LF ULF UULF ROLL BACKS, 35mm, MF SUBMINI whats your system ?

sometimes i wander around with an empty camera on purpose to
practice looking, it saves me the effort of an empty camera by mistake ...

what's your system for knowing if your film holders / roll film backs are empty

do you leave your empty stuff somewhere so you know " its empty " ?

do you put one of those paper things on the back of your camera that ID's your camera ( 35mm )'s contents?

do you leave film holders in a stack - 1 pile is empty, 1 pile is full of film - with a piece of cardstock ( that comes with the film ) saying whats in it ?

do you only change the silver/black dark slide sides back to silver ( or black depending on what is your side for "exposed " ) back to the "unexposed" side when
you have film in it?

do you use sticky notes, paper and elastic bands, mind control tricks, xray vision, base knowledge, thoughograms technique, or do you not worry about it
because you always check to see what is in a film holder by habit before you take it with you ( in the dark of course !)

me?
i just have a pile and usually unexposed is silver .. and i usually check to see if it is full ... it all gets exposed + processed the same no matter the iso
so it is just to see if i have to load it ...

you?

Shooting 120 film. I use the top of the film box to indicate what type of film is loaded in each back. When I process a film, unless I reload the back immediately with the same type of film, I remove the film type indicator. So no indicator = no film in back.

For 35, I give the rewind knob a twist, if it turns freely, not loaded, if it stops, loaded.
One 35 has a holder for the box end, but I only occasionally actually use it. Speed is what the meter is set to, and I generally remember if it's B&W or color.
35 is nice in that it's easy enough to note where the counter is and de-load if it's really critical to know what's there or change to something else.

On my favorite 120 camera, the backs have an indicator that shows whether or not it has film, that + the counter tell the tale.
I either remember, or put a piece of tape on the back to indicate what sort of film, but most of the time I try to use the film within the time period that I can remember what's there.

For sheet film, my system is black side out for exposed. I switch the slides around only immediately prior to loading. So one way or another a holder with the slide showing black is not to be used.
As for whether or not there is film inside, most of the time, shaking the holder and listening for the film rattle works well. If there is any doubt, I open in the DR and verify.

Knowledge as to what film is there is pretty simple since I only buy one kind (mostly).

For the plate holders I obtained recently I found I could tell by the weight. Though that was after I opened the first one in the light and discovered that it had a plate loaded.

The occasional surprises are fun, at least that's what I tell myself.

My major mistake in this sort of stuff was a box of 4x5 I had knocking around, it was completely assembled with the inner lid in the right orientation for protecting film, no indication on the box as to exposed or not, so I assumed it was unexposed, unprocessed.
I needed some film to try out in a baby graphic and this box seemed like a good candidate so I took a few sheets out, cut them down and loaded a couple of holders.
After processing, I had these very odd looking negatives that did not have the images I remembered taking, and they were composed very strangely with the subject running off the edge of the film, and no rebate area showing. I had stored some exposed and processed negatives in the box.

I use rangefinder cameras, old enough to not know the concept of photographer unconsciousness.
Cameras with “paper things” reminders are for moderns souls in need for babysitter.

I have some blue painter's tape that are about 1" wide.

When ever something is loaded, I put this tape across the latch. It's a reminder both visual and tactile for me to NOT open it mindlessly. I do this for everything, including film back, paper safe, certain chemicals, etc.

Little round coloured dots on the film holder to indicate if it is loaded with IR820 (red dot), colour film gets a green dot. If I use a film other than FP4+, it gets a label to indicate what is inside. Once exposed, the dark slide is flipped round and a sticky label with exposure info added. When unloaded, the label is transferred to the box containing the exposed film (unless I go straight to processing). The DDS is then placed in a box set aside for empty holders.

Avery style labels on reloaded cassettes, bodies, shot 120, etc. really useful if you tear the sticky tape.

There's a lot of running into blackened rooms to open cameras and backs to check if anything is in there but that only tells me that there is something there, not what it is.

There's a fair amount of stand developing going on to deal with the forgotten iso of loaded film.

Generally I try and use it if I load it so that nothing remains loaded. Saying that though, there's at least two cameras with unknown film in them.

I do love serendipity and I make provision for it.

Labels:

I use the same system for all cameras and formats. If there is a film label in place (for cameras that have one) or if the film type is written in pencil where there's a space for that (LF filmholders, rollfilm holders, and various other cameras, Grafmatics, Kinematics, and bag mags that I've just put a white label on for this purpose), then it's loaded. For sheet film holders, I use the fairly universal system: white is unexposed, black is exposed; so white or black with no film type on the label means the holder is empty.

I have little sticky labels I put on a camera once it is loaded. Too many cameras with different factory notification systems so looking for my own label is more reliable.

They peel off easily with no residue and have just enough space to write out what the load is.

35mm: all of my cameras have the little window that lets you read the filmtype with the back closed. I've even gotten rather good at writing in the correct spot on bulkloaded cartridges so I can read it.

120: Mamiya 645AF, Kiev NT, and I think my Graphic 23 backs have a little slot-holder thingy, I put in a bit of the box or bag to remind me what it is, most of the time it's the tape that holds the roll together before I load it.
Kiev 88 old backs, I've taken to jamming a bit of foil-wrapping into the window you open to set the first frame (it's probably not the best way, but I never put my best film in an old Kiev 88 back).
DaYi 617 back doesn't have anything like that, but if I can't remember what film I was using for all of 4 shots, there's something wrong.
For any 120 films, I always throw the foil-wrapping in the part of my bag where the back sits anyway, because I like to re-wrap them when I unload them for a bit of extra light-leak protection.

LF Holders: I used to sticker all of my darkslides, front and back, with a coloured and white sticker each, green for unshot, red for shot, white to write the filmtype. I've since learned that that's probably not the best for the felt in the light trap, so I haven't done that on my most recent purchases, now I just write on the tape on the top what's in there.


All of my empty film holders and backs and cameras are in my study. All of the loaded ones are on a shelf in another room. One end is unshot, one end is shot awaiting developing, in the middle are sheet holders with one of each, which I'll grab depending on whatever I do next (ie dev or shoot).