Roll 21: Wasting Film

Ugh.   I had another camera experiment weekend and killed some film.    Darnit.   There goes $9 bucks worth of Kodak Ektar on 120.   That seems really silly when I figured out that one of the cameras that I was attempting to test only cost me $3.   The economics on that one aren’t good, are they?

What happened, you ask?

I tried to make some 120 film fit into a camera meant for 620.   It has worked for me in a couple of other cameras.   But, those darn evil corporations are sneaky about making things JUST SLIGHTLY different and yet impossible to use.

I trimmed the original plastic roller on the film and even sanded it down to make it fit into the cameras.   I could not get either of these two cameras to work with my modified 120.   Once I got the rolls small enough to fit in the camera cases, they just wouldn’t roll to advance.

The Photak Reflex II

The Photak has a pin that goes through the middle of the film roll.   I stabbed through the plastic on my 120 and subsequently through the film, too.   Ooops.

Kodak Junior Autographic No. 1

The Kodak No. 1 was what I was really trying to use.  And, it might be worth overpaying for the right film rollers.   Maybe.   What do you think?

And, FYI … I even tried to re-roll the film onto the 620 rollers that I managed to salvage from the cameras.   This was just not my day.   The re-rolling in the dark fiasco was just a feeble attempt to not waste the film after I had put so much effort into cutting and sanding.

I looked online and B&H Photo sells 620 for about $15 a roll.   I bought this film for $9 but soon realized that I could have gotten it online for much cheaper.   I bought it at the local Mom&Pop store so I don’t feel too bad.   But, money is money … ya know??

Lesson learned.   Moving on to another roll.

Has anyone out there had much success with this?   Any tips or pointers?   Let me know your secrets!