Re: 70 mm HIE in Hassie A70 Back

["Rolland Elliott" <rolland_elliott@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

To the original poster, Gene, who complained that he/she had bought a 4x5 
camera and then Kodak discontinued 4x5 HSI:
4x5 HSI will probably be around for at least a year. At least that's my 
guess.  Stock up on it and you'll have enought for a life time. Then you can 
forget about spending $400 to $600 for 70mm equipment. Spend it on 4x5 sheet 
film instead. This film has been discontinued for about a year and Kodak 
still has hundreds of boxes of it left. Kind of gives you the idea that no 
one uses it or cares. At least hardly anyone.

However if you want to shoot things that actually move, 70mm is nice for the 
convience of handheld photography.  Get yourself a rubbermaid 2 quart round 
container for $5 from Kmart or Walmart, and then buy a 70mm reel for $12 
from that Texas Xray firm that sells them on the net.

You can make the rubbermaid container light tight by using aluminum foil 
duct tape, polyurethane roof flashing caulk and some black electrical tape.

In addition you can cut a hole in the rubbermaid lid and hack apart one of 
your exsisting cheap 35mm developing tank lids and glue them together using 
some screws and a "miracle compound" called Oatley Epoxy Putty. All of which 
should be available at any big hardware store like Lowe's or HomeDepot.

Might cost you $50 and a few hours of time, but it's cheaper than buying a 
70mm reel and tank.

One of these days I'll get a digital camera and document this process.

Peace, Rolland

Subject: Re: 70 mm HIE in Hassie A70 Back

 >>>Is the 70mm back and 150 feet of film worth the ~$500-600 start up cost 
in
the long run?<<<<

Gene,

I've gotten part way through this process.  I bought a $200 70-back 
(replaced
the light seals, just to be sure), ran some 15-foot cassettes of Tri-X
through it (I think it will take a long time to be comfortable with the
loading procedure), and have been pleased with the results.  Each cassette 
of
Tri-X I buy, gives me another cassette to pre-load with HSIR (I believe
that's the 70mm designation) when I make the jump.  Roland Elliott (from 
whom
I bought a box of HSIR) says that the felt traps on the routine Tri-X
cassettes are not IR-safe - but I'll probably be doing all of my loading in
the dark, anyway.

My current status is acquiring miscellaneous developing equipment on the
cheap.  My Tri-X processing has been cumbersome (think Rubbermaid containers
and black plastic garbage bags, etc.).  I'm trying to find some stuff from
local junk yards.  In the meantime,  I'll just continue to shoot Tri-X
available-light shots of my great-granddaughter . . . . that 60 to 70 shots
on a roll can come in hand at times like that.

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