Lomography released a development tank that makes loading film easier.
The fiddliest task of developing film is feeding it onto reels. Reels arrange it so that there’s spacing/no contact across the entire strip. This allows water and chemicals to flow freely across the entire surface, but it has to be done in darkness.
However, loading film onto reels can be difficult. Everything needs to be done by feel. Your hands are confined to a small space that can get warm quickly. As your hands get warm, the sweat makes the job harder. Films with a thin base, like Lomo 800, can be very frustrating to mount in these cases.
Lomography’s solution is a modular film loader and processing box. A core where you place your film roll is inserted into a plastic “doughnut” piece. You then wind the film from your roll into the “doughnut,” which houses the reels, remove the core with your empty canister and pour chems into the “doughnut.”
Lomo Daylight Developing Tank works for single 35mm rolls. The twist agitation looks a little messy in the video (youtube.com/watch?v=XyGh79…), but the inversion lock looks reassuring.
The tank & accessories are $79 at shop.lomography.com/us/day… — all you need is your film chemicals (and tools to mix them) to get started.
Lomography has also published a video that demonstrates how much faster their system of loading film can be than the traditional dark bag way: youtube.com/watch?v=yr-8Nr…
Dmitri Feb 27, ‘25 edit
Dmitri Feb 27, ‘25