Question by Zach: Does Fujicolor 220 NPS 160 film have paper backing on the entire roll?
I bought some Fujicolor 220 film to use in my Holga CFN, and I’ve heard that 220 film doesn’t have the protective paper backing that 120 film has. Is this true? Do I need to tape up the window on the back of my Holga?
Best answer:
Answer by Skix
Yeah, tape the window…
220 only has the backing at the beginning and end; otherwise,
it would be too thick to fit in any camera.
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You really can’t use 220 film in your 120 Holga CFN. One major reason is the lack of a paper backing with the frame numbers printed on it which means you’d have to tape over the little red window and guess when you’d advanced to the next frame. Read this:
http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/holgas-and-220-film
Yes, in order to make a roll of the same diameter, 220 film only has paper backing at the beginning and end of the roll. You can still use it in your Holga or any camera that uses a red window instead of a double exposure prevention mechanism by simply noting how many turns of the knob fully advance a frame.
It’s different for most cameras so you may want to load yours with a test roll of 120 (or just the paper backing in order to figure out how many turns it takes. Load the film or paper into the camera as normal. Draw a line with a marker on either side of the shutter opening (film plane) of the camera onto the paper backing. Then advance the film until the second line is lined up with where the first line was. Note how many turns of the knob this took. Sometimes its useful to label the knob with the turns or if there is an arrow on it, to remember what side of the knob the arrow should start and land on if that makes sense. I would repeat the process of marking and advancing the film a couple tymes just to be sure you have it right.
I’ve done this with burning 35mm in a Holga-type camera, the AGFA Click. It’s not super exact and may result in some overlapped frames as the film advances but, hey, we don’t use these kind of cameras for accuracy, do we?! You can also overwind slightly as you get further in the roll in order to avoid overlaps if you’d like.