Film picker retriever causing light leaks?

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Күн бұрын

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@pushingfilm 5 ай бұрын

Update: 1- I want to reiterate that this isn't a blanket problem with film retrievers. I've also successfully used them for years in the past, which is why I suspected my particular copy. 2- I've had feedback saying this could be a problem with Ilford (and thus Kentmere) films. Although I have also had the same leaks on other films (like Rollei), I mainly shoot Ilford films... so it's worth investigating. Maybe the particular combo of Ilford rolls + a "bad" picker? I'll continue testing, paying attention to the film brand. 3- Something else I suspected could be an issue, reinforced by some comments: The translucent white plastic on some pickers instead of opaque black. This one makes sense as a potential cause of light piping. 4- I also appreciate the tips like using wet film, tape and other tricks like just leaving the leader out when rewinding. I'm already aware of most methods and alternatives, but leave your tips anyway because it could help others, and you might still have something new. 5- Thanks for all the feedback and comments from everyone to help us solve this, and sorry if I haven't replied yet! If you have the same issue, please investigate whether it's only on Ilford/Kentmere films and edit your original comment with this information.

@AlexOnStreets 5 ай бұрын

I also have the same issue sometimes! I have a Matin. I also bulk load and thought maybe the felt could be old but this makes more sense too.

@pushingfilm 5 ай бұрын

You too! Is it only (or mainly) on Ilford rolls in your case? Although I've had it on others, I mainly shoot Ilford... and it seems like they had batches which are prone to leaks through the felt trap.

@michaelhaarstad2130 5 ай бұрын

I've only used a leader retriever for a few accidental situations where I rolled the film back in. I too am now saving cassettes to reuse for bulk rolling. I recently found that I could actually use the ilford opener, same as you have, to carefully remove the top without bending it significantly. Had to squeeze the sides a bit while lifting with the opener, slowly increasing pressure, but it worked and I could seal it back up without much issue. Not quite the same technique as cracking open a fresh beer, but it wasn't bad.

@Guairenito 5 ай бұрын

This is an informative video, thank you for sharing your experience with us. I think your retriever just wore out and it is a good idea to replace it. Try also retrieving the leader just with another short piece of film. You could save little stripes of scrap undeveloped film from rolls you develop, and use them to retrieve your leader. You just have to wet a little bit one of the ends and insert that into the canister you want to retrieve the leader from, spin the film inside the canister a couple of turns and most of the time the 2 ends stick together and then voila, you got your film out.

@AlbertChetcuti 5 ай бұрын

I've used and still use a MATIN film retriver and get no light leaks. I've used it for more than 100 rolls of 35mm film. Good luck !!

@pushingfilm 5 ай бұрын

Nice! What's the main film stock that you self-develop?

@AlbertChetcuti 5 ай бұрын

@@pushingfilm Generally cheaper C-41 films like ColorPlus, Fujifilm C200 and ImagePro 100. On special trips, I'll specifically purchase, shoot and develop Kodak Ektar 100, but the price of Ektar, and generally all films has sky rocketed lately. I also like shooting B+W films, like Fomapan 100, Shangai GP3, Kentmere 400, or FP4.

@chrisjones9076 5 ай бұрын

Film pickers! bane of my life for about a year, till I eventually got the hang of using one type, the ars-Image, all metal and very small, I swear by it. Thank for all you do.

@slothsarecool 5 ай бұрын

Interesting, I have the same one from Amazon, I don’t remember having any leaks but I’ll pay attention to that

@thomasa.243 5 ай бұрын

The only thing I can recommend is to not rewind the film back completely into the cartridge. To indicate that I have used that role, I just bend the film leader. Never had any problems with light leaks, etc. If the film gets into the cartridge by accident, a piece of double sided tape and my dummy film roll work as some kind of film retriever. Or, homo brutalos style, destroying the canister in the darkbag 😅

@GirdHerd 5 ай бұрын

I agree with you if it's an old style camera where you manually rewind the film. Unfortunately, a lot of the more modern film cameras automatically rewind after taking that last shot. In that case, you have to use a picker or can opener. I prefer using the picker because I like to start the roll on the developing reel before I put it in the changing bag.

@thomasa.243 5 ай бұрын

@@GirdHerd True, although I just recently discovered that Minolta cameras have the option to leave the leader out after rewinding. It is hidden in some menu but good luck finding that having no user manual…

@JimManternach 5 ай бұрын

My Canon film cameras, A2E, Elan IIe and Elan 7e all have a custom option setting to leave the leader out after rewind. Works great for changing film mid-roll or for processing. Kinking the leader on used rolls is a great tip!

@hkleinespel 5 ай бұрын

You might have just solved my light-leak issue on the first frames of many of the films I shot and developed ! Thanks, I'll be more careful now.

@ariannadominguez8162 5 ай бұрын

Same over here, I’m speechless… it never occurred to me since I have been using a new M6 and was about to blame it, but it makes sense since I also recently started using this retriever. I’ll see if a dark bag or room can solve the issue.

@pushingfilm 5 ай бұрын

Was it only(or mainly) on Ilford/Kentmere film? I'm trying to investigate this next

@ariannadominguez8162 5 ай бұрын

@@pushingfilm so far it happened twice with HP5 and once with Delta 400, I can’t speak for color negative rolls since those are waiting to be developed, but I will probably use a dark bag.

@GirdHerd 5 ай бұрын

Good to know. I just started developing my own film again and am using a brand new Matin Film Picker 7. I didn't see any light leaks on the first two B&W rolls I've developed but will keep an eye on it because of your warning. Thanks for the heads up.

@pushingfilm 3 ай бұрын

Thanks for contributing! If nothing else, mine is a nuisance due to the splaying... making it harder to use than it should be 😅

@thomasz1543 5 ай бұрын

Interesting, I have one, but never found out on how to use it properly. Therefore it prevented me having light leaks? I use mainly the wet old filmstrip method. Maybe you can add an instruction video on how to use it?

@jz8638 5 ай бұрын

thank you so much for sharing. Just bought one from AP actually. Fingers crossed nothing will happen...

@alexandermatragos 5 ай бұрын

Interesting to know, never had this issue. I’m using a Kaiser one and I’m generally happy with it. I can’t say if it ends up being leaky with more usage, but so far I haven’t had any problems with it.

@chrisloomis1489 5 ай бұрын

Thanks for the head's up .... did not know that these could affect the canister light seal. I was not aware of these tools " film picker's " .

@joanmichel 5 ай бұрын

Interesting knowledge. I never experienced this but now I’ll be mindful of this.😮

@kevin-parratt-artist 5 ай бұрын

Interesting, thanks. I lost my film retriever years ago, so I just pop the film cartridge open, damaging them if need be. No great loss, because decades ago I bought a bundle of reusable plastic cartridges for the occasional bulk film exercise. There are some Kaiser film cartridges available in Australia, now. A set of 5, new.

@michaelruss9604 5 ай бұрын

That's really interesting! I work in a lab where we use leader card processing for our C41 and BW stuff, and I use a picker similar to this one (will have to find out the brand BC I'm not sure). Never seen leaks like this but will be weary of it, especially given the picker is used for about 70ish rolls a day so it should be getting alot of wear and tear.

@michaelruss9604 5 ай бұрын

Found it's the HCL picker 4 - pretty expensive offering but never had issues with it even with heavy use.

@Aironught 5 ай бұрын

Wow, yes this has to be my exact same issue. I was wondering what was causing this problem. I do the same where I develop B&W at home but drop off my color at a lab and I’ve noticed that my color rolls never have the light leaks on the first couple frames but the black and white do. I haven’t been able to figure out what’s causing this and I think this has to be it. Super interesting thanks for pointing this out!

@pushingfilm 5 ай бұрын

I've had some people say it's more prone with Ilford/Kentmere films (even though I've had it with other brands too... but then again, I mainly shoot Ilford!) Have you had it on various brands of black and white film?

@TheNegative 5 ай бұрын

Get the one thats the simple thin metal one. Ars-imago makes one. They’re simple and cheap and work perfectly. Never had an issue.

@CriticalDepth 5 ай бұрын

Never had the issue, but also every film picker I've used is black instead of white like the one you're showing.

@felipedelahoz5668 5 ай бұрын

I've had a similar issue. My working theory was that it was a problem with the felt, as I was bulk-loading cartridges and figured I may have overused one or two. Never even considered that the film picker could be a culprit. Thanks for this

@pushingfilm 5 ай бұрын

It could even be a combination of certain felt seals with certain film pickers! I'm looking into this now, as I've had people comment that it's unique to Ilford (although I've had it on other films too)

@felipedelahoz5668 5 ай бұрын

@@pushingfilm The cartridges I used to load up the film weren't all Ilford, though the film itself was. Will have to monitor and see!

@trevorjacques_ 5 ай бұрын

I have been getting more and more of these exact light leaks on the first few frames of ilford films only. And I never use a film picker for any b/w but I do for all my color stuff (which never has these light leaks). My hypothesis was that the ilford seals on the slit of the 35mm canisters weren’t sealing well when you physically pull the first bit out to load it into the camera. Not 100% sure it’s caused by the film retriever

@mucchet 5 ай бұрын

I got light leak on the first frame of my kentmere 100 film too and I didn't use film retriever either. And the shape of the leak was just like the shape on the video.

@pushingfilm 5 ай бұрын

Thanks for sharing. I'm seeing a few reports of this, and it seems to be at least part of the problem for me (although I've had the same thing on non-ilford frames too) Are your leaks roughly equidistant and can go as far as the 3rd or 4th frame?

@mucchet 5 ай бұрын

@@pushingfilm mine was only on the first frame.

@trevorjacques_ 5 ай бұрын

@@pushingfilm yes. I’ve certainly had them all the way to the 4th frame. I also work in a lab, and use a film puller on every color roll we do, and have never seen anything that matches what I see on my own b/w (and again, I never use a film puller on my b/w)

@Jonahc-u6h 5 ай бұрын

Unless you need the roll lead intact for bulk loading, just pop cap off canister and load into reel. But, it might be dustier depending on your procedure

@punisher0025 5 ай бұрын

I've been having the same identical light leaks on the first frames on some of the bw rolls (but never on any Vision 3 film) I was bulk loading and I've always attributed that to the crappy plastic 35mm reloadable cassettes... up until now. THANK YOU SO MUCH for this video, I guess from now on I will just unscrew to top cap in the changing beg to take out the film.

@pushingfilm 5 ай бұрын

Let me know if that helps for you too! Theres been some feedback making me suspect that it's especially prone to happen with Ilford/Kentmere canisters.

@c.augustin 5 ай бұрын

Oh, my theory would be: This specific specimen has white plastic stripes, that might act as light pipes, so it might also be dependent on the ambient light. I would always look out for those with black oder metal tongues! (Mine has metal tongues, and I never experienced any problems with light leaks.)

@berniecram8347 5 ай бұрын

This would be my theory too. Mine is an old one, more than 20 years old, with black plastic tongues. no light leaks.

@c.augustin 5 ай бұрын

@@berniecram8347 It was my instant reaction when I saw the white plastic tongues.

@pushingfilm 5 ай бұрын

Yeah the translucent white really seems like an oversight!

@AnalogueDiaries 5 ай бұрын

I use metal film retriever by ARS-IMAGO and it's a bit tough one but it works, no light leaks whatsoever. I also have Kaiser film retriever but never had any luck with it, even after watching numerous tutorials still not able to retrieve film with it for some reason :( Worn out felt on the canisters could be an issue for the light leaks as well

@hungdo7162 5 ай бұрын

I've been using Ilford film retriever for years on Ilford, Kodak and Fuji films without having any problems. I'm wondering whether the colour of the plastic tongues and the case can affect (it would be surprising) -- the one I use is completely black. Many thanks for sharing your experience. Cheers.

@ariannadominguez8162 5 ай бұрын

I have a new Matin and have the same issue, did you mention a dark bag not being helpful, cause that’s what I was going to try next.

@VariTimo 5 ай бұрын

Haven’t used my AP one but I switched to it from my Kaiser one because that got warn out.

@tedphillips2951 5 ай бұрын

I never roll the film all the way back into the canister. I leave the leader out & rip the end off so I know the film has been shot. When I get ready to develop I cut the end with scissors for loading & then in the dark or changing bag load the film still in the canister & cut the film when it is on the reel. This way you can reload the canister without opening it. Also works for reusable canisters.

@chadrem 5 ай бұрын

I've never had this problem and I've used the Arista Deluxe retriever. I think it's the same one you showed in the video (except black instead of gray). I've used it on around 250 rolls of HP5, Tri-X, Porta, etc. I don't bulk load so the felt is always fresh on my rolls. Mine also isn't warped like yours. So sorry to hear you lost some good frames due to this problem.

@pushingfilm 5 ай бұрын

Thanks for sharing. I'm onto some clues and am gonna keep trying to get to the bottom of it :-)

@CornerWaller 5 ай бұрын

Same thing would happen to me. Always on the first couple images. Using a fairly new Matin retriever.

@pushingfilm 5 ай бұрын

Was it also Ilford/Kentmere? or other brands too?

@CornerWaller 5 ай бұрын

@@pushingfilmKodak and Ilford

@flyingo 5 ай бұрын

The only picker I’ve used besides a moistened piece of film is a very old school thin metal one I’ve had since the 80s. I never “trusted” others like this one in your video.

@poniatowski3547 5 ай бұрын

I haven't had this issue, but, I have thrown away that damn useless film picker away anyway as it only ever worked sometimes. I also bulk roll and want to keep the canisters. And by pulling taht leader out i can start the film end into the patter reels prior to turning out the lights in my darkroom. I get the film leader out with an old length of exposed film about 20-30cm long. You damp the end and feed it into the canister, slowly wind the canister and the moistened film will stick to the leader and start to get pulled into the canister. Stop and slowly pull the film piece out and the leader comes with - works every time.

@jsollowsphotography 5 ай бұрын

Ive used one for decades and have developed 1000’s of rolls. Never had it cause a light leak.

@albertogarcia1386 3 ай бұрын

Film picker retriever causing light leaks? It is the first time I heard about that but it could be, why not. I have been told by a technician that owns a film lab shop for over 20 years that the quality of the foam in the canisters is not the same as years ago, now it is much lower quality. I bulk load every week and now that I am loading the camera in very dim light or deep shadows I can tell you that que quantity of rolls with light leaks has drastically dropped off. Try this and use the retriever in low light and you should be fine. Hehe, yes, it is always the best frame, the one with light leeks. We have to accept the uncertainty of analog photography ,scratches and light leeks, the everyday pain in the ass. Best of luck.

@pushingfilm 3 ай бұрын

Yeah I generally try and make a habit of loading in subdued light, as much as possible. Using the retriever in complete darkness does fix it. In low light, still unclear. Pretty sure mine is dodgy, so I'm getting a different one to run more tests. You're absolutely right though, that's part of the fun of shooting film!

@favtex 5 ай бұрын

I just don't use a film picker. You can pull it out using a piece of other undeveloped film, if you wet it emulsion becomes sticky, just put it inside the canister and gently pull out the leader.

@dumdiedeldumtata 5 ай бұрын

It might be an Ilford problem actually! I had similar leaks on first shots of rolls of HP5 and Kentmere, as well as XP2, all fresh stock as far as I can tell. Never had these leaks on color film tho.

@pushingfilm 5 ай бұрын

I'm starting to suspect this has something to do with it! (Although when I pick out or crack open Ilford in the darkbag, I didn't have the issue)

@theblackandwhitefilmproject 5 ай бұрын

Eureka! Problem now solved. I thought the light leak was from loading the film on the camera. I was using the film picker so I could load the spool easier in the dark bag. This system wasn't working as well as I had hoped anyway because the neat trim I made at the end of the leader depending on the camera had quite a curve to it so it often got caught on the spool. Then I had to take it off the spool in the dark bag, use the opener to open the cassette and re-trim the negative. Now that I know what the cause of the light leak is I don't think I will bother with the picker. Sometimes the simplest solution is the best. FYI I have seen other KZbin videos which suggest opening the cassette from the bottom end but not the spool end. I'm not sure why but that's how I do it. Thank you very much. Cheers!

@pushingfilm 5 ай бұрын

Glad to hear this might have helped! Was your issue happening on one particular film stock, or across multiple? Also, I think leaks on the first frame are always a possibility, but when they're equidistant up to the 3rd or 4th, then it seems to be from the felt light trap.

@theblackandwhitefilmproject 5 ай бұрын

@@pushingfilm I only use HP5+ and it was a sporadic problem. I'm not convinced that extracting the leader and trimming it before putting it on the reel instead of doing it all in the dark bag is any easier. One of my cameras- Rollei 35S seems to curl the negative more than the Leica MP even from beyond the leader so it still jammed on the reel. If that happened I have found I can get a straight cut from the spool end. Best regards.

@karlgrabherr7769 5 ай бұрын

Ilford film pickers work just fine!

@valantisjpg 5 ай бұрын

Question: Exposed 35mm b&w hp5 plus film in fridge (inside zip bags) for 6 months..is there gonna be a problem? I will develop it probably next month.

@FUCKTHEPOPO-ACAB 5 ай бұрын

Normally it's okay. I used 7 rolls of Fuji Acros 100ii 35mm version. Some of them were pushed to 200 or 400, with ILFORD DDX. The results were quite good. Although I never put them in the fridge.

@federicoparimbelli8938 5 ай бұрын

I use a KAISER type film selector but made in Japan and so far I haven't had any problems.

@andybaldwinphoto 5 ай бұрын

FWIW, I've used a Matin brand retriever for years without any leaks.

@solmare_ 5 ай бұрын

Well well well, time for me to be afraid of yet another thing in 2024 :') ty for this heads up, I will be keeping an eye out

@matthewmu8663 5 ай бұрын

I was pretty sure that this was a recent Ilford problem, but your negatives are not Ilford. I have had the same problem without the film picker on B&W film only. Strange. Delta is getting very expensive, so it's not really acceptable.

@dumdiedeldumtata 5 ай бұрын

Kentmere is produced by Ilford, so it actually adds up! Had the same leaks on the first few frames of XP2, HP5 and Kentmere 400 as well, never on my color rolls tho.

@pushingfilm 5 ай бұрын

Thanks for sharing! I think this has something to do with it, as if certain batches of Ilford/Kentmere are more prone to leaks through the canister.