Accidently opened 35mm camera with Efke 25 - how bad?

StorminMatt · May 26, 2009

Today, I picked up what I thought was my empty EOS 3 to load with some Kodachrome. But it turns out I picked up my Elan 7, which had a roll of Efke 25 that was on somewhere around the 25th exposure. It happened in a dim room, rather than outside in the sun. And the camera was open for no more than a second. But I figure I probably lost at least a couple of shots. How bad is this? Did I just lose more than just a few shots? Also, I want to process this film by dr5, which is somewhat expensive. Is it worth it to even process the film? Or should it just be thrown out?

L Gebhardt · May 26, 2009

Probably only a few shots. I did this once in bright sun with faster film and only a few frames were lost. There was some edge exposure on other frames, but it didn't extend into the frames. I bet you will be fine.

Christopher Walrath · May 26, 2009

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry9000/4.6.0.167 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/102 UP.Link/6.3.0.0.0)

I'm the yes man. Did the same once and kept shooting. Only the film from the cannister to the reel and a couple more were exposed.

Ian Grant · May 26, 2009

Both replies are correct, unless you'd opened the back too long (which you haven't) you won't lose too many frames so chance it and send it to dr5.

Ian

Alex Bishop-Thorpe · May 26, 2009

You'll be OK, the film between the canister and the take-up spool usually gets the bulk of the damage, everything already wound on usually just gets some fogging on the edges, outside of the picture area. I've done this a few times

Neal · May 26, 2009

Hi StorminMatt,

You're risking 2 beers at the ballpark (or similar venue :>) ) Go for it.

Neal Wydra

m_liddell · May 26, 2009

I've got away losing just a couple of frames in a dim room and that was with acros 100 so you should be OK.

Sirius Glass · May 26, 2009

You blew a few exposures. Get over it. We all did it at some time.

Shoot another roll of film and you will feel better in the morning.

Steve

Wade D · May 27, 2009

I've done the same thing a few times and only lost a few frames. The horror of opening the back is overcome by the good frames that remain.

verney · May 27, 2009

Undeveloped film is almost lightproof. I would estimate that you lost 2-5 last frames you shot.

eddym · May 27, 2009

Develop the roll and find out.

removed-user-1 · May 27, 2009

StorminMatt said:
Is it worth it to even process the film? Or should it just be thrown out?

If I'm not mistaken, all Canon EOS cameras actually wind the whole roll out when you load, and then rewind as you shoot, so you shouldn't have lost much at all. If your camera works like my fiancee's Rebel K2, most of your shots were quite literally in the can when you opened the back. Some portion of the unshot film would still be fogged, of course. I'm not a Canon user but this is a nice feature!

Markok765 · May 27, 2009

rthomas said:
If I'm not mistaken, all Canon EOS cameras actually wind the whole roll out when you load, and then rewind as you shoot, so you shouldn't have lost much at all. If your camera works like my fiancee's Rebel K2, most of your shots were quite literally in the can when you opened the back. Some portion of the unshot film would still be fogged, of course. I'm not a Canon user but this is a nice feature!

I believe that this is a feature only on the consumer cameras, as they believe only consumers and not pros/power users would make this mistake

removed-user-1 · May 27, 2009

Markok765 said:
I believe that this is a feature only on the consumer cameras, as they believe only consumers and not pros/power users would make this mistake

Well, I've never really used an EOS camera much myself; it seems like a very useful feature that a pro would want. I imagine most people here have accidentally fogged at least one roll of film this way. I know I've done it a couple times!

At any rate I would definitely develop the roll and see what I got.

Markok765 · May 27, 2009

rthomas said:
Well, I've never really used an EOS camera much myself; it seems like a very useful feature that a pro would want. I imagine most people here have accidentally fogged at least one roll of film this way. I know I've done it a couple times!

At any rate I would definitely develop the roll and see what I got.

It is a pretty useful feature, though pros probably don't have the time to wait for a whole roll to wind out onto the takeup spool every time they load a roll.

cmacd123 · May 27, 2009

Markok765 said:
I believe that this is a feature only on the consumer cameras, as they believe only consumers and not pros/power users would make this mistake

yep!
found on the rebel series, not on any of the Elans. The OP opened his Elan. durn Canons all look alike.

cmacd123 · May 28, 2009

BTW, Opening a ELAN and then closing it will advance the film 3 frames.

Alex Bishop-Thorpe · May 28, 2009

Markok765 said:
It is a pretty useful feature, though pros probably don't have the time to wait for a whole roll to wind out onto the takeup spool every time they load a roll.

I seem to remember my EOS 1 did it, but I could be mistaken

clayne · May 29, 2009

My 1V definitely doesn't have this.

StorminMatt · May 29, 2009

The Elan is pretty much ready to shoot right away after loading, and takes a while to rewind. So I don't think it has this feature. My EOS 3 is exactly the same in this respect, so I would guess only the Rebels have this feature.

clayne · May 29, 2009

Those darn Rebels.. always gotta be different, don't they?

Accidently opened 35mm camera with Efke 25 - how bad?

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