried one, the ex-military Fairchild 70mm > stainless steel developing tanks are also a fairly common ebay item > (there was a manual and a motorized version), used originally to > develop 70mm aerial recon film "in the field". Try to get the ones > with instructions, although you can probably find them on the web as > well since enough of these surplus units have been sold over the > years.
 
Huh. Last post is 2 years old !

I used 70mm for few years. At the end of this month I will try to ebay my 2 last 70mm backs. I never used loaders, I just load until I cann not enter any more.
After the job I cut the film and use the rest of the film for another job. I used a weight to know how much film is still in a bulk: once it happened that there was only 6 pictures left in a bulk !

I still have a film witch I need to process but my usual lab returned me the film saying that's they do not this service any more (C41).

I begin to have a colection of "shame" films to proccess: 5 Kodachrome 64 in 120 and one 70mm films.
 
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