120 idiot

At kind of imbecile puts his hands in the darkbag and puulls ouut the film instead of the backing paper!!UNBELIEVABLE!!!!entire roll of todays rock climbing session gone!!!

Not all that unusual. I've done similar things, like using the fixer before the developer, shooting fall colors with XP2 Super...

Why are you pulling ANYTHING out of the darkbag except a loaded developing tank???

Because my bag is quite small-i pull the paper and tape out so I have room to spool the film freely. Never done this before though-and on such an important roll.

Oh better than me not loading the film right on the camera. You know that feeling when it kept going after frame #37. "OH F**K"

dehk said:

Oh better than me not loading the film right on the camera. You know that feeling when it kept going after frame #37. "OH F**K"

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I've never done this, but quite frankly this made me literally "laugh out loud"! LOL LOL LOL

Even if you pulled the paper out of the bag some light will come through the sleeve anyways and expose the film. The paper never interfered with me spooling the film, how small is your bag?

I'm not even going to mention the stupid things I've done with 120 film, and I've been using it for 50 years.

The very first Cibachrome (as it was called then) print that I developed I did something similar. I bought the little 4x5 discovery kit or whatever they called it, which had a 4x5 paper drum and either 20 or 25 sheets of 4x5 paper and chemistry. The paper was packed with the usual cardboard, one side of which was quite smooth. I had never worked with paper in total darkness before, and didn't know how heavy the paper was supposed to be - I exposed and processed the cardboard. Of course I was a teenager at the time.

I had an important roll (shots of my fiance's grandmother's birthday party) not go through my Pentax LX because of bad loading, something I had NEVER done. This was last year, and I've been shooting film from 35mm to 4x5 off and on since the 1970s. When I got the LX I was used to my old Ricoh's film loading system (which is probably the best and easiest ever, short of the automatic "close the back and the motor loads" of later motorized cameras.) I kept trying to load it like the Richo because the takeup spools look similar, and frequently had problems. The manual didn't help.

After I got back a blank roll of Portra 400 from Dwayne's I figured the thing out. It's actually quite easy, but of course it was too late for that roll. The thing is, while they look similar, the slots on the Ricoh are very shallow, just tuck a bit of film in and it's good to go. The LX and other Pentaxes with that system has something more like little rods on the takeup spool, which won't grab a small bit of film, it needs a lot more film tucked in, but they are also very tight - I'd been missing that you really have to push the film leader under there. When you do, it loads easily - but I'd never pushed it that hard because I'd never needed to on my "loads very similarly" camera I'd had for 20 years or more. I thought it was just hard to load; to get the take up spool to grab a small amount of film I had been tucking all I could without really pushing. Of course I had apparently, in the moment, neglected to verify the rewind knob was turning as I wound each shot.

We all make goofy mistakes. If you want to truly do face-palms and curse yourself for new and creative ways to screw up, get into large format. I guarantee you'll find several amusing but painful "new" ways to screw up a shot before you start getting it really down. It's not difficult, there's just a lot of little steps and things that are easy to forget. A checklist helps at first. No kidding.

tessar said:

I'm not even going to mention the stupid things I've done with 120 film, and I've been using it for 50 years.

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Then you are the perfect candidate to keep us entertained for AT LEAST the next hour or so.....

Roger Cole said:

We all make goofy mistakes. If you want to truly do face-palms and curse yourself for new and creative ways to screw up, get into large format. I guarantee you'll find several amusing but painful "new" ways to screw up a shot before you start getting it really down. It's not difficult, there's just a lot of little steps and things that are easy to forget. A checklist helps at first. No kidding.

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Absolutely. Just wait until you pull the wrong darkslide on a sheet of 8x10 Ektachrome. Or pull the right slide, then realise the shutter is still open from composing. There are about 50 more...........

I once accidentally processed the backing paper from a 120 roll! LOL!

Sorry to hear
I always un-roll my 120 film like this clip (from 35seconds http://youtu.be/6cD8eP8kjdo?t=35s ), because that way, I am always left with the film in my hand and the backing paper that is now lying around, can take a hike

Read (there was a url link here which no longer exists)after you finish: I plan to go into the darkroom and develop film this week-end. Hope no screw-ups
cheers

Just lost my first roll to it popping out of my hands. Just got back from a long hike on Kelso Dunes. Stupid Efke roll lickem strip is too short for one thing and another gripe is it detached of course while fumbling for some tape to keep roll tight it seemed to collapse on the spool and spiral out of my hand. I may have to swear off this film but I keep coming back to it for the incredible tones. What's the deal Efke? This format has been around about a century please put a better tape at the end of the roll...Grrrr!

ps: If you could do something about the nasty curl after drying you'd have a customer for life.

Helinophoto said:

Sorry to hear
I always un-roll my 120 film like this clip (from 35seconds http://youtu.be/6cD8eP8kjdo?t=35s ), because that way, I am always left with the film in my hand and the backing paper that is now lying around, can take a hike

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This is the method I use, and have been for a very long time. It works very well, and also helps keep things under control if you're working in a changing bag. I tear the tape to separate film from paper.

Also, the extra stiffness from the tape on the end of the film makes it easier to start on the real (IMO).

"Oh better than me not loading the film right on the camera. You know that feeling when it kept going after frame #37. "OH F**K" "

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been there, done that my friend. With one of my last rolls of kodachrome in the Boundary Waters, no less.

E. von Hoegh said:

Absolutely. Just wait until you pull the wrong darkslide on a sheet of 8x10 Ektachrome. Or pull the right slide, then realise the shutter is still open from composing. There are about 50 more...........

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BTDT on both errors, thankfully only with 4x5 black and white though. A buck and a half a sheet isn't nearly as painful as $13 a sheet!

Always wondered, if you process the backing paper....what do you get?

tony lockerbie said:

Always wondered, if you process the backing paper....what do you get?

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Wet soggy paper!

And a headache from banging it against a wall.

Mike

wilfbiffherb said:

Because my bag is quite small-i pull the paper and tape out so I have room to spool the film freely. Never done this before though-and on such an important roll.

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Never, ever, ever, ever pull your hands out of the changing bag until you're done loading the roll of film you're working on and sealed the tank. Just don't...

No matter how small the bag is.

Ever.

No. You're an idiot if you don't learn from your mistakes. Just see it as a lesson. Punishing yourself doesn't help you move forward as a photographer.

I find film backing paper and the film itself to feel remarkably similar in the dark. In a changing bag I'd slowly allow the film to roll up until I got to the masking tape end. The masking tape end attached to the film is what easily distinguishes the film from the paper. If you drop both in the bag then stay calm and feel both rolls until you get to an end with masking tape still on and that's the film. If it's a centre loading reel I'd start with the taped but if a Jobo or Paterson then work you way back to the non taped end and feed this on first.

Sounds stupid to state this self evident truth but as long as your hands are in the bag then you have as long as it takes to get things right. If things don't go smoothly my sub-conscious says things like "it's now or never and I must try harder" i.e. time to panic but in fact I am under no such constraints.

The Zen approach and logic are as one here.

There's a guy in Utah whose made a video about using a changing bag and he's so relaxed that if he wasn't living in Utah I'd swear that his relaxation owes something more to Tennessee white lightning than Utah decaff coffee.

Check out his video on how to stay cool

pentaxuser

Thomas Bertilsson said:

Never, ever, ever, ever pull your hands out of the changing bag until you're done loading the roll of film you're working on and sealed the tank. Just don't...

No matter how small the bag is.

Ever.

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Sure. And what do you do if you just loaded a roll of film on a spiral, put it into the tank and then realize that the tank's cover is sitting on a table just 10 feet away from you?
That was my last week's experience... Trust me, you do feel rather silly in such a situation