Complete Guide to 70mm Film

[rhizomeblur]

I find it is quite easy to use 70mm, once I get the right camera + back combo. The development and scanning is a bit more complicated, so right now I tend to simplify it into this procedure:

1) Load and shoot as normal, but only up to 220 length
2) Once reach 220 length, go into a complete dark room, slice 70mm into 120/220 width
3) Load sliced film to 220 reel and develop in normal Paterson tank
4) Scan like 120/220 and store in 120/220 sleeves

In addition, I recently got an old military camera that uses 70mm film: J.A. Maurer P-2 camera.

Thanks for sharing about this wild Maurer camera! It is remarkably compact for a long roll camera! (And yes, with a great lens!) Will PM you about including info and photos on the site.

Yes, this is the developing workflow I recommend to anyone who wants to get up and running developing 70mm with common equipment most people already have. But I will say that the amazing time savings in developing (over 120) really come from a 13ft or 15ft reel and tank. Still, even with the 220-length method, you are loading half as many times, so there's still a significant savings.

 

[rhizomeblur]

I’m fan of this format, I have had 3 616 cameras and still I own one Super Ikonta 530/15.
I have still few HP5+ and loads of TriX of this format.

Alex, do you have good documentation of one or more of these cameras? As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'd love to add some documentation about the 116/616 format to the site.

 

[Alex Varas]

Alex, do you have good documentation of one or more of these cameras? As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'd love to add some documentation about the 116/616 format to the site.

If by documentation you mean photos, yes, I have some.

Super Ikonta 530/15

Super Ikonta 530/15

Second 70mm camera.

flickr.com

Voigtlander Inos II

Voigtländer Inos II - 6.5x11

Explore this photo album by Alex.Varas on Flickr!

flickr.com

I can one day make photos with white background and also my daylight tank, back paper and spools.

 

[Cholentpot]

Lucky. I have heard it’s good stuff. I would love to get some, but sadly it all seems to be perforated, so for my use case (slitting to 120), it isn’t useful. Maybe one day I’ll get a 70mm back for my RB, and get a plastic 70mm dev reel and process it in the dark.

I've slit down perfed 70mm Plus-X without too much issue. It doesn't feel great when it's being slit but it works. Careful of the edges, they turn into sawblades, whatever they're using to make that film is some tuff stuff.

 

[MCB18]

I've slit down perfed 70mm Plus-X without too much issue. It doesn't feel great when it's being slit but it works. Careful of the edges, they turn into sawblades, whatever they're using to make that film is some tuff stuff.

Would you mind sharing a picture? I’m curious to see if the perforations are intact, or if they are cut off. Maybe send it via the 70mm to 120/220/620 thread, don’t want to hijack this thread.

 

[Cholentpot]

Would you mind sharing a picture? I’m curious to see if the perforations are intact, or if they are cut off. Maybe send it via the 70mm to 120/220/620 thread, don’t want to hijack this thread.

Perfs are half cut off. Sides look like a sawtooth.

 

[rhizomeblur]

I can one day make photos with white background and also my daylight tank, back paper and spools.

Thanks for sharing these great photos, Alex! I'll PM you about taking some directly for the site. That would be fantastic!

 

[Alex Varas]

Here you have Super Ikonta 530/15 with white background, all details I can imagine.

Alex.Varas has shared 11 photos with you!

www.flickr.com

Let me know which ones you want for the website and I will upload to the cloud the big files.

Thank you for your website, it will be interesting all the information all together.

 

[John Salim]

Don't forget this monster from Hasselblad.
The 500 exposure magazine ( pictures courtesy of 'Club Hasselblad' )

John S

 

[rhizomeblur]

Don't forget this monster from Hasselblad.
The 500 exposure magazine ( pictures courtesy of 'Club Hasselblad' )

Thanks, John! Yes, this one always cracks me up!

 

[Tom Kershaw]

Don't forget this monster from Hasselblad.
The 500 exposure magazine ( pictures courtesy of 'Club Hasselblad' )

John S

That is a lot of frames to process at once. I'm cautious processing 5 rolls of 120 in a Jobo.

 

[MattKing]

That is a lot of frames to process at once. I'm cautious processing 5 rolls of 120 in a Jobo.

Just think how the operators of the Kodachrome processing machines must have felt. Each and every spliced together reel had about a mile of film on it (plus a mile of leader and a mile of trailer). Reel after reel, day after day, and in busy times of the year, 24 hours per day.

 

[rhizomeblur]

A big thank you to everyone who has contributed suggestions, corrections, additional information, and photos to the site! Just a reminder to keep them coming if you have more!

 

[rhizomeblur]

Also, assembling a community of 70mm shooters is an important element of this initiative, so please do sign up for the email list (and select 70mm as your topic of interest) if you haven't already! That's how we'll announce new initiatives like film production, discussion groups, new 70mm products, etc. Don't miss out!

I'm really happy to have met many of you who contacted me about the site, often with excellent information about your research into or shooting of 70mm. It's been a pleasure, and may the 70mm community grow!

 

[Michel Hardy-Vallée]

What an amazing resource, and well-organized! Here's my nit to pick, on this page:

Developing | Complete Guide to 70mm Film

A Complete Guide to 70mm Film

www.shoot70mm.com

Look at the stainless steel developing tank. The brand is "NIKOR" (one K), a well-known American brand, but often confused with "NIKKOR" (two K) lenses for NIKON cameras.

You wrote, "NIKON 70MM TANK WITH STAINLESS STEEL REEL"

which should be corrected to:

"NIKOR 70MM TANK WITH STAINLESS STEEL REEL"

You may unlock perfection thereafter.

 

[Terence]

Hi, from a strictly historical standpoint the specialized long-roll portrait cameras were probably the biggest users of 70mm film, at least in the US. If you're using the internet as your main source of info, it seems to be pretty much lacking in this respect.

I've made a handful of posts about the use of these cameras. See the following link, along with a couple other links within that post. https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/any-former-processing-lab-people-out-there.175798/page-3

Personally I sorta see trying to use 70mm film today as something of an uphill battle. The infrastructure that once existed is nearly nonexistent and I sorta doubt there is enough demand for film manufacturers to even bother producing it.

Aerial photography, both military and commercial, were the biggest users by far. I remember having 10-12 pallets being delivered on a monthly basis. Next came traffic camera use. The portrait stuff was a distant third.

 

[Radost]

Shooting 85 frames a roll is nuts. It would Take me forever. I think this is a big downside of the format.

 

[rhizomeblur]

"NIKOR 70MM TANK WITH STAINLESS STEEL REEL"

You may unlock perfection thereafter.

Thank you Michel! Excellent catch. I'll fix this on the next site update.

 

[rhizomeblur]

Shooting 85 frames a roll is nuts. It would Take me forever.

As described on the Intro page of the site, 70mm is a variable cassette format. You don't shoot pre-defined rolls. You load as much film as you wish in a cassette, and you cut it whenever you wish to develop (a new takeup spool can be inserted and you can continue shooting; I've used this method to change ISO mid-cassette). This is one of the huge advantages of 70mm over 120 or any roll film: you never have to "finish a roll" to develop or change speed. However many frames you wish to shoot is how long a "roll" is!

 

[Sirius Glass]

Now that there exists good places and good ways to get 70mm film with the sprocket holes et al, I no longer shoot film enough to support using 70mm film for myself. About 5 years earlier would have made me a convert.

 

[rhizomeblur]

Many of you who signed up for 70mm updates have already seen this announcement, but I wanted to mention it here: Mercury Works will produce a new 70mm camera! It's a medium format stereoscopic camera system, five years in the making. It takes interchangeable lenses and interchangeable film backs, including a special 70mm back that we are producing in limited quantities just for this Kickstarter (which will launch in a couple of days)!

The 70mm back is machined and rebuilt from a Graflex RH50, with a new, panoramic orientation. Though it was specially developed for this camera, it can also be used on any standard 4x5 camera for 70mm panoramas.

Here's the video for the new camera (it includes a view of the 70mm back):



I'm happy to discuss any 70mm aspects of this system in this thread, but for questions about the camera system as a whole or medium format stereo, please check out its dedicated thread.

Cheers!

 

[MCB18]

Little birdie is telling me 1400 ft of 70mm Kodak SO-415 is about to go on sale from Seawood Camera!

 

[Cholentpot]

Little birdie is telling me 1400 ft of 70mm Kodak SO-415 is about to go on sale from Seawood Camera!

What kind of film is this?

 

[MCB18]

What kind of film is this?

No idea lol

 

[rhizomeblur]

"SO" numbered film in the Kodak catalog is "special order," meaning a non-stocked emulsion or format. Usually this means something formulated for an industrial or technical purpose, for some large company or a government. So unless tested, there's no way of knowing the characteristics of SO film.