What’s the difference between 120 and 220 medium format film?
Asked 1/5/2011
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Other than getting more exposures per roll, are there any practical differences between 120 and 220 film? For example, does the film construction differ, and do cameras need any special compatibility for 220?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
15y ago
2 Answers
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Not much -- 220 film is twice as long as 120 film, so to put it on the same roller, they leave the paper backing off of the exposable film (or, rarely, use a much thinner protective backing). That means that your camera (or back) needs to have a pressure plate that can adjust to the reduced thickness in order to flatten the film properly, and that you can't use a camera or back that uses a window onto the back of the film to show the exposure number (a lot of very old cameras had a red-filtered window -- about twice the strength of a #25 -- that you could directly view the paper backing through, and film usually had frame numbers printed on the paper for 6x9 and 6x6).
[EDIT - ADDED] I should note that there is plenty of paper at both ends of the 220 roll so that loading and unloading film in the usual manner is as safe as it is for 120.
Originally by user2719. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user2719
15y ago
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Yes. The main difference is that 220 film is essentially a longer roll designed to give about twice as many exposures, but it usually does not have full paper backing along the length of the film the way 120 does.
That reduced backing makes the roll thinner, so cameras or film backs generally need 220 support—often an adjustable pressure plate—to keep the film properly flat at the film plane. If a camera is only set up for 120, 220 may not focus or transport correctly.
Also, cameras that rely on a rear red window to read frame numbers on the backing paper generally cannot use 220 for normal frame counting, because those printed frame numbers are on the paper backing used with 120.
There is still leader/trailer paper at the ends of a 220 roll for loading and unloading. So in practical terms: 220 gives more frames, but it requires camera/back compatibility due to the thinner overall roll construction and lack of full backing paper.
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