How to Bulk Load 35mm Film

8 min read by Dmitri.
Published on October 3, 2024. Updated on October 10, 2024.

Comments

Save

Bulk loading film saves money, frees you up to use any (reasonable) film length in your camera, helps upcycle 35mm cartridges, and even simplifies home film development¹.

With the right tools, you can roll your own cinema film or stage photography experiments that wouldn’t be possible with store-bought film rolls.

In this guide, I’ll cover all the tools, techniques, and tips for bulk-rolling your film.

In this guide: Calculating bulk film footage. Is bulk loading film worth it? Tools for bulk loading. How to load the bulk loader tool. How to bulk load your film. Support this blog & get premium features with GOLD memberships!

¹ — This guide instructs to use frosted tape to fasten film to the cartridge, which is easy to tear inside the dark bag, instead of cutting with scissors. This makes loading film onto development reels a little easier.

Calculating bulk film footage.

How many rolls can you get from a bulk pack? This depends on the size of the leader, the number of exposures you expect to load in each cartridge, how much film gets burned at the connection to the cartridge, and the size of your bulk roll.

Assuming that you’d be using a standard 100’/30m bulk roll for 36 exposures in each of your cartridges, your yield will be about 19 rolls.

However, one of the advantages of bulk-rolling film is deciding how many frames you like per roll/cartridge (you can load more than 40 if your film is thin enough or as little as three if you don’t mind most of your film being spent as a leader).

This is especially helpful if you shoot half-frame cameras and develop at home since 72+ frames is often too many. It is also useful if you want to stage an experiment, like the one comparing a variety of organic developers, which needed a whole bunch of 12exp. rolls.

For those uses, you may like to use the Bulk Roll Calculator app, which will give you a much more precise answer.

Is bulk loading film worth it?

Not always.

You’d think that saving the manufacturer money on film cartridges and the effort it takes to load them would entice them to heavily discount bulk rolls. Often that is the case, but as it says above, not always.

For example, Freestyle Photo is currently selling Kodak Tri-X 100’ bulk rolls for $190, which converts to about $10 per roll. That same store is selling Tri-X packaged by Kodak for $10 per roll. Don’t forget that factory-packaged film does not have the last frame partially exposed and it comes in a fresh metal cartridge with DX code. You’d be losing money and time with this operation.

Mostly, yes.

Tri-X is an extreme example of bulk film pricing that exists because some people still find it worth their time (for various reasons, as described above). However, most film is discounted significantly when sold in bulk. For example, Freestyle Photo sells Kentmere 400 for $78, which converts to about $4.11 per roll — this is almost half the price of a single 36exp. roll at the same store ($7.19).

The economics can improve even further if you buy 400’ rolls or short ends from motion picture studios.

✪ Note: Film rolls longer than 100’/30m will need a special bulk loader tool.

Tools for bulk loading.

You don’t need many expensive tools; just a bulk film loader tool, your bulk film roll, a changing bag, scissors, and frosted tape.

If you develop your own film at home and save your 35mm cartridges (as I recommend in my home development guides), you don’t need anything else. I strongly recommend that you use only metal cartridges for bulk-loading.

If you don’t have any spent film cartridges and don’t develop film at home, ask your friends or your local lab first. You may need just one as you don’t have to load the entire 100’ roll all at once. You can also find people selling empty cartridges on online marketplaces. But if all fails, you can buy some new reloadable cartridges.

View this image in HD with GOLD

This is how a buil roll looks inside the bulk loader tool when it’s open (do not expose your film to daylight like this, this is a dummy roll!)

How to load the bulk loader tool.

Before you can start loading your bulk roll into film cartridges, you’ll need to transfer it into your daylight loader tool.

Inside your bulk roll box, you’ll typically find a metal canister, sealed with tape. Inside the canister, there would be a black plastic bag, and inside of that bag is the film. To avoid ruining your film, you should unpack it in a dark bag, starting with the metal canister (you can start pealing the tape that seals it in daylight and finish pealing it in the dark/changing bag).

It’s best to open your empty bulk loader and familiarize yourself with its internals before proceeding to load it. Mine (above) has a white indented arrow that I could feel to identify which way the roll should be placed inside the tool. Yours may look a little different, which is why it’s a good idea to open it up, see what’s inside, and practice the motions needed to open and close it.

Once ready, begin by placing your bulk loader tool inside the dark bag and your bulk roll canister. You should have your bulk loader open and its cover detached (including the door for the film cartridge chamber).

Your bulk roll will usually have a piece of tape fastening it to itself. When you remove the bulk roll from the canister inside your changing bag, hold it tightly so it does not unravel.

Remove the tape from the roll. Stick all your tape bits on the inside of your dark bag (you can clean that up later). Then, feed the end of the roll into your bulk loader’s slot as shown in the photo above. It may be a little cumbersome to feed the film inside the loader and hold the roll at the same time, but it should be manageable.

Once the end of the roll is fed through the slot and a few inches of it are left outside, place the roll onto the spool. Your bulk roll will have the plastic core, so you don’t need to have anything there prior to loading it.

My bulk loader has two positions: “CLOSE” and “OPEN.” The first one clamps the film and ensures a tighter light seal. If yours is like mine, you should ensure that it’s set to “CLOSE” before you take it out of your dark bag.

You’re now ready to start bulk-loading your film in daylight!

View this image in HD with GOLD

I use frosted tape to fasten film onto used film cartridges.

How to bulk load your film.

If your bulk loader is anything like mine, the “CLOSE” position clamps the film and ensures a tighter light seal. It also unlocks the film cartridge chamber. But when you begin to roll the film, you’ll need to set it to “OPEN” to avoid scratching the film.

If you are upcycling used film cartridges, you will need to prep them for fastening to the bulk roll (like in the photo above). I use frosted tape because it’s easy to later tear inside a dark bag while loading film onto Paterson reels for processing. The tape is strong enough to handle point-and-shoot cameras with automatic film transport.

The trick is to stick a ~7cm/3” piece of tape to the underside of the film, like in the photo above. Once you place your cartridge inside the bulk loader, wrap both wings around and press them to finish fastening:

View this image in HD with GOLD

Fastening the bulk roll to the film cartridge.

✪ Note: Your store-bought reloadable film cartridges will work a little differently. Typically, you’ll need to take them apart, attach the film to the core, and then put them back together.

Once you’ve secured your bulk roll to the film cartridge, place it inside the bulk loader and close the door or lid that covers the cartridge chamber.

Bulk loaders will help you count frames by sounding clicks and indicating that on the counter wheel. I like to set mine to zero first and then count the frames from there.

My bulk loader does not have an independent “film remaining” counter, so I rely on my records to approximate the amount of film left. If you have a fancy Arista one or something similar, you’ll have a better idea.

The usual length of a leader sticking out of your 35mm cartridge is six frames (this includes the length that you’ll be stretching while loading it into a camera). However, you may adjust that length based on your preference and re-calculate your yield. Add those six/x frames to your desired number of exposures.

Once you’ve got to your last click/frame, open the film cartridge chamber (my bulk loader requires switching to the “CLOSE” position to unlock that chamber) and cut the film at a right angle. Then, cut it again at 45° or a fancy curve, like this:

View this image in HD with GOLD

✪ Note: Because you had a piece of your bulk film sticking out when you fastened your film cartridge to it, the last frame of your film might be partially or fully exposed (depending on how your film camera is designed). You may want to include that in your calculations.

You can now repeat this process for the remainder of your film or simply keep the rest in your loader for later. Alternatively, you can pack your bulk roll back into the metal can; if you do that, make sure to place it inside the black plastic bag and seal the can with some electric tape.

Here’s a short video of me bulk-rolling, testing, and packing Kodak Motion Picture film using the methods above. ✌️