Loading film without guesswork: Nordic Lab brings open-source tools to the darkroom

Loading film onto the reel in the dark is the most unpleasant moment of the entire film development process for many. An engineer from Belgrade has designed an amazingly simple solution for this – and shared it online for free. We now manufacture it in Germany and ship it within the EU. Time to introduce the mind behind it: Nordic Lab.

Table of contents

1. Who is Nordic Lab?
2. The collaboration: he designs, we produce
3. The threading aids: what they’re good for
4. What’s next

Who is Nordic Lab?

Behind Nordic Lab is Sasha Yakovlev, an engineer and designer in Belgrade. He describes his project as an "Engineering & Design Laboratory" with a clear focus: analog photography, the whole chain. Exposing film, developing, printing in color using RA-4 in the darkroom, scanning, archiving. Sasha builds and repairs darkroom equipment, improves film processors, and tests chemistry – with the declared goal of making the analog workflow more accessible and reproducible.

His guiding principle is not nostalgia, but technology. And he works on an astonishing number of projects at once. An excerpt of what he’s currently working on:

• Better development spools (OpenReel): an open-source spool design specially optimized for home printing – compatible with the Paterson system, printable without supports.
• Quick threading aids for Paterson reels: the two tools this is all about (35mm and 120).
• A semi-automatic film development machine: his biggest ongoing project – a device that pumps the chemicals independently so no one has to handle them by hand anymore.
• An affordable film drying system, modifications for enlargers (including the Intrepid Enlarger), and even a mobile "Darkroom on Wheels."

Photos: Nordic Lab

The development machine best shows how he thinks. It's not about preserving old technology, but about simplifying the process so much that anyone can operate it. In his video, he puts it like this:

What all these projects have in common: Sasha shares his designs openly. That’s exactly why we work with him the way we do.

The collaboration: he designs, we produce

Sasha gives away his designs. The print files are free on his Ko-fi page – if you have your own device, you can make them yourself immediately. Donations fund his next filament and big projects, not the design itself.

Why he does it this way, he says unusually clearly. In the analog scene, there’s a small culture war about how to “properly” load film – whether you need experience for it, whether a tool is “cheating.” Sasha doesn’t buy into that:

Here’s where we come in. We don’t just buy Sasha’s design and lock it away – on the contrary. He retains full ownership, the files remain free, and we produce and ship under license and with his explicit permission. From Germany, fast within the EU, for everyone who doesn’t have their own device at home and just wants a finished, tested part. Print yourself or buy ready-made – both options are open side by side.

The threading aids: what they’re good for

Anyone who develops their own film knows the moment: The changing bag is closed, your hands are inside, and now you have to load the film blindly onto the spool. With 35mm small format, the cartridge jams, with 120 roll film the material wrinkles and jumps out of the guide. You turn, feel resistance, turn back, fumble – and a single crease can ruin the shots. The annoying part: it’s not a creative step, just pure mechanics that’s hard only because you can’t see anything.

This is exactly where Sasha’s threading aids come in. There are two versions, one for 35mm small format and one for 120 roll film. Both fit standard Paterson developing spools (Super System 4 and identical models) and hold the spool and film in registered position so the film winds in straight instead of slipping around inside the bag.

Function: knob you can feel in the dark

The 35mm version has a knob you can find by touch and use to carefully turn the reel. In the current version, Sasha also added a small hook that holds the film cartridge in place – enough friction so nothing slips, but loose enough to pop off easily at the end.

Function: no trimming of film ends needed

No need to bevel or round the film edges as usual. The film runs straight into the reel without jamming. This saves time and removes another potential error from the process.

In the 120 version, Sasha shows the same setup for roll film in the video – including the knob that makes guiding easier in the dark, and the adjusted winding direction so the film winds cleanly.

We make both aids here in Würzburg from PLA+, a shock-resistant plant-based bioplastic, and test each on a Paterson reel for fit. Here are the two products:

What’s next

The threading aids are just the start. Nordic Lab has plenty more open projects in the drawer – from the development machine to the drying system to enlarger modifications. Whatever makes sense to produce, we’ll gradually bring into the shop as finished hardware. The direction is set.

And Nordic Lab is just the beginning. Sasha is the first designer we’re teaming up with this way: bringing good, open designs from the community as finished hardware into the shop, while the designer keeps their work and gets their share. If this goes well, more will follow.