Opened the Camera & Spoiled the Film

[Worker 11811]

I made a dumbass mistake today. I went to load my Yaschica Mat with film but I forgot that there was already a half-shot roll inside.

Needless to say, the film in the camera is spoiled.
I wound the roll through and sealed it as normal then marked the roll "SPOILED."
(I'll probably use that roll for experiments or something.)

I'm just wondering for knowledge sake, how much of the film was actually destroyed? In a 35 mm. the film that's still inside the cartridge is still all right.

If you screw up like that with a 35 mm. You can just close the camera back up, waste three frames and keep shooting. At least the frames at the tail end will still be good. If you're lucky, some of the film that's wound up at the center of the takeup spool might still be all right.

I was indoors, sitting at the dining room table when I screwed up. No lights or lamps on in the house. Only window light.

So, when you screw up with a Yashica/Rollei style TLR camera with 120 format film, how much of the film actually gets zapped? Can you, at least, recover and keep shooting like you can do with 35 mm?

 

[zsas]

Sorry to hear! I was developing a roll of film a few weeks ago and the top of the processing tank popped open and out came the film. I only lost a maybe 4 of the 15 photos (645 camera). So you might get lucky and get some salvaged?

 

[guitstik]

The advantage of 120/220 is that you have a paper backing that gives some protection. You might lose a frame on either side of the one in the que but other than that the rest should be fine. Ask me how I know, go ahead, ask.

 

[Vaughn]

I agree with Guistik -- except 220 only has paper on the beginning and the end (otherwise the roll would be too big in diameter to load), so one might lose a few more images than with 120.

Vaughn

 

[guitstik]

I don't shoot 220 that much and wasn't thinking about it only having the leader/tail with the paper backing. That is why this place is so good, when you make a mistake you get moral support and gentle correction when necessary

 

[Diapositivo]

I did this with a 35mm film and I could recover most of the content. If you develop the film yourself it's a little expense. You'll recover more than you think.

 

[Rick A]

I did that with one of my Mamiya's. I forgot that I had already loaded it and popped it open to insert a fresh roll. I just closed it up and shot the roll any way. I ended up with eight or nine exposures instead of 12. Ihe only reason for that was the camera zeroed out and did a restart to the number one when I advanced the film.

 

[BrianShaw]

We've all made dumb mistakes like that. Suggest pulling the spool out (you never know when an empty 120 spool might come in handy) and trash the rest. The hurt will go away faster that way.

 

[rphenning]

aw that sucks. I did that once with my mamiya 7 and luckily only ruined a few frames if I remember right. Lesson I learned: check your frame counter before popping the back.

 

[markbarendt]

I pulled an RB 67 film back out of my bag yesterday and the dark slide was hooked on a thread. Advanced 2 and kept going.

 

[Worker 11811]

The stuff I shot on the spoiled roll was just beaches and landscape. Not a great loss but the stuff I was going out to shoot was important to me.

I'm trying to develop a series of historical and tourist landmarks, hopefully for sale. These shots are important to me.
I thought I might only lose two or three frames of film in the accident but I didn't want to take the chance on spoiling a good picture just to save a half roll of film so I closed the camera back up and advanced to the end then changed out the roll.

Now that you guys have me thinking I might be able to salvage a frame or two of that spoiled roll, I think I'll develop it anyway just to see what comes out. Maybe one of those beach shots will be all right. (Fingers crossed )

I think I invented a couple of new swear words after I realized that there was film in the camera when I opened it!