Complete Guide to 70mm Film

Sonynolta User

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Here's my Pentax 645 with the Kardashian / Badonka Back... ie the 70mm film back. It's so euuuuuuge, you need a eyepiece extension, which I was fortunate enough to find separately. I've run some Kodak 2402 Aero Plus X through it, now I just need a 70mm reel or appropriate spacer extension for my Jobo tank.

I reeeeeally need to find a source for a short end of 65mm Vision3 so I can experiment with that as well.

Balances nicely with my 80-160 zoom (approaching weight of Pentax 6x7 )

Are there any good ways to store 70/65mm negs? I suppose I could always slice them...
 

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eli griggs

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Thanks for putting together this resource.

It might be good you could collect a list of film developers that users consider superior for each of the listed film stocks and include this info with the film descriptions.

Also, in your explanation of the three 'types' of perforated and non perforated films, you might consider the most common still cameras/backs used in each catalog.

Cheers.
 

Sonynolta User

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First results from some Indian 2402 aero plus-x run through my Pentax 645 70mm back.
Jobo spacer found on thingiverse and 3d printed.
 

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Certain Exposures

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Thank you for putting this together, Zach. I'm still running through the comments here and all your site content. I sent you an email about one of your products in the meantime.
 
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rhizomeblur

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Yes, 50D is amazing film--the finest grained camera film ever invented, at least according to Kodak. We do have some 70mm cassettes that we'll make available when we launch the 65mm film, but not a huge number. I do recommend that folks pick those up from eBay whenever available.

Your Pentax 70mm setup is awesome! Thanks for posting some photos of it here. I'll PM you about possibly using one of them on the 70mm site.
 
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rhizomeblur

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Yes, I'll add this to the site in the future, and let you know. I understand that for slicing purposes, more info on the perf locations and relative distances would be helpful. I'll let you know via this thread once I have a chance to add that to the site.
 
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rhizomeblur

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Thanks for these excellent suggestions, Eli!

As to favorite developers (for BW films), I'll open that question to everyone: do you have a favorite developer for particular BW 70mm films? I'll happily add any thoughts/results to the site, along with my own.
 

Sonynolta User

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Maybe it wasn't easy, or necessary smart, but I made it happen.
Now I just need to figure out a way to hold the negs for scanning
Cut them down or 3d print....
 

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Cholentpot

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Sonynolta User said:
Maybe it wasn't easy, or necessary smart, but I made it happen.
Now I just need to figure out a way to hold the negs for scanning
Cut them down or 3d print....
Click to expand...

I use a negative holder from an enlarger. Holds it pretty flat for DSLR scanning.
 

MCB18

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Sonynolta User said:
Maybe it wasn't easy, or necessary smart, but I made it happen.
Now I just need to figure out a way to hold the negs for scanning
Cut them down or 3d print....
Click to expand...

If you don’t mind, where did you get the film?
 

nosmok

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To scan 70mm, I have taken some old 35mm 2-strip holders (for an Epson V600 I no longer have), and sliced out the center plastic piece separating the strips.

Lots of cutting, some sanding of projections, and some epoxy and time under some phonebooks later, I have this:
It works... good, I guess. Better than OK, but it took a lot of tweaking and it's still not quite 100% (more sanding of projections!). Some eBay vendors have made holders for 616 and 116 film (which is 70mm stock), but this ended up being the better solution for me because 1) I had 2 of those V600 35mm strip and slide holders lying around doing nothing, and 2) I don't shoot a lot of 70mm.

ETA: I see on evilBay that one can buy these holders (the original, in the first photo) in bulk quantities, 5 or 10 at a time. So this could still be a solution if you're leery of cutting and then scanning 70mm 1 frame at a time.
 
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rhizomeblur

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Hi folks, the moment has finally arrived: we have launched our order campaign for 65mm film! For the next 10 day window we are offering all four Vision 3 stocks, plus a special discontinued one, in 65mm (IMAX) film. 50ft and 100ft bulk rolls, packaged in our special 65mm bulk spools, which have the same form factor as 70mm Kodak spools and fit on all 70mm bulk loaders (including ours). Each comes packaged in a used but functional metal 70mm film can, with our labeling. We have the special spools needed to shoot this in any 70mm back that can handle non-perf film (which is every back, using easy modifications): Hasselblad A70, Mamiya RB67, large format, Bronica ETR, Pentax 645.

As part of this sale, we are also offering our specially machined 70mm backs for medium format 6x9 and 6x6, and large format panoramic. Tons of options at different price ranges, but very limited supply of our machined backs.

We also offer a newly designed daylight developing tank to develop this film (and 70mm), as well as accessories for loading, scanning, etc.

Basically, we've created a complete 65mm ecosystem to make shooting it a breeze. Price for 100ft cans comes out to about $7 per equivalent roll of 120. But of course this is far superior film to anything available in 120, and has all of the benefits of 70mm: variable cassette loads, mid-roll cutting to develop anytime, ability to shoot without reloading for a long time, less film curl (flatter film), etc.

We are also offering (via our new lab, M-Alchemy) long roll processing (up to 15 ft) of this film and 70mm, in C-41, BW, or ECN-2 (recommended). And we can even make slides from this.

All details, and links to place your orders, can be found here: https://www.shoot65mm.com
 
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Sonynolta User

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Well I got my Pentax 645 loaded up with some Vision3 250D. I posted about a month ago that I acquired a 70mm film back for my 645. With a little conniving, filing and spooling of film, I managed to run some Kodak Vision3 250D through it. I've got a bit of sprocket burn, so this was likely because of the outside of the short end. This was processed in c41 (not ECN2) and (badly) scanned on my Epson with the Printfile page on the platen. Because I don't really have a 65mm carrier ATM. But as proof of concept, it appears to work.
 

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rhizomeblur

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Looks like a great start to me!

Of course, all of this would be a lot easier now with the Mercury Works 65mm ecosystem! It would also result in you losing a bit less image to the perforations.

We don't have a flatbed scanning holder, but we do have a negative holder for camera scanning.

And yes, indeed, short ends are by their very nature unpredictable, as they have lived on a film set, been loaded and shot in a camera, then manually unloaded, been exposed for who knows how many months to heat and/or humidity, then been stored in indeterminate conditions since. But I think you're getting pretty good results, given all that. I personally don't trust short ends, but the Malick film we're giving away was actually a short end, so you never know!

Thanks for sharing, and also for contributing some images to the Pentax 70mm section of the site!
 

Marco Gilardetti

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I must add my voice to all the thanks that have been written for your website, it is by far the most informative piece of literature that I've ever seen about 70mm in photography. Despite owning dozens and dozens of photography books, so far I only had a vague idea about what 70mm was, as it was invariably just sketched in few quick lines. So far I never really realised that such things as "70mm canisters" existed - go figure.

Thanks for all the effort that went into the website - I know that there is a lot of work behind it.
 
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rhizomeblur

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Thanks for your kind words, Marco! I'm glad you found the site useful. You're right: years of research and work went into it!

For years I just couldn't believe that the best medium format for photography was so poorly documented! I hope a new generation of photographers will now be able to discover and use this format, especially since Mercury Works has now extended it to encompass 65mm motion picture film.
 

MCB18

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Romanko said:
Nice! Where did you get Portra 160 in 70 mm unperforated?
Click to expand...

They go up on eBay occasionally. There was a seller that sold a couple hundred feet a couple months back, but they usually go for a lot more than I think they are worth (I paid $130 for a full tin of Aviphot Color 400 from a member here, meanwhile eBay sellers want that for half empty tins…).
 
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