Did I ruin this roll of film? :(

[blankk]

Okay, I did something dumb. I shot a roll of film for a non-paying client (portfolio purposes) and stupidly, since it's been so long since I last shot film, I forgot to seal the roll before tossing it in my bag. So I get home and see it there looking partially unraveled. Maybe not really unraveled, but 'loose'. So I tried getting it tight and I sealed it up but I'm worried I lost at least part of that roll. I'm checking a roll that I don't care about and of course there's that protective black stuff but does it sound possible that I've ruined a substantial number of shots? All it did was sit in a camera bag and get 'loose' but I won't know until tomorrow.

 

[noogie]

fingers crossed

 

[Nikanon]

I assume you are referring to a roll of 120 or 220 film, or something of the like. Most likely your shots are not totally "ruined" but may have some light leaks on the edges, probably for 1/2 or 3/4 of the roll depending on the severity of its unwinding. Process it as normal and save what you can, you may need intensive cropping but most should be able to be salvaged, expect about 1 or 2 ruined frames at minimum so you don't have a huge shock when opening the dev tank, again i dont know how much it unravelled but its probably only as much as normally do for mine when not tightly packed. If the roll is ruined after processing, use the remaining effective densities for tests and comparisons.

 

[Denis K]

I've heard professional photographers call this a FAT ROLL. Considering this, if you film is wasted then you can tell your client, "we're going to have to reshoot that last assignment, it turned out to be a fat roll." Doesn't that sound a lot better than having to tell them you made an extremely stupid mistake. Repeat after me, "Always blame the equipment."

Denis K

 

[blankk]

...you made an extremely stupid mistake.

Hey!

Anyway, the more I look at a wasted roll of film to compare, the more it looks like the "fat" area was maybe just the paper and didn't go all the way back to the film. We'll see. I hope not

 

[stealthman_1]

Good luck. Last one I messed up...I mean, the last fat roll I had cost me 3 frames.

 

[blankk]

Got lucky, no shots affected.

 

[mjs]

Got lucky, no shots affected.

Yes, but... now we know!