Take Up Reels

[nathan130]

I'm in need of a super 8 / 8mm take up reel. Big enough for at least 50 metres of film.
Anyone know a good place to order from? (aside from ebay).
-n

[James E]

Moment catcher in Texas is great. I've had great success ordering from them.

http://www.momentcatcherproductions.com/page6.html

[Blue Audio Visual]

Which company makes those reels that Moment-catcher do? According to the blurb they are made in the USA. They look the same as the ones that Dwayne's return film on (at least the few 400ft-ers that I've seen). A little bit cheap looking, but then again they are...cheap!

Anyone on the Forum know who they are made by???

[James E]

They're fine. I have several of them. They're basically the same reel that any processor uses to return 200' of film on. They're made by Tayloreel Corp. You can buy them directly from them if you want to buy a case of 225. www.tayloreel.com
Cheers,

[David M. Leugers]

I have long been a real stickler for high quality reels to put my film on. I am a recent convert to Tuscan reels. They are made in the USA and are readily available over here. They are superb S-8mm reels in 200ft and 400ft lengths.

[Will2]

The best storage techniques seem to change every few years.

Right now most of my 16mm reels are in pizza type card board boxes with little silica gel packs. I've been told that the cardboard let's gasses leave and is better long term than metal cans. Of course all my 16mm footage is on cores, not reels too.

Looks like Tuscan offers something they call "ProVent" containers that are meant to keep your film happy longer.

What's the latest thinking on preservation?

[David M. Leugers]

I am not a firm believer in the "open air is best" approach to film preservation. It is important to check your film regularly for vinegar syndrome, but far more damage is done to films not being inside protective cans. If you have ever run across films so dry and brittle, curled and cupped, twisted and shrunken etc. that they can hardly be run in a projector this is due to storage not in a can. I have films I shot in the early 1970's that have been in good quality metal film cans their entire lives and the films are perfectly pliable and like the day they came back from being processed.
Whenever I see images of films stored in archives, they are in cans. I have so far not experienced one foot of vinegar syndrome in any of my film originals and all have been stored in cans. I do believe high speed printing of theatrical features have created the majority of vinegar film syndrome problems. And VS is the ONLY argument against storing film in cans...

[filmjockey]

Momentcatcher is a source, apparently, of 8mm Gepe reels of several sizes. I have about 10,000 feet of super 8 film on 400' Gepe reels. So that's quite a few reels I've dealt with and they're one of those things where the quality is so good that it's just kind of transparent when you're using them. Hand in glove. A few years ago I had the time and the opportunity to do an archiving project with my entire super 8 "oeuvre," remaking every splice dating back to, well, when I made my first splice with Kodak Presstape. So now everything I've ever shot on super 8 is on them. Can't remember how I originally discovered the reels but I'm hooked.

[BolexPlusX]

Gepes are my favorites. They are nicely made and I've never seen one with the warpage you often get on other plastic reels or those molding lines that "twang" the film once a revolution.

The neat thing is that the case is actually ventilated on the lid, so even though they are more rugged than a card box they will still allow the film to outgas better than a steel can.

I've noticed that Momentcatcher's pricing on their own 'site is lower than their E-bay store. How it works at the bottom line I'm not sure.

[super8man]

I am slowly converting my collection over to GEPE - simply the best in my opinion. Interestingly, the fact that lock together is really handy...I have 200, 300, and 400 footers and they work like a charm - never any concerns.