35mm Film Advance Guide for Sprocket Hole Photography

This is a guide for getting efficient frame spacing with 35mm film loaded in Holgas and other knob-advanced 6x6 medium format cameras. There's the "34 clicks rule" for Holgas, but because the amount of film advanced with each click increases as exposed film accumulates on the take-up spool, it ends up wasting a lot of film. 34 clicks gives a slight overlap for the first two exposures while the unused space between frames gets to be massive by the middle of the roll.

Loading instructions are available from holgamods.com, lomography.com (just try to ignore the marketing hype), and the Toycam Handbook.

Why Bother?

Josh and Cigarettes, cross-processed pinhole photograph, August 2005

Shooting 135 in a medium (or large) format camera exposes the full height of the film, including around the sprocket holes. Nice!

Method

These tables were made by counting clicks with the back off. The Turns columns were calculated based on the click count: the Turns Decimal columns were calculated by using the clicks per revolution of the take-up spool for each given camera and rounded off, and the Turns Fraction columns are the Turns Decimal column converted and rounded to the nearest reasonable fraction. This has undoubtedly affected the accuracy of the Turns columns, as will variations in the thickness of the film base. But hey, toy, pinhole, and box cameras aren't about precision anyway—the goal here is to waste less film, not to build a Hasselblad. Use at your own risk.

How to Use

Advance by the number of clicks or turns listed after you make the listed exposure number. For example, in the table below, advance by 42 clicks after loading, 35 clicks after taking exposure #1, etc. Remember to cover your film counter window with something completely light-tight (one layer of gaffer's tape is not adequate)!

Also see

· The 35mm Sprocket Holes group on Flickr
· alspix has another method outlined here on Flickr

Holga with 6x6 mask

24 clicks per turn

36 exposure roll: 24 55x35mm exposures, 3-4mm frame spacing
24 exposure roll: 17 55x35mm exposures, 3-4mm frame spacing

Exposure #	Clicks	Turns Fraction	Turns Decimal
Load	42	1 3/4	1.75
1	35	1 1/2	1.5
2	34	1 1/2	1.4
3	33	1 3/8	1.4
4	33	1 3/8	1.4
5	31	1 3/8	1.3
6	30	1 1/4	1.25
7	30	1 1/4	1.25
8	29	1 1/4	1.2
9	28	1 1/4	1.2
10	27	1 1/8	1.2
11	27	1 1/8	1.2
12	26	1	1
13	26	1	1
14	25	1	1
15	25	1	1
16	24	1	1
17	24	1	1 (END 24 EXP ROLL)
18	23	1	1
19	23	1	1
20	23	1	1
21	22	9/10	0.9
22	22	9/10	0.9
23	22	9/10	0.9
24	END

Holga without mask, Zero2000, Zero69 at 6x6

Holga: 24 clicks per turn
Zero Image pinholes do not click, use turns columns

36 exposure roll: 21 64x35mm exposures, 3-5mm frame spacing
24 exposure roll: 14 64x35mm exposures, 3-5mm frame spacing

Remember to cover the cutout in the divider between the lens area and the take-up spool are on the right inside the camera or light may leak in and fog everything you've already shot. This is normally covered by the mask.

Exposure #	Clicks	Turns Fraction	Turns Decimal
Load	43	1 3/4	1.8
1	40	1 2/3	1.6
2	38	1 2/3	1.6
3	38	1 2/3	1.6
4	36	1 1/2	1.5
5	35	1 1/2	1.5
6	34	1 1/2	1.4
7	33	1 3/8	1.4
8	32	1 1/3	1.3
9	31	1 1/3	1.3
10	31	1 1/3	1.3
11	30	1 1/4	1.25
12	29	1 1/4	1.2
13	29	1 1/4	1.2
14	28	1 1/4	1.2 (END 24 EXP ROLL)
15	28	1 1/4	1.2
16	27	1 1/8	1.2
17	27	1 1/8	1.2
18	26	1	1
19	26	1	1
20	26	1	1
21	END

Thanks to Nancy Breslin for frame measurements on the Zero Image Zero2000!

Diana, Agfa Isoly

Diana
69(!) clicks per turn (probably best to count turns, otherwise you'll be counting clicks all day!)
36 exposure roll: 32 43x35mm exposures, 3-5mm frame spacing
24 exposure roll: 21 43x35mm exposures, 3-5mm frame spacing

Agfa Isoly
Does not click, use turns columns
36 exposure roll: 32 41x35mm exposures, 5-7mm frame spacing
24 exposure roll: 21 41x35mm exposures, 5-7mm frame spacing

Exposure #	Clicks	Turns Fraction	Turns Decimal
Load	78	1 1/10	1.1
1	77	1 1/10	1.1
2	76	1 1/10	1.1
3	74	1 1/10	1.1
4	72	1	1
5	72	1	1
6	68	1	1
7	68	1	1
8	65	9/10	0.9
9	65	9/10	0.9
10	65	9/10	0.9
11	61	9/10	0.9
12	61	9/10	0.9
13	59	9/10	0.9
14	58	9/10	0.9
15	58	9/10	0.9
16	57	4/5	0.8
17	57	4/5	0.8
18	55	4/5	0.8
19	54	4/5	0.8
20	54	4/5	0.8
21	53	4/5	0.8 (END 24 EXP ROLL)
22	53	4/5	0.8
23	51	7/10	0.7
24	51	7/10	0.7
25	51	7/10	0.7
26	51	7/10	0.7
27	50	7/10	0.7
28	50	7/10	0.7
29	48	7/10	0.7
30	48	7/10	0.7
31	48	7/10	0.7
32	END

Copyright © Nicolai Grossman 2005-2009. All rights reserved.