DK LABORATORIES

Dane.Kouttron

Using 120 Film in a 620 Camera [also on instructables]

What?

I got a hold of a Kodak Tourist, a film camera made in the 40's.

I wanted to use it to take some pictures; its an awesome camera that supposedly kicks out high-res shots. So after going to a camera store, i found out that the film it uses (620) hasnt been made for 30 years. Knockoff film is available, but its expensive (20$ for 1 roll of like 8-10 pictures, + the cost of developing = ridiculous)

I found a guide online for 're-spooling' 120 film onto 620 spools, although this looked like a quick alternative, i found out it was nearly impossible, as it involves moving things around in the dark, without touching the film. I attempted doing it in the daylight on exposed film, and i failed miserably.
Then i realized, the only reason it was necessary to 're-spool' was that the spools were slightly larger than 620's . Thanks evil corporations. The camera's are pretty much useless without the film, so if you break something, chances are no one was going to use it again anyway.
So i came up with this workaround, which can be done in day light. Now you can use 4$ 120 film instead of 20$ 620 knockoff film, using only some sandpaper, a knife, and some brute force.

Getting the goods

The images above is a roll of 120 Film, which goes for 4 bucks at a legitimate camera store. I used L&L camera, They rock

Compare and Contrast

Here's the difference, 620 film is alot thicker and has an extra lip. The lip doesnt actually do anything though.

Here's a size comparison, for the folks whove never seen 120 film

Here's the thickness difference i mentioned

Modification

Literally all this involves is grabbing a knife and cutting off the extra plastic on the top of the spool, and then sanding down the lid so its about 1/16 of an inch in thickness. if it fits snuggly inside the camera and can spin, then chances are it works.

Final Product (after being developed )
Images taken with b/w film, scanned in and inverted: (psst, developing is easy to do on your own, but thats another article) -
NOTE: the full size images are very large, check the zoomable / medium view if possible.

Thumb / Med res	Descriptor / crazy Hi-res	Thumb / Hi res	Descriptor /Auto-Zoomable / crazy Hi-res
	Whitestone Bridge, view from Queens Park [HI RES LINK]		Parental Units
	Visiting Milleridge Farm / Village in February		House in Long Island.
	Heckshire Park, Long Island [HI RES LINK]		RPI BIOTECH building Walkway [HI RES LINK]
	Female Soldering @ the RPI Electronics Club		The Mad Professor. (aka me in welding goggles)
	YiaYia Helen and Mom		Me and a Friend @ a Coffee house
	Dane and YiaYia [HI RES LINK]		SUPER AWESOME PICTURE OF BRIDGE PILLAR [HI RES LINK]
	Whitestone and the city [HI RES LINK]		more bridge pics [HI RES LINK]
	ZWACK for President of the UNION 09 [HI RES LINK]		Senor Rubenstein Aka Tom
	RPI Muller Center [HI RES LINK]		One word eats bank accounts, [HI RES LINK]
	CHRIS, MOM and YIAYIA [HI RES LINK]