Bizarre Hasselblad film loading mishap

[warrennn]

A few days ago I had some Ektar 100 film developed and found that all of the frames were blank (!). I had taken these on my 501cm (a12 back) over the past week and was mystified, as I have never had a film loading mishap in the 5 years that I have owned the camera.

I think the problem was in the film loading since the film looked very strange when I wound it onto the takeup spool. The paper covering was entirely a featureless black, rather than the expected white with lettering and the word "exposed".

I took an old roll of tmax100 (minus the negatives, which I had developed), wound it on the spool and tried to simulate various loading errors. I couldn't duplicate my experience of obtaining a black fully wound roll. I cannot imagine any way I could have loaded the film and generated this result. I assume the backing and film were reversed, causing the blank exposures.

Any suggestions would be most helpful, as I would not like to repeat this mistake (some of the pics were unique family photos, not easily duplicated).

Is it possible that the film could have been assembled wrong at Kodak? (Hard to believe...)

After obtaining the blank frames I put a new roll in and this one turned out fine (so I don't think it was equipment failure).

Thanks.

Warren Nagourney

 

[Jeff Bannow]

Sounds to me like you wound the film on backwards? In other words, the film was facing towards the pressure plate instead of out? If that were the case, you wouldn't get the start mark to line up though.

 

[warrennn]

Thanks, Jeff. Two things would happen if the film were backwards: the arrows wouldn't line up and the paper would look very wrong (yellow instead of black). Even though I loaded the film a week ago and don't remember it that well, I can't imagine that I would load it without being able to line up the arrows. That step is etched on my mind and I would not complete the process without doing it.

wn

 

[Jeff Bannow]

Yeah, there would be no start arrows to line up. Odd.

 

[Q.G.]

No other explanation possible: you reversed the wind off direction, i.e. loaded the film backwards.

Though i have yet not managed to do so myself, it appears this happens. When it does, it does because it escapes the attention of the loader that something is wrong. So why would it be odd that you missed the start line thingy?
Remember that you still see the outside of the roll where it is on the spool. You even see the outside of the roll - the place where the start marks are - coming round the rollers and across the pressure plate.
So not that odd that if it escapes your attention that you are winding the spool off the wrong way, you also miss the fact that the start marks are in an unusual place.

 

[warrennn]

You are absolutely right. Reversing the roll in the "source" side doesn't eliminate the appearance of the arrows. It merely places them on the other edge (but same side) of the backing paper. On Kodak film (and Fuji, apparently) there are arrows on both edges. If one loads the film backwards, the *short* arrow lines up with the arrow on the film back; done correctly, the long arrow lines up.

Sorry for my topological silliness -- a little thought (or experimentation) would have solved the problem.

wn

 

[amac212]

Some would call loading the film backwards in a hasselblad is a rite of passage... the good news is that it usually NEVER happens again

 

[BrianShaw]

When I started shooting Hasseblad, and Graflex roll film backs which load quite like the Hassy, I coined an expression, "If it feels wrong, then its right." Loading film in these backs just feels "wrong" (backward) at first.

 

[BrianShaw]

... and you can quote me... royalty free!

 

[pgomena]

I've done this. I was in a big hurry in fast-changing light and blew a roll on a scene I won't see again. I won't do it again!

Peter Gomena

 

[warrennn]

Thanks, everyone. Yes it was a painful mistake but one that (hopefully) won't be repeated.

wn

 

[michael9793]

Loading a exposed roll doesn't work well either. The thing about a hassey is when you put it back in the case it should be black where the exposure window is before putting the slide back in.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Take a look at these instructions:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=op6hDyMmkqA

Steve