Stainless Steel Reels Compared

["Glen M. Robinson" <gmrobinson@imation.com>]

	Several months ago there was a lengthy discussion about the merits of
stainless steel film developing reels.  Several of the readers of this
Leica newsgroup sang the praises of Hewes reels and claimed they are the
best reels on the market.  My curiosity was aroused by this discussion
since I had never used them.  During my twenty-five years of developing
films I have remained open to finding and using "new and improved" reels
since loading reels with film is always a chancy operation.  My progression
went Omega -> Nikor -> Kindermann reels.  The Kindermann reels have proven
very satisfactory when used with their film loader and I have developed
several hundreds of rolls of film with them.

	About two months ago, I ordered four King Concept (Hewes) reels from B&H
Photo.  Now that I have used them I am ready to compare the Hewes reels
with Kindermann, Omega, and Nikor reels.

	In a way it is not fair to compare them since Kindermann reels are loaded
with a special guide while the others are hand-loaded.  The Kindermann
reels come with a built in handle for winding the film in the reel, which
makes this task even easier.  However, the Hewes reels are the easiest
reels that I have hand-loaded.  The reels have two teeth on the axle, which
grab the spockets of the film and automatically align the film in the reel.
Misalignment of the film at the beginning is the leading cause of
difficulty in loading stainless steel reels. Nikor reels have one tooth and
the others have none.  I have not experienced any difficulty loading film
on the Hewes reels so far, but that cannot be said for my experiences with
Omega and Nikor.  On the other hand, the loading procedure for Kindermann
reels with their loading device is clearly easier, more foolproof, and faster.

	The construction of the Hewes reels is superior to that of the other
reels.  The thickness of the steel wire is the same, 0.0780 inch, for all
these reels.  However, the four spokes on the Hewes reels is thicker than
that on the others which will make them more resistant to bending if dropped.

	In conclusion, I found the Kindermann reel film-loading concept superior
to hand-loading.  The Hewes reels are of outstanding quality and
construction and their loading aid is excellent. I plan to stay with
Kindermann reels for most of my film developing, but Hewes reels are in a
strong second-place.

Glen Robinson