Step one: Loading the film onto the reels

The first step is to find a dark place to load your film into reels. I use my darkroom for this and turn my back to the leaks in the windows, or I have also used a bedroom closet and stopped up the light with clothing. Loading film onto the reels can also be done using a light-tight changing bag specifically designed to load film, but the principles are the same.

With the lights on, open your tank and reels and place them, along with your scissors, bottle opener, and film, in an arrangement that you will remember once in complete darkness. Orient the reels so that you won’t be confused by their shape in the dark. If you are using a light-tight changing bag, place all of your items inside the bag.

Once the film is in a light-tight room or bag, use a bottle opener to pop open the bottom of the film canister. You may use any household bottle opener. I use the one on the end of my wine opener. It works best to catch the lip of the film canister near the area where the film enters the canister. The way it protrudes allows a little more traction. This was the thing that frustrated me the most at first. Take your time and don’t be afraid to be aggressive with the film canister. You won’t hurt the film by aggressively prying it open.

Once the film canister is open, push the film out of the canister by pushing down on the cylinder from the top. Take the film completely out and find the end with your fingers. Using your scissors and some caution, cut the end of the film off, just the part that is not squared off. If you are using a camera with manual rewind, and you intentionally do not rewind the film all the way, this can be done prior to opening the canister.

Find your reel in the dark and insert the freshly-cut end of the film into the proper place. If you are using a plastic reel, then it will slide under a plastic tab. If you are using a metal reel, then you will need to clip the film in place in the center of the reel. I strongly suggest practicing this part in the light with some “practice film,” a long piece of exposed film that you would’ve otherwise thrown away.

With a plastic reel, hold one side of the reel stationary while twisting the other side in one direction – short cranks of the reel in the direction that the film is being loaded onto it. The film not yet loaded is likely to twist and curl as it hangs from the reel, so keep it close to you and a surface on which it can rest, which might even be the floor if your dark place has no chairs. You may feel the film at times and untwist it some, but as long as you’re gentle and patient, the film will uncurl itself too.

With a metal reel, pull the film around the circles in the reel, making sure that the film is not touching itself. This is the most important aspect of using reels to develop – if the film is touching at all when it’s being processed with the chemicals, then it will not process correctly. This is why I suggest using plastic reels at first, or practicing a lot with metal ones.

If you find you’re getting frustrated, relax for a minute, or if you are getting claustrophobic in the dark, put the film in the canister just the way it is, unloaded, and screw it tightly, so you can take a break in the light. Make sure the light is off before opening the canister again.

Once the film is on the reel, it will stop at end and you will have to cut off the original little cylinder that the film was on inside of its original canister. Carefully snip it off in the dark.

Place your reel on its plastic cylinder if you’re using plastic reels, and place another empty or loaded reel on top. Put all of this into the tank and screw on the top. To make sure the tank top is screwed on correctly, you can unscrew it a little and rescrew it, just to see if all the threads have caught correctly.

Once your film is in the tank, you may leave it in there indefinitely. No light will get in.