Adapting a Graflex 70mm Roll film back to 120/220

[Chris Pandino]

Anyone try using the Graflex RH-50 6x7 back with 120/220 roll film? I'm experimenting with it on my Shen Hao. I tried manually rolling 120 onto the supply spool with the paper backing. That didn't seem to feed well, so I removed the paper backing.

I got the film to index properly without the paper backing, but I think there must still be a better way. Perhaps with a homebrew adapter for the 120 spools? I'd love to hear some tips from someone who has tried it.

Does anybody know if the 70mm film cartidges that used to be sold for these came with paper backing?

By the way, there are about 2cm between frames on this back, so I'm going to widen the opening about 1.7cm. That will give me a 6x9 graflok rollfilm back for under $50!

[tor kviljo]

Sounds to be a quite alot of fuss for not som much gain: I belive KEH sell the straight 120/6x6/6x9cm hoolders for less than $$ 100 when they have them.

OK. 70mm film is allways without backing paper, and usually came as 15 feet loads on the spesial reloadable cassette (looking like a big 35mm cassette). Having proper film-tension, you would be able to run the magazine w/o the cassette-shell, using just the spools, if that makes it better to use converted to 120-film. The 70 mm cassettes were highly sought after a few years back when there were a number of people using kodak's 70mm high speed infrared film among others. If anyone of those still are around, I guess Your film back is more worth in that config. Anyhow: 70mm cassettes were expensive to buy used, only Hasselblad & Linhof have supplied (VERY EXPENSIVE) new ones recently, but these are made of thicker sheet metal than the Kodak ones.

Making a 120 spool holder with proper tensioning fitting inside a 70mm cassette or adapting the mechanism from 70mm spool-holder to 120 spool holder and altering the metereing mechanism from the regular perforation-governed film-measuring as "all" regular 70mm backs have, to friction-driven film measuring as most 120-backs is a challenge, and I have no good ideas. I would think You would have best use for the back simply buying a roll of surplus 70mm B & W, color neg from E bay (sometimes surplus aerial film & portrait-film is for sale there) , or color neg (i.e. portra) new from Adorama, and an inexpensive plastic developing spool from a X-ray equipment department, and use the back as it is. I have used 70mm for aerial (Agiflite camera), but also have a back for my MF camera. Uses it now & then, and find it very practical to have up to 70 frames at perfect film-flatness (70mm film w/o backing is better than 120 film in this aspect) available without reloading. I would suggest going this route even if 70mm is rapidly dissappearing, so hurry get some film!

[Al Taub]

Question: can any if these devices be used to employ 120 roll film in an original 620 camera?

[Nick_3536]

The graflex back doesn't need perforations.

To Al's post. You can get 620 film. It's expensive and you'll have limited choice. You can spool 120 film onto 620 spools yourself in the darkroom or a changing back.

[europanorama]

xkaes on ebay is selling 70mm/120/220-slitter or others as well very cheap.
expose unperforated 70mm film and cut later.
roundshot 65/70/220/120 or 65EL can handle both films(70mm Perf or UP and 120/220), could use another method already explained by tor. Expose 120/220 in 70mm-cartridges. Any hints how to prepare the spools. Adding spacers right? Its on my to do list for 2012.
Special films only available in 70mm or larger can be used. If UP film is cut down to 61.5mm(120) width any lab could develop c41 maybe also 220. does anybody know if fuji frontier can?

[EdWorkman]

Adapters for 120 roll film can be fairly quickly and easily made- Easy for me to say as I haven't pulled out my RH50.
But I have made adapters for old cameras.
The first time I tried basic sheet and tube stock- and that was a dumb idea.
The next time i used plastic 120 spools- duuh.
To fit 116 I used adapters one end- that leaves the film un-centered.
I just completed adapters to use 120 in Postcard camera- size 122, and the difference is enough to easily center the 120 by providing an adapter each end.
As 70mm is the same as 116/616 in width de-centering may be the way out.
No wait, I found a 70mm cassete- about 2- 7/8 inches
Cut the middle out of a 120 spool.
Glue the end pieces back together [having left enough core on each to make the pair the correct length]. Then glue a short strip of styrene into one end of the shortspool to engage the 120 spool.
You may have to modify the other end some to allow the driver in the RH50 to engage.
Easy to cut, easy to glue, cheap to try, and then do it right the next time.
I started a hack of an RH50 some years ago to make an almost 70mmx12cm.
I still need to correct an OOPS or two.

[EdWorkman]

A small correction
I did dig out the guts for my RH-50
The round peg parts that engage the ends of a 70mm cassette are larger than those for 120, so some reaming be needed.

[Dan Fromm]

Chris, not to be a complete idiot or anything, but how do you attach the RH-50 to your Shen? And how do you get its film plane in register with your Shen's GG?

I ask because I've always believed that the RH-50 was offered only for the Graflex XL and can't be attached to a normal 2x3 Graflok, let alone a 4x5 camera that has a spring back (I think that's your Shen, corrections welcome).

[europanorama]

Chris, not to be a complete idiot or anything, but how do you attach the RH-50 to your Shen? And how do you get its film plane in register with your Shen's GG?

I ask because I've always believed that the RH-50 was offered only for the Graflex XL and can't be attached to a normal 2x3 Graflok, let alone a 4x5 camera that has a spring back (I think that's your Shen, corrections welcome).

The RH-50 IS for 4x5 inch, for Graflex RB there is an adapter-with four pin-which can be mounted.

[Dan Fromm]

Thanks for the correction. I just searched for RH-50 on www.graflex.org. Les Newcomer posted an image of an RH-50 with the pins used to attach it to an XL removed and a comment to the effect that without the pins it will fit a 4x5 Graflok back.