13/10/2025
Lab Insight #5 - Reels are Reeeely hard to find
The humble reel, spool, bobbin whatever one calls it has become harder and harder to find at an affordable price point and makes up a non insignificant portion of the development prices for motion picture film (for the enthusiast / independent / student filmmaker).
The UK has a dwindling amount of old used reels and frankly the advent of t'internet has meant people who own second hand reels google them, find that they sell for £4-5/ea new in the UK and automatically assume that's their fair price in Ebay. It isn't.
New reels, like the 100 odd we have received here, are cheap to make as they are just plastic - the issue is where they are made / who has the injection moulds... and that's the USA.
For just 95c you can get a reel in the USA, about 70p here. This is just one example where the UK filmmaker is disadvantaged by the lack of onshore production capacity, skills and know how. Kodak should really step in here as they will no doubt have the supply chain to get them to the UK cheaply - and that includes the metal 16mm daylight reels - those things are just too expensive to buy stand alone - SO REMEMBER TO ALWAYS GET YOURS BACK WHEN SENDING THEM FOR DEVELOPMENT!!!
