101 ways to ruin a roll of film

[StephenM]

You probably don't want to hear this, but I once opened my (35mm) camera when it had a half finished film in. I immediately closed the back, and having wound on a couple of frames continued to use the film. Most of the frames that were still in the camera when the back was open turned out reasonably. Perhaps I was very lucky...

 

[Peter B]

Picked up my camera after a 20 year absence.

Bought a few rolls to shoot with.

Got to the end of the first roll and had completely forgotten that there's a button on the bottom of the camera to release the sprocket so it can be rewound.

Rewound it. Got tighter and tighter and tighter until it snapped.

In some ways it was like Schrodinger's Film - until I opened the camera, the film was both ruined and not ruined.

I'd estimate that maybe two frames went back into the canister, the rest was just spooled in the camera.

I believe that just pushing the button will free the mechanism for rewinding, but I obsessively keep it pressed until I feel the film end come loose just in case .....