101 ways to ruin a roll of film

My Holga arrived the other day, but I clearly didn't RTFM properly.

I had the 6x6 mask in the camera and all was going swimmingly until the frame counter got to 13...

It was only a test roll, so no great loss (although I'd still have preferred it to be FUBAR free), and I'm expecting the results to be one massive image consisting of 12 overlapping frames (apart from the last two where I set the frame counter window to the correct setting after realising my cock-up).

Given it's a Holga, I'm not sure that this should be considered ruined though - it'll perhaps add to the look. :)
 
FishyFish said:
My Holga arrived the other day, but I clearly didn't RTFM properly.

I had the 6x6 mask in the camera and all was going swimmingly until the frame counter got to 13...

It was only a test roll, so no great loss (although I'd still have preferred it to be FUBAR free), and I'm expecting the results to be one massive image consisting of 12 overlapping frames (apart from the last two where I set the frame counter window to the correct setting after realising my cock-up).

Given it's a Holga, I'm not sure that this should be considered ruined though - it'll perhaps add to the look. :)
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Maybe a new Creative thread on intentional frame overlap (IFO) to go with the ICM one? :exit:
 
If anyone's ever wondered just how loudly you can swear when you discover that your Holga has accidentally been switched to bulb mode (probably when I put it in my camera bag) and so three whole rolls of film are now overexposed, camera-shaken monstrosities, it's pretty loudly, I can assure you. :banghead:

The fact that I'd taken a bunch of what would probably have been pretty nice shots that's the worst part (although the £30 of wasted film and processing costs smarts a bit too!). It was from a trip to the coast as well and I'm unlikely to get back there until next year now. :(

The only saving grace is that I had another couple of (reliable!) cameras with me, so they should hopefully give me something at least.

The bulb switch is now taped shut!

Grrrrr!
 
@FishyFish

Makes my latest cock up with leaving the Voigtlander on close focus rather than infinity for a few shots then having the back fly open twice while winding the film back seem quite amateur!
 
The manual for my Rolleicord says to wind on and cock the shutter straight after taking a photo, but it seems to trip the shutter when I put it in my bag, so that's a few wasted shots. I also fitted a Tamron 24mm to my £5 Chinon , but forgot it was set to minimum aperture while I was using a lightmeter. They're about 4 stops underexposed.
 
I've got a roll of IFO'd 120 from my experiment with a Voigtlander Bessa. I was going to ditch it, maybe I should stick the scans into LR, publish and wait to stun everyone with my artistry?
 
Peter B said:
The manual for my Rolleicord says to wind on and cock the shutter straight after taking a photo, but it seems to trip the shutter when I put it in my bag, so that's a few wasted shots. I also fitted a Tamron 24mm to my £5 Chinon , but forgot it was set to minimum aperture while I was using a lightmeter. They're about 4 stops underexposed.
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I dunno which model you have but the roller it’s va that I had possessed a shutter lock to prevent accidental shutter fire
 
Asha said:
I dunno which model you have but the roller it’s va that I had possessed a shutter lock to prevent accidental shutter fire
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It's a Vb Asha. It has a double exposure lock, but I don't see an actual lock for the shutter release button.
 
Iirc it was like a locking ring located around the actual shutter button which itself was located bottom left corner as looking towards thé lenses
 
Asha said:
Iirc it was like a locking ring located around the actual shutter button which itself was located bottom left corner as looking towards thé lenses
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This is my one, but no locking ring on the shutter release
s-l1600.jpg
 
I'm trying to recall what the lever does with the red dot….self timer perhas?
I know the other has to stay as you have it set to avoid internal mechanical damage

EDIT, having looked again,I think I'm getting myself mixed up with the Yashica TLR in so far as shutter release / lock as the system on the cord uses the same lever to fire the shuuter as to cock it I think…...

Sorry if I've confused everybody, including myself! lol
 
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Asha said:
I'm trying to recall what the lever does with the red dot….self timer perhas?
I know the other has to stay as you have it set to avoid internal mechanical damage
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That's the double exposure lock, and you turn the lever below it to cover the red dot to prevent double exposures. It's the one on the other side that's the self timer.
 
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Just back from a week's walking in Slovenia, in the Julian Alps region mostly. Just sent off 8 rolls of film to Filmdev this morning... one Superia 400, the rest Portra 400. All shot at 400, except one roll... shot throughout at 1/60! And I don't even know which one... :(

Conditions varied but were mostly mountain areas above the ski lifts, so I'm not holding out much hope they can rescue much in the scans. Still, if metered at 1/1000, that's only 4 stops over-exposed, maybe there'll be something... :oops: :$:runaway:
 
ChrisR said:
Just back from a week's walking in Slovenia, in the Julian Alps region mostly. Just sent off 8 rolls of film to Filmdev this morning... one Superia 400, the rest Portra 400. All shot at 400, except one roll... shot throughout at 1/60! And I don't even know which one... :(

Conditions varied but were mostly mountain areas above the ski lifts, so I'm not holding out much hope they can rescue much in the scans. Still, if metered at 1/1000, that's only 4 stops over-exposed, maybe there'll be something... :oops: :$:runaway:
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At least it's only one roll out of the bunch. Gotta look on the positive side. :)
 
Portra, I found when I used it, was very forgiving if overexposed not unlike most C41 films.
Underexpose just gives muddy results.
Do you not recall the tests that @sky5hark ( iirc) did to show much tolerance thee is in film..... I seem to recall it was portra he experimented with.
Obviously you will see in due course how good or not the negs come out but also don’t forget that the lab and their processing / scanning also plays a big part and isn’t forced to be the best available
 
First one would be when you meter at a reasonable speed of 1/125 and fail to notice the drop to 1/15th as you zoom in to the dark subject. Ain't no VR on an F80. :facepalm:

Second is when you remedy the above by using a handheld meter to get an incident reading, then turn exposure to manual with this reading. The subject moves, so you switch AF to Continuous. After taking many prize-winning photos :rolleyes:, you notice that you nudged the AF back to Single when you changed the lens. :banghead:
 
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ChrisR said:
Just back from a week's walking in Slovenia, in the Julian Alps region mostly. Just sent off 8 rolls of film to Filmdev this morning... one Superia 400, the rest Portra 400. All shot at 400, except one roll... shot throughout at 1/60! And I don't even know which one... :(

Conditions varied but were mostly mountain areas above the ski lifts, so I'm not holding out much hope they can rescue much in the scans. Still, if metered at 1/1000, that's only 4 stops over-exposed, maybe there'll be something... :oops: :$:runaway:
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Well, between the magic of Portra and the scanning abilities of Filmdev, I'd have a hard job working out which roll was the culprit, if I didn't know! Several are a bit muddy, but some are actually quite nice. I won't be posting about ruined films on this thread again, until after I've actually seen the shots!
 
Peter B said:
First one would be when you meter at a reasonable speed of 1/125 and fail to notice the drop to 1/15th as you zoom in to the dark subject. Ain't no VR on an F80. :facepalm:

Second is when you remedy the above by using a handheld meter to get an incident reading, then turn exposure to manual with this reading. The subject moves, so you switch AF to Continuous. After taking many prize-winning photos :rolleyes:, you notice that you nudged the AF back to Single when you changed the lens. :banghead:
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Told you the Canon EOS 30 was better! :exit:

Teasing aside, the design of some cameras seems to make them prone to the inadvertent knocking/nudging (and changing) of the function dial, etc. which is something I hate... why did those designers do it?! That's one of the reasons I couldn't get on with the Canon AE1, I found I'd sometimes inadvertently catch the shutter speed dial and move it. It only happened occasionally... but often enough to make me worry about missing an important shot! I never had that issue with the Canon A1, plus it also had a guard cover switch to protect the dial just in case it ever started to happen.
 
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Mr Badger said:
Teasing aside, the design of some cameras seems to make them prone to the inadvertent knocking/nudging (and changing) of the function dial, etc. which is something I hate.
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.....and this put me off the OM10 for life o_O Not forgetting the Nikon FM (and some others) that need the winder open to use the meter, well for me using the camera in the vertical position the lever was getting up my nose :eek: and cameras that need you to wind on before the meter works :rolleyes: ...I could go on :sleep:
 
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Snip:
excalibur2 said:
and cameras that need you to wind on before the meter works :rolleyes: ...I could go on :sleep:
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I have a Pentina SLR from the 1960s that needs to be wound on to see anything through the viewfinder! Still, at least you can tell whether or not you've wound the film on with that camera, but it's a bit of a pain if you decide not to take the photo after all, particularly if it's the last one of the day! :facepalm:
 
Hmm... I'm writing an 8
volume compendium of
ways Kisatchie has ruined
rolls of 35mm film...
o2.gif
 
On Autopilot: Just mixed up 300ml of developer for a roll of 120.

Attempted resolution? Slung a hastily measured 200ml of tapwater in the microwave for 8ish seconds and topped off the developer (no idea of the temp). Doubled the development time.

I have images. Not sure on the quality. Yay for the flexibility of black & white.
 
Place camera in rucksack, it'll be ok unprotected in there as you aren't throwing the bag about. now place the rucksack in the front bucket of backhoe where it'll sit for the day whilst you help drag electrical poles around a small Bahamian island. Ride around island on backhoe having a good time. Finish day and now empty all gear from bucket by tipping it out. Forget camera was in bag. Dent/twist chassis.

Take photo on near complete roll of Ilford Delta of work done. Back door pops open.

F***
 
Sectionate said:
Place camera in rucksack, it'll be ok unprotected in there as you aren't throwing the bag about. now place the rucksack in the front bucket of backhoe where it'll sit for the day whilst you help drag electrical poles around a small Bahamian island. Ride around island on backhoe having a good time. Finish day and now empty all gear from bucket by tipping it out. Forget camera was in bag. Dent/twist chassis.

Take photo on near complete roll of Ilford Delta of work done. Back door pops open.

F***
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Is there some sort of prize for this????
 
Recipe for ruining three rolls of film: get three old gits, dig out three 40 year old cameras, cobble together batteries which may approximate the required voltage, load rolls of your favourite silver halide and let them loose in Oxford.

What will be the mode of failure? Light leaks? Shutter failure? Aperture failure? Forgetting to focus and or set exposure? Who knows... Now we wait. As they say, someday our prints will come.

Seriously though, it was the most photographic fun we have had for a long time.
 
FishyFish said:
I managed to shoot three frames with my ETRSi today with the darkslide still inserted. :banghead:
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I thought it was impossible to fire the shutter of an etrs with darkslide in place…...:thinking:
 
FishyFish said:
I managed to shoot three frames with my ETRSi today with the darkslide still inserted.
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This cracked me up. My RB67 has three types of backs for the three versions of cameras they made. Each one was more "overbearing parent" than the last. The standard back has no safetys. You f**k up, it's on you, but double exposures are easy and running 35mm through it with the plastic doodads from AW allow you to shoot way beyond 10 exposures. The Pro-S back and the SD back have various holes and pressure plates to determine whether the dark slide is in place, or whether you've advanced the film after your last shot, or whether you've done 10 shots.

Which is best? You decide!!
 
Buy a medium format camera from eBay, run two rolls of HP5, one roll of Portra 160 and one roll of Ektar 100. Get the Ektar and Portra developed and realise there was a problem with the leaf shutter in the lens and each shot had about a 1 second exposure... I got 1 miraculous decent shot...
 
Tom Pinchenzo said:
Buy a medium format camera from eBay, run two rolls of HP5, one roll of Portra 160 and one roll of Ektar 100. Get the Ektar and Portra developed and realise there was a problem with the leaf shutter in the lens and each shot had about a 1 second exposure... I got 1 miraculous decent shot...
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How long have you had it now Tom? You have a 30 day returns option on eBay if the goods are not as described. From seeing your posts about the camera on here, I'm guessing it's been longer than that, but worth checking.
 
Yeah, I’ve had it a while longer than that. Unfortunately it took a couple of months to get a roll of film developed to realize there was a problem! It’s getting repaired though, so hopefully in a few weeks I’ll have a working camera!!
 
:sigh:

Go on a conference call. Put yourself on mute. Get your hands into a dark bag to load the reels & tanks. Discover that this is the first roll this year that doesn't want to go onto the reel. Fumbling ensues.

"Isn't that right Ian? Ian?"
"I think he's on mute"
"He'll be there in a just a second"

Yank hand out of the bag to unmute. Expose the film.

Pooof...! All gone... Yay me.

There's a lesson to be learned there.
 
Harlequin565 said:
:sigh:

Go on a conference call. Put yourself on mute. Get your hands into a dark bag to load the reels & tanks. Discover that this is the first roll this year that doesn't want to go onto the reel. Fumbling ensues.

"Isn't that right Ian? Ian?"
"I think he's on mute"
"He'll be there in a just a second"

Yank hand out of the bag to unmute. Expose the film.

Pooof...! All gone... Yay me.

There's a lesson to be learned there.
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:eek: :eggface: :banghead:
 
Harlequin565 said:
:sigh:

Go on a conference call. Put yourself on mute. Get your hands into a dark bag to load the reels & tanks. Discover that this is the first roll this year that doesn't want to go onto the reel. Fumbling ensues.

"Isn't that right Ian? Ian?"
"I think he's on mute"
"He'll be there in a just a second"

Yank hand out of the bag to unmute. Expose the film.

Pooof...! All gone... Yay me.

There's a lesson to be learned there.
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Hope you put the phone back on mute before all the swearing started! ;)
 
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