# Is my roll of film ruined?



## Stacie1989 (Jan 19, 2009)

Hi everyone,

I'm new to film photography. I have always worked with digital, but I am enrolled in a photography class at my college that works with film.

I just finished my roll of film today, and my camera sounded odd when it was rewinding the film back into the canister. I opened the back of my camera, and my film was indeed, not rewound. Somewhat in shock (I had just exposed my film..) I shut the back again, and my camera ended up RELOADING the film back into my camera! It then displayed that I had 36 frames available- these were the frames that I had already taken. I (stupidly) opened the back again, shut it, I took a blank, and then rewound the film again. This time it did it correctly. However, the film had been back at the beginning when I opened the back, and my film was exposed. Did this ruin all of the pictures I had previously taken?


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## MikeBcos (Jan 19, 2009)

Yes, sorry, the entire film is ruined.


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## Stacie1989 (Jan 19, 2009)

That's what I expected 

Thanks for the quick reply, though.


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## Battou (Jan 19, 2009)

Sadly yes it is toast. Now the question is, do you know how you did it, made it not rewind properly?


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## Early (Jan 19, 2009)

That's probably why it's a good reason to get a totally manual camera for those classes as you have to rewind the film yourself.

Incidentally, some of the frames may be okay if you didn't leave the back open too long.


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## MikeBcos (Jan 19, 2009)

I would trash it, you cannot re-use film. You could have it processed just to see how it looks, some of the first shots you took may just be usable but they will have light streaks down them that probably make them useless.

If something similar ever happens again only open the camera back in total darkness, you can then use touch to see what the problem is. If necessary you can remove the film from the camera and rewind it by hand.

Total darkness means just that, a dark room is not enough, it has to be completely sealed against all light. A changing bag is best for this.


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## Stacie1989 (Jan 19, 2009)

I have no idea what happened. The camera has rewound other films just fine. Never had a problem with it.

We process and develop our own film, so I will take it with me anyway and see how it turns out.


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## ann (Jan 19, 2009)

take it into the lab and develop it, it will be good practice.

i had a student do this very thing the other day and my first thought was, oops, you will now have a roll or black film;however, we went ahead and developed it and found not all was lost. Only a few images got fogged.

nothing is lost to try and see just how much was fogged.


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## Battou (Jan 19, 2009)

Stacie1989 said:


> I have no idea what happened. The camera has rewound other films just fine. Never had a problem with it.
> 
> We process and develop our own film, so I will take it with me anyway and see how it turns out.



Well, to help you figure it out so as to help you guard against it happening again I would need to know what how your camera advances the film, Is it manual thum lever advance or auto advance?

Also the roll of film it self, Was it purchassed in cassette, Bulk loaded by the instructor, or self bulkloaded?


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## Stacie1989 (Jan 19, 2009)

It is auto advance, bulk loaded by instructor.

I just took my own roll of film and everything worked perfectly. Maybe it was just some fluke, and of course it had to happen to a roll of film I was going to be graded on.


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## Battou (Jan 19, 2009)

Stacie1989 said:


> It is auto advance, bulk loaded by instructor.
> 
> I just took my own roll of film and everything worked perfectly. Maybe it was just some fluke, and of course it had to happen to a roll of film I was going to be graded on.



What I believe happened is the film was not fassened to the cassette spool properly, this'll happen on occation when bulk loading and is not the fault of you or the camera. But expect to have this happen once or twice when you begin learning bulk loading 

An auto wind camera should detect the resistance of the end of the spool and stop but if that resistance is less than it should be than the auto wind can pull it clean from the spool and not realize it.

I personally feel the instructor should cut you some slack on this one and permit you to retake on a new roll.


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## Stacie1989 (Jan 19, 2009)

Thanks so much for your input, I really appreciate it. I'm hoping he will cut me some slack. I'm just really bummed because of all the great shots I lost. I drove 45 minutes out to a broken down bridge in the snow and got some really neat shots. I even had a snow covered squirrel pop up and was able to get a few really nice pics of him. The snow is going to be all melted off by the time I get my new roll and lets face it, I don't really feel like driving out there again. Ha!


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## AlexColeman (Jan 19, 2009)

Thats why I only shoot digital.


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## Stacie1989 (Jan 19, 2009)

AlexColeman said:


> Thats why I only shoot digital.



Same here, I was strictly digital but this class is a B&W film only, I have to take it before I can take Photography II which is my style, digital.


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## djacobox372 (Jan 19, 2009)

It's probably not entirely ruined... I've accidently opened the back of my camera without rewinding and typically I lose about 4-6 photos at the end of the reel, if you opened it again after it's been rewound, you probably lost 4-6 more--that still leaves 20+ photos that "could" be fine.


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## Josh66 (Jan 19, 2009)

Develop it anyway.  You probably only have 4 or 5 ruined frames.

I haven't opened the back with film loaded, but I've had other people do it for me.  Lost about 5 frames because of it.


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## Stacie1989 (Jan 19, 2009)

I'm going to the studio Wednesday to develop, I'll let you know how it all turns out. I'm crossing my fingers that my shots of the squirrel turn out..I took quite a few so hopefully one of them was saved.


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## Stacie1989 (Jan 21, 2009)

Hey everyone. Unfortunately none of the photos came out. The prof. understood completely and was cool about it. I got another roll of film and the weekend to hopefully get some more good shots. Too bad the snow's all melting off and to that point of looking nasty..oh well.


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