Today I’m going to walk you through loading a roll of 120 format film into the LAB-BOX for processing. The LAB-BOX is an ingenious little box that is used to process film in daylight, without the need for the laborious black-bag that many people, including myself, have been using as a full-blown dark-room replacement.
There are plenty of videos out there for this, but I thought I’d illustrate the process in photos, as this might be easier to follow along with for some people at least. We will then follow up with another post showing the development process. Today is just to show you how to load the film, and I think you’ll agree, this little box really is a stroke of genius.
Four years ago I created a couple of videos to share my first attempt at feeding a roll of film into the reel using the Paterson system, but as much of a revelation it is to be able to process film without a dark-room, I have to admit, I have only processed a few rolls since then, simply because it’s such a nerve-racking experience.
Then, a few weeks ago, I was communicating with my friend Brian Wood-Koiwa, a street photographer doing wonderful work here in Tokyo, and he mentioned the LAB-BOX, and I ordered one before getting to the end of his email. When I told Brian that I had ordered one, he told me that I probably needed the optional crank as well, so I had to wait for that to arrive before I could get into this, but it’s all here now, and I’m really looking forward to sharing this new process with you.
LAB-BOX
I won’t do an unboxing as such, but here is what arrived in its original box, and the optional crank which came a week or so later. There are stockists around the world, but for me based in Japan, Camera Film Photo in Hong Kong was my closest option and they were very fast, shipping each of my orders within a few hours of placing them, so I was pleased with their service.
LAB-BOX Multi-Format Daylight-Loading Film Tank
I bought the 135+120 Module Lab-Box, which comes, as you might imagine, with a module for developing 35mm film and a second module for 120 format film. I actually shoot more 120 format film, but I also have a few 35mm film cameras and a few rolls of film in my fridge too, so I figured that at $199, for the package with both modules, it wasn’t going to break the bank.
Unpacked and including the optional Crank, this next image shows what you will get in the 135+120 Module Lab Box package. Mine came with the 135 Module fitted, and the 120 Module in a separate box. There is apparently also a choice of three colors, with Green and Black available in addition to this Orange, but in my excitement, I didn’t even notice the options. I’d have probably gone with this striking orange anyway.
LAB-BOX Contents with 135 and 120 Modules + Option Crank
What each piece is for will become clear as we proceed, so let’s press-on. Following the very thorough manual, I first built the film guide that we see in the next photo and put it together in the 120 film format position. For 35mm film, you press the two sides together.
LAB-BOX Film Guide to feed the film to the spool
In the next image, you can see the hub and 120 format reel. The 135 format reel has fins on it, I imagine to both fill out its width and also to help agitate the developing chemicals. You can also see here the ingenious little clear plastic belt with the not so clearly visible film clip that you clip onto the film to spool it onto the reel later.
The LAB-BOX Spool with Hub and leader
I then replaced the orange knob on the side of the Lab-Box with the optional Crank that I bought and found that the end of the crank feeds into the spool inside the tank, as you might imagine so that we can turn it later. Here I have also opened the grey lock on top of the film module on the left, ready to load my film. You can also see the reel with the film clip and film guide now in place inside the tank.
LAB-BOX with Spool and Film Feeder Fitted
Also, notice that I have turned the dial on the 120 Module to the vertical position so that it’s pointing to the triangle at the top. This is the position to open the film canister inside the 120 Module. You then feed the end of the black backing paper that is on 120 format film through the little slit on the side of the 120 Module and close the grey lock, before placing the Lab-Box lid firmly on to the Lab-Box.
Feeding the black backing paper out of the slot
Pull the backing paper out through the slit and this, in turn, feeds the film into the canister. You keep pulling the backing paper out until it stops. You’ll see the number one on the paper showing that you’ve reached the start of the roll. You then close the film canister by rotating the dial to the square.
LAB-BOX Film Chamber Open at Square Symbol
While we’re on this view of the Lab-Box, note the little notch at 9 O’clock on that dial, which is where you rotate the dial to in order to remove the spindle that the film was wound onto once we’ve finished the development process. You then tear away the backing paper and having double-checked that the film canister is closed, open the Lab-Box again.
Tear away the backing paper after pulling out to 1.
Then either tear or cut-away the remnant of backing paper from the end of the film, and ensure that you also remove any tape that might still be stuck to the end of the film. It’s important not to pull the film back out of the canister while doing this, as your first frame isn’t far into that canister at this point, so we don’t want to expose that to the light.
Cut or tear the end of the backing paper
Dec 2019 Update – How to Avoid Losing the First Frame
OK, so in the weeks after releasing this post, I found that you cannot pull the film out of the light-tight chamber this far to attach the lead clip to pull the film into the spool. I am now literally peeling off the tape and backing paper without extracting any film, and now I’m able to keep the first frame on my rolls. If you pull the film out as far as I showed in the above and below photos, you will lose your first frame.
Loading the Lab-Box
The above is an iPhone shot from a later development session and this worked perfectly!
Attach the Film Clip to the center of the film, and as you see as you wind the crank to take up the slack, the film is now poised to be pulled down the Film Guide onto the reel in the development tank.
Attach the film clip before closing the lid and winding film onto spool.
Before we do that, we need to return the 120 Module dial back to the top Triangle position to open the film canister and allow the film to be wound out. In this position though, with the Lab-Box lid firmly on, you can now wind the crank clockwise until you feel the film loosen as it completely leaves the chamber and is fully wound onto the reel.
Rotate the 120 Knob to the Triangle to Close the Film Chamber
You are now ready to start and develop your film, but just to illustrate this final step, I’m going to show you something that you would normally never do. The film that I used for this first practice session was actually an old roll that I had exposed to the light and used for practice purposes with the Paterson system, so it’s already ruined, which means I can open the lid once again to take a look at the spooled film.
You’ll never do this with unexposed film, but this shows you the film wound onto the spool
You can see how nicely the film has been fed through into the grooves in the reel and is now sitting there patiently waiting for its chemicals. To start the development process you simply pour your chemicals into the top right side of the Lab-Box, and they flow down into the development chamber without letting any light in, just like magic.
I have actually not developed my first roll of film with the Lab-Box yet, but I’m going to do that over the next few days and put a follow-up post together to walk you through that process as well. I’m going to continue to use my ILFORD chemicals that we looked at back in Episode 477, so if you want to check that out, it’s at https://mbp.ac/477.
Next week I have an interview coming up, so it will be a few weeks from now before we conclude this two-part series. I hope you found this useful to this point.
This week’s podcast is a video tutorial, to walk you through my new image editing and processing workflow in Phase One’s Capture One Pro. I have been using Capture One Pro since July, and have absolutely fallen in love with it, to the point that I haven’t used Lightroom once since switching.
I have also not used Silver Efex Pro or Color Efex Pro at all, and I’m finding myself in Photoshop less often too. My biggest test was how comfortable I felt working on all of the images from my recent tours in Greenland and Iceland, but these were no hiccups at all. I have worked exclusively in Capture One Pro, from import to export and everything in between.
One thing that I was kind of surprised by, was just how little work I had to do on most of my images to get them to look how I wanted. I have never been a heavy image processor, but during my earlier tests, I was putting quite a lot of time into each image. In reality, most of the images that I worked on over the last few month were how I wanted them to look after tweaking just a few sliders.
On occasion, I dived in and did a little bit of work with Adjustment layers, and sometimes did extensive cloning and healing to remove unwanted features like lots of people in the shot, and none of this was difficult to achieve.
What’s really enhanced my Capture One Pro workflow, is the ability to customize Capture One Pro’s user interface and shortcut keys, literally putting everything that I need right at my fingertips. Because of this, I also spend some time in this video explaining some of these aspects, especially the custom shortcuts.
To make it easier to follow along, I’ve actually shared my shortcut customizations here along with a PDF to print them out for easy reference. If you haven’t customized your own shortcuts, you might want to give these a try. Come back to check the shortcuts page from time to time too, as I’ll continue to tweak my shortcuts and will update the page whenever I do. There is a link to the page in the PDF to make that easy to do.
So, here’s the video. It’s almost an hour long, so grab a coffee and a plate of cookies, and I hope you find it useful.
Here too is a link that will list all Capture One Pro tutorials that I release. With this video, we are currently at four, but this list will grow over time as I release more.
Please note that due to changes in Phase One, the discount code that I mentioned in the Podcast is no longer valid. Do give Capture One Pro a try though. You can download it here and use it for 30 days before you make up your mind.
We continue our mini-series of Film Fun videos, and today is the big day! In this week’s video, we develop a roll of black and white ILFORD 120 medium format film.
The podcast released for this episode is just an iPhone optimized low-resolution version of the full-sized video, which will enable you to view during your commute etc. but to see any detail, it’s best to view the full-sized video below.
Here’s a rundown of the entire Film Fun series.
Part #1 – Loading and Unloading a Yashica-D TLR Camera with 120 Medium Format Film (see here)
Part #2 – Feeding 120 Film into a Paterson Reel for Developing (see here)
Part #2b – Feeding 120 Film into a Paterson Reel inside the Changing Bag (see here)
Part #3 – Developing a Roll of ILFORD 120 Black and White Film (video below)
Part #4 – Scanning Medium Format 120 Film (see here)
Although I shot film for around 20 years until around 2000, I never had the chance to develop my own, so this whole experience has been very new to me and a LOT of fun. I won’t spill the beans on what happens in part three just yet, but as I mention a few times in the videos, I am sharing this first time experience with you, blow-by-blow, warts and all.
Below the video, you’ll also find links to everything that you need to develop your own film on B&H. Figuring this out was one of the largest hurdles, so I hope that will be useful for you too.
Here’s the main video for Part #3!
Here are the links to all of the products required for this process on B&H Photo. You can help to support the podcast by using these links. Use this link if you don’t see the products below: https://mbp.ac/bhfdp
Today we continue our a mini-series of Film Fun videos, in which I’m walking you through my first experiences in using and processing ILFORD black and white 120 medium format film.
The podcast released for this episode is just an iPhone optimized low resolution version of the full sized video, which will enable you to view during your commute etc. but to see any detail, it’s best to view the full sized video below.
Here’s a run down of the entire Film Fun series.
Part #1 – Loading and Unloading a Yashica-D TLR Camera with 120 Medium Format Film (See here)
Part #2 – Feeding 120 Film into a Paterson Reel for Developing (video below)
Part #2b – Feeding 120 Film into a Paterson Reel inside the Changing Bag (video below)
Part #3 – Developing a Roll of ILFORD 120 Black and White Film (see here)
Part #4 – Scanning Medium Format 120 Film (see here)
Although I shot film for around 20 years until around 2000, I never had the chance to develop my own, so this whole experience has been very new to me and a LOT of fun. I won’t spill the beans on what happens in part three just yet, but as I mention a few times in the videos, I am sharing this first time experience with you, blow-by-blow, warts and all.
Below the videos you’ll also find links to everything that you need to develop your own film on B&H. Figuring this out was one of the largest hurdles, so I hope that will be useful for you too.
Here’s the main video for Part #2!
And here is the bonus video showing the same process, but doing it inside the changing bag!
Here are the links to all of the products required for this process on B&H Photo. You can help to support the podcast by using these links. Use this link if you don’t see the products below: https://mbp.ac/bhfdp
Today we kick off a mini-series of Film Fun videos, in which I’m going to walk you through my first experiences in using and processing ILFORD black and white 120 medium format film.
I’m recording this brief audio introduction for release today, to let you know what’s happening, but for the following weeks, I’ll just release a small iPhone version of the video instead. Please come to the blog to view the full-sized videos and get links to the products required to develop your own film etc. If you’d like an email reminder when the following episodes are released, please subscribe to our newsletter.
Here’s a run-down of the entire Film Fun series.
Part #1 – Loading and Unloading a Yashica-D TLR Camera with 120 Medium Format Film (video below)
Part #2 – Feeding 120 Film into a Paterson Reel for Developing (see here)
Part #2b – Feeding 120 Film into a Paterson Reel inside the Changing Bag (see here)
Part #3 – Developing a Roll of ILFORD 120 Black and White Film (see here)
Part #4 – Scanning Medium Format 120 Film (see here)
Note that the Film Fun series is expanding, and you can list all posts here: https://mbp.ac/film
Although I shot film for around 20 years until around 2000, I never had the chance to develop my own, so this whole experience has been very new to me and a LOT of fun. I won’t spill the beans on what happens in the future parts just yet, but as I mention a few times in the videos, I am sharing this first time experience with you, blow-by-blow, warts and all.
It’s not so important for this first video, but from next week I’ll also post links to everything that you need to develop your own film on B&H. Figuring this out was one of the largest hurdles, so I hope that will be useful for you too.
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