Clumsiness in the darkroom

[JPD]

I'm going away for a couple of days, and went to the darkroom this morning to load some plateholders with film.

1. I loaded six 9x12 holders with Efke PL100. All went well.

2. I loaded six 6,5x9 holders with APX 100. Then I opened the door and saw that I had forgot to put the inner bag with the film back in the box! I closed the door, threw away the uppermost film sheet, folded and put the bag in the box. Hopefully the rest of the sheets are usable. :rolleyes:

3. Then I loaded three 6,5x9 holders with Efke PL25, and dropped the rest, 22 sheets on, the floor! :rolleyes:

Maybe I should only load ortho film, with a red light on, in the future.

 

[jolefler]

Happens to me seemingly regularly! I hand load FILCAs, then routinely swtch on the light to re-organize before moving to the next type of film. It's a sinking feeling looking down to see a partially open bag with a spool still inside. Pull off six more feet and run it to see how badly it was hit. Or drop a 12x length on the floor before spooling it, just to make sure there's enough dust and dog hair on the film. Who wants to watch a ballgame on TV without spotting prints at the same time? Been fairly lucky so far; gotta rethink the loading process to make it more idiot-proof! A checklist, perhaps?

Jo

 

[jp80874]

Maybe just slow down and focus your mind. When I am rushed and thinking about too many things at one time I make similar mistakes. When I slow down and concentrate, I do not.

When this does not work at all is in a time of great emotional crisis. Do not do anything of consequence then. The veterinarian discovered cancer in my long time favorite dog's hip a couple of years ago. We watched the lump grow each day and watched her die before our eyes in three short weeks. Two days after her death, in desperation, I tried to develop some film and left 23 sheets of exposed but unprocessed film out on the table that were lost when I turned the light on. This was 7x17 film at $8.00 a sheet today and weeks of work. Now I store no more than ten exposed sheets in a package just to protect it from me if I have a very bad day.

John Powers

 

[jolefler]

Thanks, John! I do tend to hurry along and be less than thorough at times. Concentrate, Jo!

I have to make it to a NE Ohio APUG function soon. It'd be great to meet the talent pool I missed at your last get together! Not being really social, I rarely look at the schedule; if you think about it, please add me to a PM or email list for the next...thanks!

Jo

 

[TheDreadPirateRobins]

I can be very clumsy sometimes without even being in a darkroom. I just about botched my ankle yesterday walking over a flat, level floor.

 

[Vaughn]

Bummer about the film! Ouch

Out under the redwoods, I got some great 8x10 shots of my boys, loaded them (the film, not the boys...5 sheets) in the Jobo Drum, carefully push my film holders away from the edge of the counter (I had knocked one off the previous session, breaking a darkslide). I turned on the lights and thought to myself "What is wrong with the Jobo drum?" A millisecond later I realized that I had not put the end cap on it. That hurt. You would think that after 30 years doing this stuff, stuff would not happen!

Vaughn

 

[reellis67]

It happens to everyone at some point I think. Like the others said, just slow down, be mindful of what you are doing, and everything will turn out fine.

- Randy