plastic or steel 35mm reels? tank?

[jmcd]

I prefer stainless reels. Many brands are fine, Hewes are great.

Kindermann tops are fantastic because they pour fast. I use them on stainless tanks.

[Alex Bishop-Thorpe]

I prefer stainless, but I have both, because my SS reels and tanks are pretty worse for wear.
It's up to personal choice. I'd take whichever are more readily available, they both require some practice to get used to.

[Tim Gray]

I like stainless. If you get stainless, get the Hewes reels for 35mm. They make life so much easier. I use the generic steel tanks from freestyle/B&H with the black tops.

The first reel I ever loaded was stainless and I had zero problems doing it. Just bow the film ever so slightly and it guides right in.

On the other hand, if you get used to plastic, you are one step up if you end up using a roller base, Jobo, or Phototherm to do your development. I don't know if metal tanks/reels work as well there.

[archphoto]

I prefer SS because of the above and they are easier to clean if needed.
I never had any resudue with SS, in plasic a couple of times.

Peter

[VaryaV]

Stainless..... for some reason I don't get along with plastic.....

[Mark_S]

I use both - if I am processing by hand, I use SS for 35mm. Hewes are head and shoulders above the rest, much easier to load, and they don't seem to go out of alignment. Some older SS reels that have been dropped or bent are impossible to load. I can finish processing one roll on a SS reel, and immediately load another roll onto the same reel. If I have one or 2 rolls, I use the SS and develop by hand.

If I am going to be processing a lot of film, I use plastic reels that fit in my Jobo Processor. Impossible to load when wet, but relatively easy when dry.

Practice with a dummy roll in the daylight. It will make it all much easier.

[eskyone]

I have both and would not consider using the plastic again unless I had no other choice.

[fschifano]

I have both and I prefer to use the plastic ones. It's just easier, and you know what? The film comes out looking the same. SS is fine if you like. I just don't see any great advantage to them for most tasks.

Plastic tanks transfer less heat than SS tanks, and this is handy if you don't use a water bath for temperature control. Yes, plastic reels are a bitch to load if they're wet. But when they're dry they are a treat, especially for 120 film. Oh, and did I mention that they're inexpensive? You can get a tank and two reels for the cost of one Hewe's reel.

[Akki14]

Buy lots of plastic reels and keep them in a safe, dry place, then you won't have the loading when wet problem. I use the paterson tanks because that's what I've always used and I have an "if it's not broken, why fix it" policy towards these things.

[pgomena]

Go with stainless. Once you learn to load the reel, it becomes an automatic, unconscious act. I've never had trouble with steel reels. I once owned plastic and had problem with air bubbles. Yes, my fault, but I've never had a similar problem with steel.

Peter Gomena