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Where can I get Minolta 16 film and processing?
This has to be the most frequently asked question I have received since starting this site. At this time, there is no simple answer. When I first started using my Minolta 16MG back in the early '70's, you could find Minolta 16 film at most large drug stores, and any camera shop. For many years it was sold at K-Mart along with prepaid processing mailers. However, Minolta decided to stop packaging and selling film back around 1990, and as a result, the cassettes were no longer being made.
Getting film to fit a Minolta 16 is easy, as standard 16mm movie film works fine, although there are some problems. The 16mm film available today is packaged in long rolls for movie cameras or microfilm cameras and usually the smallest roll available is 100 feet long! However, there are web sites and mail order companies that will sell short strips of 16mm film at a reasonable price. Also, there are several types of perforations, which are the holes punched into the film for the camera and projector drive sprockets. Some film comes with double perforations, some with single perforations, and still others (mostly microfilm) with no perforations at all. All Minolta 16 cameras can use unperforated or single-perf film, and all EXCEPT the MG-S and QT can use double-perf. Also, most of the color negative film available for 16mm movie cameras has a REMJET coating which means it must be developed in special processors. As a result, many of us have built or bought a device made to slit a 16mm strip out of the middle of a roll of 35mm film. This operation has to be done in a darkroom or changing bag, but each roll of 36 exposure 35mm film yields 3 rolls of Minolta 16 film. That's assuming that you have 3 cassettes to load.
OK, so now you have the film, what about the cassettes? Getting empty cassettes is a bit harder, but far from impossible. Check with local camera stores, especially the oldest, most established shops, and those who cater to pro photographers. Ask them if they have any old Minolta 16 film or cassettes laying about. Many times they get a used camera with the cassette still inside. Another good source is the Ebay auction site (http://www.ebay.com/). I have bought several Minolta 16 cameras from Ebay auctions, and many times the camera comes with a cassette or two. The cassettes are offered separately as well, but at $15 each it may be cheaper just to buy a camera that comes with a cassette. Be aware that some people are selling crudely molded inferior cassettes on Ebay! These seem to be coming out of the Phoenix area and they seem to be hand pressed epoxy copies of the original Minolta cassette. They don't fit properly, crack easily, and leak light! Make sure you get a genuine Minolta cassette. There are supposedly vendors from several Far East companies that are now molding and selling high-quality Minolta 16 cassettes, but these people are very hard to track down. I recently bought a 16P with flash, flash bracket, filters, and several cassettes for $9.99. I also got a QT for $15 with an unopened box of Minolta 16 film that expired in 1990! Once you have 2 or 3 cassettes in your possession, you can either load them yourself or have them loaded by others. With care, the cassettes will last forever and can be reloaded again and again.
What about processing the film? If you want to shoot black and white film, and have a darkroom available, 16mm movie film or microfilm (which has extremely fine grain and resolution) can be processed just as easily as 35mm. I use an old Yankee plastic developing tank which has an adjustable reel that goes from 120 size film down to 16mm. It works very well. For color slides there are many 16mm color reversal films that can be processed in the home darkroom or at some labs. But today, most of us shoot color print film. The way I do it is as follows: I use a homemade slitter to slit Fuji or Kodak 35mm color print film down to 16mm in my darkroom. You don't have to own a darkroom, a closet with a towel under the door at night should work fine. A 24 exposure roll of 35mm film gives me 2 Minolta 16 strips, and a 36 exposure roll gives me 3 strips. Each strip should be 18-20 inches long for a 20 exposure roll. Then I load the strips into each cassette and tape them shut. The instructions for loading the cassette can be found in almost any Minolta 16 owner's manual. If you don't have the owner's manual, there are sites that have scanned copies available as well as detailed loading instructions. After shooting the color print film, I go back into the darkroom, and transfer the film from the Minolta cassette into a black 35mm film can. Make sure it's a black can, as the ones with the gray lids may not be light tight. If you go into your local drug store, ask the photo lab person for some black film cans. They usually have a plastic bag full of them--free for the asking. I then tape the can shut and label it "Exposed 110 film strip inside! Open in TOTAL DARKNESS ONLY!" Then I take the can to my local 1 hr. photo lab that can process 110 film on site. Ask ahead of time--many of these labs cannot or will not process 110 film on site. Instead they send it out. My local Wal-Mart can do 110 but their excuse is "Sorry the 110 carrier is broken-we have to send it off." The Sam's Club next door will do the 110 with no problem. The cost is usually 5 or 6 dollars a roll. Make sure you talk to the lab technician and let them know that you have loose film in the can, and that it is 110 film from a special Japanese cassette. If all this sounds like too much trouble, there are mail order companies and web sites that will process your color print film, and return the cassette with fresh film loaded for a good price.
Here are some good sites to check out:
alldoyle@worldnet.att.net
- Al Doyle has been providing Minolta 16 film since 1954.
ASA 100 Color or B&W @ $12 ea. It is available in single rolls,
3-roll student paks, and 12 roll
professional "bricks". Al does not have a web page, but he does publish
a newsletter called "The Subminiature Times" and sponsors this online
club:
http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/subminiaturephotography
The Covert Camera - Expert processing and reloading of Minolta 16 color print film at a reasonable price.
The Sub Club - Information page about Minolta 16 film and processing. The Sub Club is the most comprehensive site on the Internet specializing in all subminiature cameras.
Goat Hill Photo - 16mm film in 10 and 25 foot lengths. Many different film types to choose from, as well as cassette reloading services.
Tim's Cassette Reloading - Very economical Minolta 16 film and cassette reloading, as well as those hard to find flash batteries.
Custom Film Slitters
- by Ray Pepalis - Beautifully designed film slitters hand-crafted from
the finest
hardwoods.
New Slitter Design - Informative page that shows how to make your own film slitter.
Destowe's cassette loading procedure - The care and feeding of the Minolta 16 cassette.
Minolta
16 II Instruction Book - Here's a scanned copy of the original
Minolta
16 II instruction book, which includes illustrated instructions for
loading
your cassettes.
