Response to Best reels for 120

John, It's been a long time since I worked extensively with 120, but I recall having some of the same difficulties. I tried many things and had my personal best results with good old Nikkor metal reels. Some things that also helped: When removing the paper wrapping from the film, leave the tape on the film end and fold it over to make a thicker, sturdier end to get under the spring at the center of the reel. Let the film roll back up loosely so that you can hold it in your right hand with one end between thumb and forefinger and bow it silightly so that it fits into the reel without scraping the sides. Insert the end under the spring in the center of the reel by lifting the spring slightly with the left index finger and slipping the end under. As for getting the rest of the film on the reel, my technique is to keep the film slightly bowed with my right hand, which is also in contact with the edges of the reel (thumb and forefinger) and then "pull" the film on to the reel by turning it with my lift hand. (This is a lot easier to do than describe). Take a test roll and load it onto your reels (all of them) in the light and adjust the spring tension with a pair of needle-nosed pliers or the like so that your initial fastening of the film end (with the tape) goes smoothly every time for every reel. Practice in the light and in the dark till you can do it every time. If you still get little "moons" (which are caused by kinking the film) every now and then on the first frame, you can keep in mind when shooting and simply burn that frame and shoot an 11 (or whatever) exposure roll. Another related word of caution. If you fill the metal tanks completely to the top, there is no room for the solutions to mix during agitation and you can get streaking, especially lines of more development near the edges of the film. This you can avoid by determining how much solution you need to just cover the reels completely, but not fill the tank full to the top, and use only this much solution for your tanks instead of the full amount. Vigorous agitaion helps too. Hope some of this helps. ;^D)

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