flashed some undeveloped film... help!

choppastyle · Jul 25, 2012

I was trying to load my reel with a little too much to drink and accidentally flicked the light on in the room for 1/2 second or far less even.

Could I push or pull it a little bit and try to salvage something good? How much would you recommend?

Rick A · Jul 25, 2012

Ouch! don't know what you can do, except just develope it. You will have fogging no matter what, but to what extent is determined by how long the flash duration. Note that the fogged area is determined by where the reel was when flashed.

choppastyle · Jul 25, 2012

it was essentially laying flat on the ground.

Thomas Bertilsson · Jul 25, 2012

Test it. It's the only way you can find out. But 1/2 second with room lights on is a pretty long time, if you consider what type of shutter times you normally see at that light level.

If it's Delta 3200 or TMZ, then it's probably toast. If it's Efke 25 or Ilford Pan-F, you might see a miracle. Relatively, that same amount of light is six to seven times stronger seen by a 3200 film compared to an ISO 25 film.

Buje · Jul 25, 2012

Thomas Bertilsson said:
Relatively, that same amount of light is six to seven times stronger seen by a 3200 film compared to an ISO 25 film.

Isn't it 64 to 128 times stronger?

Bill Burk · Jul 25, 2012

I agree - develop it anyway.

If you can estimate the light on the floor, for example I just read EV 1.8 on the floor of my darkroom with the white light on. I made a film test last night with EV -1 for 5 seconds and that made the 400 speed film black, 2.89 density.

If I did the same, maybe 1/5th second would be enough to blacken the edges. But any factor working in your favor will help: Standing in the way, the angle of light entering the spiral, etc.

My guess, the edges are black, some streaks will occur on alternating frames, but some frames will probably only have blackened edges...

Thomas Bertilsson · Jul 25, 2012

Buje said:
Isn't it 64 to 128 times stronger?

I meant stops... So, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128 - yes.

removed-user-1 · Jul 25, 2012

Unfortunately you just have to process it. Trying to adjust the processing to account for the light might work but there's no way to tell what effect the light had on each individual frame. When I was in photo class, many years ago, we paired off to learn to load film reels. We did this in the printing area of the darkroom, with each pair of students at an enlarger. You see where this is going... My partner managed to hit the timer while we were loading our tank. Some frames were ruined, some were printable. It's hard to say in advance what you'll get.

choppastyle · Jul 25, 2012

It was far less than half a second. It was a push button switch I basically just pushed it twice as fast as possible but.... we'll see. It was actually a pretty important roll of film for me :/ NO MORE DRUNK DEVELOPING! lesson learned.

Worker 11811 · Jul 25, 2012

This photo came from a roll that popped open when I dropped on the sidewalk. I had just rewound the film and was taking it out of the camera to put it into a canister. I fumbled the camera and, the moment the cartridge hit the ground, I knew by the sound that the cap had popped off.

Luckily, the film didn't fall out of the cartridge. Only the end cap came off.
I have a few of the old, metal film canisters that Kodak used to ship film in. I quickly picked up the cartridge, stuffed it into one of those metal canisters and screwed the lid on tight.

When I developed the film, everything up to the sprocket holes was toast but only a very thin strip along the bottom of the image was burned. When I made the print, I was able to crop it out.
It ended up being cropped a hair bit more than I wanted but it worked out anyway.

A half second is a long time for film to be exposed but, I agree, develop it anyway. You might get lucky.

choppastyle · Jul 25, 2012

I'm thinking it was the roll of TriX I was planning on pushing to 1600. Should I do an EV evaluation and then develop it as if it was shot at 400 or something like that? I'd really appreciate if you guys can help me with this because I got some great shots on it :/ As my family would say, "c'est la vie"....

bdial · Jul 25, 2012

It's more than likely toast , a 1/2 second is a really long time. If it was still on a film spool, then the inner parts are probably ok. If it was unwound from the spool and just in a heap, not so much.
It's not likely that a clip test will tell you much, except that it's fogged. Just process it as 400 and hope for the best.

Bill Burk · Jul 25, 2012

These are my arguments for pushing as you originally planned:

The test that gave me 2.89 density in 5 seconds at EV -1 on 400 film... was developed "as if" I had pushed it two stops (it has Contrast Index between 1.0 and 1.1). The approximate light I gave the film that turned it black was 5 meter-candle-seconds.

Judging from my graph, six stops down from what I popped* will be printable. Without knowing your light, I have to assume it was brighter than -1 EV, but say it was 1 EV for 1/4 second. That's little brighter, but lots less time. My guess... two stops in the right direction. Now you only need to have blocked 4 stops of light from the film to at least see the picture. Were you or was a piece of furniture between the light and film? The spiral of the film will have protected a great deal of the film.

A full pop on any part of your pictures would wipe it out no matter how you develop it. Those parts of the image that only got a little fog light (*1/10th of a meter-candle-second or less) will benefit from the development you originally planned.

jm94 · Jul 25, 2012

Develop it and see where it goes, also, why not invest in like a little cover that goes over the light switch so you have to lift it to turn the lights on/off?
My bedroom is a bedroom/darkroom combo seeing as I am in a shared house... but my paranoia with important film means I roll film onto the reels in my empty walk in wardrobe (with the door closed and made light tight) and that incidentally is where I put my trays for printing...

The worst I have done when drunk is ruined several sheets of paper by using the wrong safelight by mistake... Best stay out of the darkroom when drunk
If it was fully loaded onto the reel then maybe only a few frames were toast, depends on the angle of light entering the gaps in the spiral and/or you standing over the reel in a certain way etc etc do post your results! if it was a high ISO say 1600 or 3200 it would probably be toast! 400 as you seem to have you might go lucky, process it as 400 if you really do need to push it for the shots you took, go 800 if need be but keep pushing and the damage/fog done by the lights will be intensified.

choppastyle · Jul 26, 2012

Ladies and Gentlemen, I have developed the roll.

You convinced me that the only thing on there would be complete toast or at 1600 so I developed in D-76 for 1600. First 10 shots and the edge markings are completely black. After that, it gets better until the last 10 shots are pretty intact except for a little fogging. 2 or 3 frames didn't get fogged at all, including the one I really wanted to turn out. I was at a dueling piano bar and two girls in front of me perfectly framed a pianist. They somehow knew I was taking a picture and turned around to apologize for getting in my shot Then I got it when they went back to their original spots.

Thanks a lot, everyone. Like usual the people here pull through.

Felinik · Jul 26, 2012

I use a bathroom as darkroom, and to make sure no accidents can happen I scotch the light switch in "off" position when starting.

choppastyle · Jul 26, 2012

I have a push-button light switch in the bathroom I use. I don't know many techniques that could prevent intentionally turning the light on. Perhaps sobriety?

Felinik · Jul 26, 2012

Auch!

Yup, no booze in the dark, that will most probably turn out bad no matter what....

jm94 · Jul 26, 2012

Glad the shot you really wanted to turn out, turned out! A shame the other shots were lost but i guess they were just unlucky!
Lesson learned, dont go into the darkroom drunk!

choppastyle · Jul 26, 2012

Advice taken, lesson learned!

Bill Burk · Jul 26, 2012

choppastyle said:
.... I was at a dueling piano bar and two girls in front of me perfectly framed a pianist. ....

Hooray!

For a second reading this I thought you were describing how good you felt when you saw the shot, not the shot itself.

Griz · Jul 26, 2012

choppastyle said:
Ladies and Gentlemen, I have developed the roll.

You convinced me that the only thing on there would be complete toast or at 1600 so I developed in D-76 for 1600. First 10 shots and the edge markings are completely black. After that, it gets better until the last 10 shots are pretty intact except for a little fogging. 2 or 3 frames didn't get fogged at all, including the one I really wanted to turn out. I was at a dueling piano bar and two girls in front of me perfectly framed a pianist. They somehow knew I was taking a picture and turned around to apologize for getting in my shot Then I got it when they went back to their original spots.

Thanks a lot, everyone. Like usual the people here pull through.

Hi choppastyle, glad to hear that your most important shots were able to be salvaged!

Which piano bar? My son used to bar-tend at Howl at the Moon for a couple of years. We had his bachelor party there, and had a blast...great atmosphere!

Griz

choppastyle · Jul 26, 2012

Howl at the Moon it was! It was my first time there and it's great. The three of us split that 83 oz cocktail in a bucket...

Griz · Jul 26, 2012

choppastyle said:
Howl at the Moon it was! It was my first time there and it's great. The three of us split that 83 oz cocktail in a bucket...

If you tried to process the same night after that 83 oz cocktail, that would surely explain the accident! Ha!

I spent a couple of years in San Antonio, after I got out of the service, attended SAC, and worked for the Ranger (the school paper). Lots of photo opportunities in that town, but I could never get used to city life (especially the loop at rush hour!). I sure do miss some of the night life there though....

I'd love to see some scans of your prints when you get them up!

Griz

choppastyle · Jul 26, 2012

Griz said:
If you tried to process the same night after that 83 oz cocktail, that would surely explain the accident! Ha!

I spent a couple of years in San Antonio, after I got out of the service, attended SAC, and worked for the Ranger (the school paper). Lots of photo opportunities in that town, but I could never get used to city life (especially the loop at rush hour!). I sure do miss some of the night life there though....

I'd love to see some scans of your prints when you get them up!

Griz

Yeah, the three of us split something advertised for "four or more!" haha we know how to have a good time. I'm a senior at UTSA and I've taken summer classes at SAC. Actually watched a guy steal a bike there in broad daylight once. The only shots I have digitized are a color roll, my first roll since photography class in middle school. Riverwalk at night.

flashed some undeveloped film... help!

removed-user-1

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