Trying to understand 120 and 220 film

I thought I understood...

What is the difference between 120 and 220? Is 220 the same <i>size</i> but just longer? (ie more film on the roll, like 36 exp vs 24 in 35mm) In a 645 camera, do I get a 6x4.5 image with both 120 and 220? Or is one film larger than the other?

Ack! help!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by walterick

I thought I understood...

What is the difference between 120 and 220? Is 220 the same size but just longer? (ie more film on the roll, like 36 exp vs 24 in 35mm) In a 645 camera, do I get a 6x4.5 image with both 120 and 220? Or is one film larger than the other?

Ack! help!

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Hola Senior RICKY,

The difference in 120 and 220 is that 220 doesn't have a paper backing so you are able to fit twice the film on the MF roll. You essentially double the exposures that you can get, but I found that it's harder to get the negatives to lay flat.

Loren

That's the way I understand it, 220 being double the length. Was not aware of the lack of backing paper, though (I'm just beginning to look at medium format).

So I take it you would NOT want to use 220 in a camera that has the red view window in the back - correct?

you got it, 220 is twice as long as 120, so twice as many exposures, 30 vs 15 for 6x45.

One thing you watch out for; not all MF camera can take 220 film. As Loren stated, 120 film has a backing paper, 220 doesn't, so the pressure plate position has to be adjusted for 220 film. You need to make sure your camera has this facilty.

Simon

Just to agree with everyone else - 220 is twice as long as 120. Some cameras that use removable backs (Bronica, Hassy) have backs made for either 120 or 220 - you have to use the film type it's made for. Most cameras that don't have removable backs (all I've seen, anyway) can take either and have a switch that moves the pressure plate as described above. 220 is pretty rare, maybe used by wedding shooters so you don't have to change a roll as often. The nice thing about removable backs is that you can have a few that are already loaded so you don't have to stop to load film.

120 film on a 645 should give you 15 exposures. 220 is 30 exposures. Of course changing the format size reduces the number of shots on a roll; 6x6 = 12 on 120, 6x7 = 10 etc.