Loading film without guesswork: Nordic Lab brings open-source tools to the darkroom
Getting the film onto the reel in the dark is the most unpleasant moment of the entire film-developing process for many people. An engineer from Belgrade designed an amazingly simple solution for it and made it freely available online. We now manufacture it in Germany and ship it throughout the EU. Time to introduce the person behind it: Nordic Lab.
Go straight to the source: Nordic Lab Sasha's projects, videos, and free print files are available directly from him at nordiclab.org and Ko-fi. Go to nordiclab.org.
Table of contents
- Who is Nordic Lab?
- The collaboration: he designs, we produce
- What the loading aids are for
- What happens next
Who is Nordic Lab?
Nordic Lab is the work of Sasha Yakovlev, an engineer and designer in Belgrade. He describes his project as an “Engineering & Design Laboratory” with a clear focus: analogue photography, covering the entire process. Exposing film, developing it, making RA-4 color prints in the darkroom, scanning, and archiving. Sasha builds and repairs darkroom equipment, improves film processors, and tests chemistry, with the stated goal of making the analogue workflow more accessible and reproducible.
His guiding principle is not nostalgia, but technology. And he is working on a remarkable number of things at once. Here is a selection of what he is currently working on:
- Better developing reels (OpenReel): an open-source reel design optimized specifically for home printing, compatible with the Paterson system and printable without supports.
- Fast loading aids for Paterson reels: the two tools this article is about (35 mm and 120).
- A semi-automatic film-developing machine: his largest ongoing project, a device that pumps the chemistry around automatically so nobody has to handle it 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 developing machine best illustrates how he thinks. His aim is not to preserve old technology, but to simplify the process so that anyone can use it. In his video, he puts it this way:
Sasha Yakovlev on his developing machine (YouTube): “The development machine should work completely based on the liquids contained inside the tool … you have no contact with the chemicals, so even the kids can develop the film.”
What all these projects have in common is that Sasha shares his designs openly. That is 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 available free of charge on his Ko-fi page, so anyone with their own printer can make them immediately. Donations fund his next spool of filament and larger projects, not the design itself.
He explains why he does this unusually clearly. In the analogue photography community, there is a small ideological debate about how to load film “properly,” whether it requires experience, and whether using a tool is “cheating.” Sasha thinks little of that:
Sasha Yakovlev on sharing his designs (YouTube): “People just religiously say ‘okay, you need the skills’ to load the film. Come on, guys. This thing is for free. I share it for free … I see that this thing is needed.”
That is where we come in. We did not buy Sasha's design from him and lock it away—in fact, quite the opposite. He retains full ownership, the files remain free, and we manufacture and ship the products under license and with his express permission. From Germany, quickly throughout the EU, for anyone who does not have their own printer at home and simply wants a finished, tested part. Printing it yourself or buying a finished one—both options remain open side by side.
Want to print it yourself? Get the files from Sasha. Nordic Lab provides the original print files free of charge on Ko-fi. If you like, you can support him there with a donation. Nordic Lab on Ko-fi.
What the loading aids are for
Anyone who develops their own film knows the moment: The changing bag is closed, your hands are inside, and now you have to get the film onto the reel by touch. With 35 mm film, the cartridge gets in the way; with 120 roll film, the material buckles and jumps out of the guide. You turn it, feel resistance, turn it back, fumble around, and a single kink can ruin the exposures. The frustrating part is that this is not a creative step, but pure mechanics that are difficult only because you cannot see anything.
That is exactly where Sasha's loading aids come in. There are two versions, one for 35 mm film and one for 120 roll film. Both fit standard Paterson developing reels (Super System 4 and compatible models) and hold the reel and film in the correct position, so the film feeds in straight instead of shifting inside the bag.
Load it in the light, only turn it in the dark: The difficult part—getting the film's leading edge cleanly into the reel—happens in daylight. Inside the changing bag, you only need to turn the knob. The actual risk is therefore removed from the dark part of the process.
A knob you can feel in the dark
The 35 mm version has a knob that you can find by touch and use to turn the reel forward in a controlled way. In the current version, Sasha has also added a small hook that holds the film cartridge in place, providing enough friction to keep everything from slipping while remaining loose enough to simply pop off at the end.
No need to trim the film ends
The usual practice of beveling or rounding the film corners is no longer necessary. The film feeds cleanly into the reel without jamming. This not only saves time, but also removes another potential source of errors from the process.
In the 120 version, Sasha demonstrates the same setup for roll film in the video, including the knob that makes guiding the film in the dark easier and the adapted direction of travel that ensures the film winds up cleanly.
Preload several reels: Because loading the film is so quick, you can load several reels in a row and keep them ready for use. You can develop them later at your leisure—practical when several rolls have accumulated over a weekend.
We manufacture both aids ourselves in Würzburg and check each one for fit on a Paterson reel. Here are the two products:
Nordic Lab 35 mm Film Loading Aid for Paterson (€39.95) · Nordic Lab 120 Film Loading Aid for Paterson (€49.95)
Check compatibility: The aids are designed for standard Paterson reels (Super System 4 and compatible models). The dimensions may differ with reels from other manufacturers, such as Jobo or AP/Samigon, so compatibility is not guaranteed.
What happens next
The loading aids are only the beginning. Nordic Lab has plenty of other open projects in the pipeline, from the developing machine and drying system to the enlarger modifications. We will gradually add whatever can be manufactured sensibly as finished hardware to the shop. The direction is clear.
And Nordic Lab is only the beginning. Sasha is the first designer with whom we are establishing this kind of collaboration: bringing good, open designs from the community into the shop as finished hardware while the designer retains their work and receives their share. If this goes well, more will follow.
View all Nordic Lab products. The complete collaboration at a glance, manufactured in Germany and ready to ship throughout the EU. Go to the Nordic Lab collaboration.
More from the darkroom. You will find guides, equipment tutorials, and tips on analogue photography in our blog. Go to the blog.
