My screw up of the decade....

mrred · Sep 17, 2016

I put this here as there didn't seem to be a category to fit......

After having my hands in a dark bag rolling exposed film onto a reel, I noticed the curl of the film was backwards. I had loaded the cartridge backwards.....

Will my film be in focus? Will the anti-hal layer prevent proper exposure?

The stuff is in the wash now. Is it worth going any further?

Slixtiesix · Sep 17, 2016

Sadly, I assume your pictures will have an "artistic" value at best.

Bill Burk · Sep 17, 2016

Some cameras wind the film backwards to counteract the natural curl. You might have "just" rewound the film to develop immediately.

This might be normal, your film might be correctly wound, with emulsion facing the lens.

mrred · Sep 17, 2016

That sensation could be true if this was my first time with the camera, but my FM2N has more than a few rolls go through her.

The film is hanging now, but it's hard to eyeball it as these where night shots of the moon. There is images there. I'll look at them tomorrow.

Jim Jones · Sep 17, 2016

The full moon does strange things to photographers, but the film should be fine unless perhaps you touched the emulsion while winding it.

Wallendo · Sep 17, 2016

People intentionally do this with C-41.

Svenedin · Sep 17, 2016

I just processed 19 rolls of rollfilm and 35mm over 2 days. One of the rolls of 35mm ended up on the reel emulsion side out. No idea how or why that happened. Anyway, a few frames also stuck together and didn't get developed properly. One of those things. It's never happened before.

markbarendt · Sep 17, 2016

On most any 35mm camera the only way to get the wrong side of the film up would be to load the film cassette wrong.

pbromaghin · Sep 17, 2016

mrred said:
I had loaded the cartridge backwards.....

Do you mean you loaded it backwards onto the cartridge from a bulk loader before shooting? In that case I can't imagine you'd have anything. If it's just backwards on the developing reel it should be fine.

Svenedin · Sep 17, 2016

markbarendt said:
On most any 35mm camera the only way to get the wrong side of the film up would be to load the film cassette wrong.

It was a pre-loaded TMax 400. For some unknown reason the film sprung into a tight coil emulsion side out and that is how it ended up on the developing reel.

Actually, thinking about it......the camera (OM4-Ti) winds the film emulsion side out on the take-up spool. The film had been in the camera for several months with the film nearly finished. Perhaps the film kept the "memory" of being wound the wrong way.

markbarendt · Sep 17, 2016

Svenedin said:
It was a pre-loaded TMax 400. For some unknown reason the film sprung into a tight coil emulsion side out and that is how it ended up on the developing reel.

Actually, thinking about it......the camera (OM4-Ti) winds the film emulsion side out on the take-up spool. The film had been in the camera for several months with the film nearly finished. Perhaps the film kept the "memory" of being wound the wrong way.

The only real concern I'd have about film getting loaded inside out is that the emulsion would be more vulnerable to scratching from my fingers.

The frames touching is a separate issue.

mrred · Sep 17, 2016

pbromaghin said:
Do you mean you loaded it backwards onto the cartridge from a bulk loader before shooting? In that case I can't imagine you'd have anything. If it's just backwards on the developing reel it should be fine.

I guess I wasn't clear.....late night chemical fumes...

What I meant was I put the film in the cartridge backwards. hence the natural curl going the wrong way.

I am now looking at the images. Exposure is good, details are bad. Slixtiesix got it right....artsy fartsy stuff. Maybe this is the start of a new fad.

mrred · Sep 17, 2016

As you can not see.......detail on the moon. Sad as it was a really clear shot....

vdonovan · Sep 17, 2016

If that's your worst screw-up of this decade, you're a lucky man.

mrred · Sep 17, 2016

I'm lucky that the moon comes around again tonight and the sky should be clear. There is nothing worse than loosing images you can't re-create.

pbromaghin · Sep 18, 2016

vdonovan said:
If that's your worst screw-up of this decade, you're a lucky man.

Ain't that the truth.

GRHazelton · Sep 19, 2016

Maybe we need a new forum area for screw-ups? I could furnish quite a few, going back decades.... We could all sit around and commiserate, and then have another round or so.

fdonadio · Sep 19, 2016

vdonovan said:
If that's your worst screw-up of this decade, you're a lucky man.

+1

Doc W · Sep 19, 2016

Here is screw-up from only a few hours ago. This kind of thing happens when you have been in the darkroom too long.

I wanted to do a backup print of the one I just did. No changes. Same exposure etc. I open the box of paper, write a code on the back in soft pencil, and put it in the developer. I wait for the mid tones to appear to make sure my developer is not exhausted after all day in the darkroom. Nothing. I wait a little more. Nothing.

You guessed it. I went straight from the box of paper to the developer, bypassing the enlarger completely. Time to leave the darkroom, shut the door behind me, and have a beer. That's it for today.

peter k. · Sep 19, 2016

Ah screw ups.. the beauty of being an old 'art, is that you remember you have had them, but can't remember what they were, so when you do it again, you don't feel twice as bad.

My screw up of the decade....

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