Was super skeptical about those $15 plastic film reels, but dang they work great

I spent like 5 months fighting with a cheap metal reel trying to load 120 film in the dark and kept screwing it up every time. Finally bought a plastic Paterson reel for $15 at a shop in Portland after a guy there literally begged me to try it. Loaded my first roll in under 2 minutes flat in the changing bag without a single jam. Anyone else have gear they were anti on but totally flipped for?

2 comments

2 Comments

noah9171mo ago

That "literally begged me to try it" bit cracked me up because I had almost the exact same experience with a guy at a camera swap meet. I was dead set on stainless steel reels being the "real deal" until he just handed me a plastic Paterson and said "prove me wrong." Now I've got three of them sitting in my darkroom and gave away all my metal ones.

parker_bailey1mo ago

It's funny how sometimes the thing we're most stubborn about ends up being totally backwards (happens with everything from cameras to coffee).