Accidently exposed film. Help!

EricO · Nov 9, 2009

I'm fairly new at medium format (2 years). I was doing a photo shoot recently and made two rookie mistakes. I took the seal off of a roll of 120 film but realized that the back that I was going to load already had film in it. I accidently exposed the film in the back when I opened it. I figured that may have ruined a frame or two so I continued shooting. Meanwhile, the roll that had the broken seal unravelled a little. Is that roll ruined? I was thinking about running it through by taking some snap shots. What do you think?

mrmekon · Nov 9, 2009

I think it most likely depends on the circumstances. I'd still run it, but not with anything I care about. I had a roll that unwound a bit, and every frame except 2 were fogged.

As for the open back, the few times I've done that the damage was much less. 3-4 frames fogged.

JBrunner · Nov 9, 2009

All you can do is develop the roll that was in the back and find out what you have. The unravelled roll can be shot, just don't use it for anything important or unrepeatable. Me? I'd just throw it away. My time is worth more than a few bucks.

railwayman3 · Nov 9, 2009

If you're processing your own film and the only cost is a few cents for the chemicals, I'd shoot the second film on snapshots, and develop both films. Sometimes you'll get away with these mistakes, but on the other hand, daylight and especially direct sun can be very penetrating when it comes to fogging film.

I remember once giving a colleague a 35mm film from my fridge when he'd forgotten to bring any film for a special event. He first decided it was too cold to load in the camera, then thought he'd "warm it up a bit" by waving the casstte in the hot direct sun for about 10 minutes. (I tried to suggest that this might not be the best idea! ) He then blamed the processing lab when most of the prints had orange fog marks! (He was the kind of guy who always knew best! :rolleyes: )

Thomas Bertilsson · Nov 9, 2009

Use it, but not for anything important, unless you have a special relationship with serendipity.

Fireguy2002 · Nov 11, 2009

You can use it in a Holga. Some actually do that on purpose for Holga shooting.

benjiboy · Nov 11, 2009

Be philosophical about it,You've learned a valuable lesson for the cost of a roll of 120.

Sirius Glass · Nov 12, 2009

JBrunner said:
All you can do is develop the roll that was in the back and find out what you have. The unravelled roll can be shot, just don't use it for anything important or unrepeatable.

This part of what he said.

Steve

Accidently exposed film. Help!

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