I'm about to try to develop my first Minox film - B&W. Is there a trick to removing film from the cassette without damaging the cassette?

I know, Mom, wash my hands first, then what next? . . . :-)

Yes I plan to reserve the cassette for re-use.

Thanks for your tips!

Jeff

-- Jeff Drew (jdrew@westlandbank.com), January 25, 2000

Answers

Jeff, for development of Minox 9.4mm B&W film, it is best to load the film in day light using Minox daylight development tank; in this case you do not need to touch the film. For detail see related thread about Minox tank in DARKROOM section.

Otherwise you have to remove the film in a darkroom, open the supply side cap, and take up side cap, the remove the film sideway, and lift it off. It is not a good idea to pull the film out from the gap.

If you don't use Minox tank, you miss a part of the fun in Minox film processing.

-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), January 25, 2000.

THe best thing to do is to take a cassette, pull it apart, and fool around with it. You only waste one charge of film, and it is time well spent. The cassettes seem a bit complex, but once you take them apart you find they are so simple that there is really nothing to them at all - it's amazing to me that they work without binding, take up correctly, etc. but they do...you must examine them in daylight. By the way, minox film can also be cut, spooled, and loaded into cassettes in daylight...no darkroom needed at all.

-- STeve Bittles (slbitt@yahoo.com), January 27, 2000.

Steve, I'd like to know how Minox film can be slit, spooled, and loaded into cassettes in daylight. Maybe I'm missing something, but unless you have some new kind of slitter/loader I don't know about, I don't think this is possible. I know of one guy who made a daylight slitter from an old camera body, but he still has to load his cassettes in the dark.

-- James Jones (jaj01@home.com), January 27, 2000.