this post was submitted on 13 Dec 2025
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Photography
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Plastic reels just have a tendency to jam. In the end it's basic physics. You push a thin and flexible material down into a spiral. At some point the resistance will win.
If you keep your plastic reels clean and dry(!) and use films with a decently thick base, it usually still works fine though. Once you use a a film with a more flimsy base, this will turn into a problem.
The make of the film material is basically zero problem with metal reels though, because you wind the film onto them. No pushing of flexible material involved. Metal reels also just work fine if you get sweaty hands inside your changing bag because it's summer and everything is hot.
I mostly use metal reels nowadays. Because the handling is absolutely predicatable and they're also easier to clean and dry. Sometimes i still use the plastic reels, because i have them, but only with films like Ilford. Because they are thick enough to not jam up everything.
Many people seems to praise metal reels like you do, I will buy one at some point but I can’t imagine loading a soft or curly film without the help of a ball bearing …?
Like what prevents it to slip backwards ? How to avoid touching the negative surface with my hands…
(I wear vinyl gloves in the dark chamber to avoid sweat and figerprints)
You hold the film on the edges and let it slip through while winding it on the reel. There's a bunch of videos that show the process. It's pretty straight forward.
As with everything: pratice first until you can literally do it blindly.
I don't wear any gloves. I start with clean hands and whatever tiny fingerprint-fragment might get onto anything, will be dissolved multiple times by the chemicals anyway :-)
Think about a metal tape measure. Its a long piece of floppy metal, but can stand nearly straight when held horizontally for many feet (or CM). Its because the metal is curved. When loading the film you do the same them. You hold the film at the edges and squeeze it a bit so it has that same curve as a tape measure. The metal reel is slightly narrower than 35mm film so the film goes in easy when curved, but when it gets to the binding point in the reel it expands out becoming wider, where it gets "caught" by the edge of the wire reel.