The Sub Club

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One problem I've had with submini cassettes is film identification. While some film emulsions have a unique appearance and can be ID'ed easily, others look identical,. When it comes time to be processed I can't figure out what type of film it is. Yeah, I load the cassettes myself, and I wrap all my unexposed cassettes so I know what's in them before they go in the camera. But when I take them out of the camera I am often at a loss as to what type of film it was.

I was forced to come up with a solution and I found one -- color-coded round labels. Avery, and several other companies, make a variety of self-sticking labels that come in different colors , shapes and sizes. I get the 3/4 inch labels since they fit my Minolta cassettes perfectly. After loading the cassette and taping on the two lobe covers, I put a color-coded label on the top of the film-feed spool. Yellow for FP4, blue for HP5, etc. You can pick them up at any office supply store. They fit so perfectly, you'd think they were made for each other. The labels are easy to remove, so I can change the color if a need to. And when it comes time to process the film, I'm never at a loss. I can even write on the label if I pushed or pulled the film, the date, location, or other information. I wish I had thought of this years ago!

Another solution to the problem of labeling submini cassettes loaded in the home darkroom is white round labels, on which you can write film type and number of exposures. A half inch dot fits the Minox cassette perfectly, and can be peeled off to make ready for the next load.

I always do one more thing: I put a 1/4" red dot on the supply-side spool for color film and only color film. That gives me one more layer of protection against repeating a bad mistake: developing some color negative film in black and white developer.

Finally, return address labels available from Avery for either ink jet or laser printers are perfect for labelling the black boxes in which Minox, and many other types of, cassettes should be kept.

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