I concur. For somebody just getting started in darkroom work, it's
probably best to begin with pre-rolled film. It is admittedly more
expensive in the long run, but there's enough to learn about processing
film without complicating matters from the start with the bulk-loading
step. If you (the OP, that is) are concerned about cost, you can put bulk
loading high on your list of priorities, but AFTER you've mastered loading
film on a developing spool and processing it.

The only light that I have heard to be safe during development of
panchromatic is in the following situation.  When developing sheet film
(don't try this with 35 mm film, it is too small to inspect properly),
after the film has been in the developer bath for about 3/4 of the
allotted time, you may hold it up briefly in front of a dim, dark green
safelight for purposes of inspection of the degree of contrast obtained.

Francis A. Miniter

This is definitely a matter of personal preference. My own is the opposite
of yours. Although plastic reels are easy to get started, in my experience
they usually develop increasing friction as you move past about half of
the roll, and on occasion this friction is so great that I've been unable
to get the film on entirely. I've tried all sorts of things to get past
this problem (being extra careful about drying the reels, trimming the
leading edge in a curve, etc.), but I've never really licked the problem.
Maybe it's humidity in the room or some unusual wear pattern on my reels
(I've used both Paterson and AP). I readily admit that not everybody has
this problem, but a Web search will turn up other similar reports, so I'm
certainly not alone.

My Hewes stainless steel reels, by comparison, are a breeze to load. The
only tricky part is getting the film hooked on the sprockets at the center
of the reel to begin, and that's not all THAT hard. A big caveat, though:
I'm talking about new Hewes reels, which use sprockets to center the film;
most stainless steel reels use clips, which are trickier to use. Also, if
a reel is dropped or otherwise abused, it may get bent out of shape, which
will mess things up completely. I've got a couple of generic used
stainless steel reels that are almost impossible to load correctly.

Liopleurodon a écrit :

I *never* open a canister, I always felt unconfortable with a full
135-36 film (more than 1.60m or 5 feet and a half) unloading down to the
ground ...

I just retrieve the film leader (there are specific cheap tools for
this, look at B&H or Adorama under "film leader retriever"), cut the
leader and make a small champfer on the film's corner. All this done in
daylight.
Then, in the dark, I load the reel by extracting from canister/loading
on reel 10-20cm (4-8") per time until I reach the end of the film.
At the end, you just cut the film close to the canister and that's it.
Some will probably tell you this way the film passes twice on the felt
and may be scratched, but in more than 25 years, it never happened to me.

In 35mm, films are rigid enough that I just push them in the reel by
hand (holding them by the edges) without needing to move alternatively
the flanges of the reel.
All you need is clean, dry reels and dry hands. Its mainly moisture on
the gelatin side that makes the film difficult to load.
You can use an hairdryer to remove any moisture before loading.

Just buy the cheapest 135-36 roll film available. You need the 36
exposures as, usually, it's the last part of the film to be difficult to
load.

Have a nice start,

Getting film out of a cartridge isn't like opening a computer and
adjusting hard drive jumpers; light is not required, or even all that
helpful. Two approaches are common:

1) In the light, use a film leader retriever (they're inexpensive) to pull
  the leader out of the catridge. Alternatively, if you've got a
  manual-rewind camera, don't rewind the film all the way -- just enough
  to get it off the takeup spool but not fully rewound into the
  cartridge. Either way, this leaves you with an exposed leader, which
  you can trim. You then turn off the lights and load it onto the
  developing spool without opening the film cartridge. When you've pulled
  out all the film, cut it at the end. This approach has the advantage
  that it minimizes the risk of your touching the emulsion or getting the
  film dirty if you drop it. If you bulk load some, but not all, of your
  film, you can re-use the commercial cassettes by taping your bulk film
  to the stub of film that remains on the commercial cassette. This
  method of developing reel loading has the disadvantage that if there's
  any dust in the felt trap, it can cause scratches on the film.

2) In the dark, use a bottle opener to pry off one end of the film can,
  remove the film spool, trim the leader, and load the film onto the
  developing spool. When you reach the end, cut the film. The bottle
  opener can be the type you'd have in your kitchen or a special opener
  made specifically for film cartridges. I've used the bottle opener
  attachement on a pocket knife without problems. This approach has the
  advantages of not needing a film leader retriever and of minimizing the
  risk of scratches because of dust in the film cartridge's felt light
  trap. It has the disadvantages of greater risk of fingerprints or other
  contamination on the emulsion and of essentially destroying the film
  cartridge, so it can't be re-used for future bulk loading.

Neither approach is particularly difficult. When using bulk-load
cassettes, you'd probably use a minor variant of #2, in which you unscrew
or pull off the cap of the cartridge without the help of a bottle opener.
The bulk cartridge can then be re-used.

Overall, learning to use the bulk loader will probably be harder than
learning to unload a commercial cartridge onto a developing reel. This
isn't to say that bulk loading isn't worthwhile. I bulk load most of my
B&W film. I do it for the cost savings, though, not to simplify loading my
developing reels; that simply isn't an issue.

Be aware that you're more likely to see surge marks and other developing
artifacts with very short rolls. I've not noticed any problems with
24-exposure rolls, but when you get down to under 10 exposures or so,
development may become uneven. This can make judging the proper
development times difficult.

With plastic reels, yes. Stainless steel reels are loaded from the inside
out. You touch the edges of the film to guide it into the reel. Either
way, touching the emulsion is unnecessary (with the possible exception of
a bit at the beginning), but can happen by accident, particularly if you
remove the film spool from its cartridge.

As one respondent suggested, wash your hands before handling the film.

In addition, you could also buy some cotton gloves, either locally or
through mail order, like B&H (http://www.bhphotovideo.com), as an additional
precaution, though merely washing one's hands and exercising care will
suffice. And, as others have noted, with practice you'll be able to deftly
load it onto the developing reel.

Dieter Zakas

Depends on how dirty your fingers are. The dirtier the fingers, the more
you will affect the film. It depends on which side you are touching, the
emulsion, or the other side. You can scratch the emulsion side much
easier than hurting the other side. Fortunately the emulsion side curls
in, so it's not the one you are most likely to touch. Be careful, and
don't worry about it.

Jim