Roll Film Failure!

RattyMouse · Feb 15, 2014

I found a surprising problem today while packing up my film. I shot my very first roll of Velvia 50 (after 20+ years of shooting film), and this is what it looked like this morning.

Has anyone ever seen a failure like that before? Disappointing as I have some nice shots on that roll that are now heavily compromised.

I wonder how this happened. I never felt anything weird while shooting with it in the camera. Just smoothing rolling all the way through.

I'm pretty shocked as I have NEVER seen a film roll fall apart in this way. Ever.

markbarendt · Feb 15, 2014

Nope, haven't had that happen.

Looks like it got a bit of rough handling. Was it tossed in the same pocket of your bag with your camera or a big lens?

snapguy · Feb 15, 2014

box

It might be helpful to know what kind of camera was used.

Trail Images · Feb 15, 2014

I'm pretty shocked as I have NEVER seen a film roll fall apart in this way. Ever.

I'd agree 100%. In fact, all I have used in 120 for over 20 years is Velvia 50. I hope this is not a quality issue going forward. Best of luck with processing this roll.

wildbill · Feb 15, 2014

it takes quite a bit of pressure to break these spools. I use them for drawer pulls in my darkroom and have broken them.

RattyMouse · Feb 15, 2014

markbarendt said:
Nope, haven't had that happen.

Looks like it got a bit of rough handling. Was it tossed in the same pocket of your bag with your camera or a big lens?

It was in my laptop computer bag or my jacket pocket. I've been traveling a lot and can't trace its history all that well. To my knowledge, it should have had had huge abuse but who knows, perhaps I made a boo boo.

RattyMouse · Feb 15, 2014

snapguy said:
It might be helpful to know what kind of camera was used.

Fujifilm GF670 folding camera.

Jeff Kubach · Feb 15, 2014

I never seen that before, either heavy handling or somthing heavy drop on it.

Jeff

markbarendt · Feb 15, 2014

RattyMouse said:
It was in my laptop computer bag or my jacket pocket. I've been traveling a lot and can't trace its history all that well. To my knowledge, it should have had had huge abuse but who knows, perhaps I made a boo boo.

Probably.

The face of the break is consistent with an "all at once" break. Defects in material are normally pretty easy to see along a fracture.

R.Gould · Feb 15, 2014

never had this happen to me, it takes a lot of abuse to break these reels, must have had some very serious abuse
Richard

RattyMouse · Feb 15, 2014

wildbill said:
it takes quite a bit of pressure to break these spools. I use them for drawer pulls in my darkroom and have broken them.

I know. Very worrying.

RattyMouse · Feb 15, 2014

R.Gould said:
never had this happen to me, it takes a lot of abuse to break these reels, must have had some very serious abuse
Richard

No way was there any serious abuse. My laptop would have taken damage then and I know nothing happened to my jacket pocket.

Steve Smith · Feb 15, 2014

Have it processed anyway. If it's wound tight, it's probably o.k.

I had a roll of Acros in an old camera, it rolled up around the edge of the spool so most of it was outside the flange diameter. There was a bit of edge fogging but was otherwise o.k.

Steve.

benjiboy · Feb 15, 2014

It's probably just a rogue faulty spool.

RattyMouse · Feb 15, 2014

It is VERY tightly rolled and I will have it processed once back in China.

MartinP · Feb 15, 2014

Where did you find the broken off segment? In your pocket or in your bag? That would give you a clue as to where it happened and it probably wouldn't have needed much of a bang/squeeze. Note that pressure on the roll of film can affect the image too - squeezing it against a hard edge for a moment, or two, can be seen when developed. Always better to carry it in protection of some sort I'd suggest.

All you can do is keep it in the dark and process it as soon as you can - you could be lucky, who knows!

Bruce Osgood · Feb 15, 2014

Are you sure it did not occur while loading or unloading the film? Where is the chip? if the roll is tightly rewwound perhaps during rewind it broke?

bsdunek · Feb 15, 2014

benjiboy said:
It's probably just a rogue faulty spool.

I think this is most likely. As an engineer, I know how plastic molding can sometimes cause a failure. This could happen at the beginning of a run when temperatures haven't stabilized. Usually the first parts are ground up and reused, but one could escape and get in the finished parts.

Xmas · Feb 15, 2014

You needed to put it in the dark immediately instead of take its photo.

120 and 220 are not safe against physical damage even in the card board boxes.

BrianShaw · Feb 15, 2014

... only processing will tell the story. Good luck. I'd be betting that you have some image damage on the edges of the frames but possibly enough that is salvageable to avoid calling the roll a total failure. Hope you're not of the "anti-crop" movement.

RattyMouse · Feb 15, 2014

I found the broken chip. It was in my jacket pocket. So that means that putting my GF670 into my pocket while the film was in there somehow managed to damage it. That is NOT a lot of pressure or energy to break the roll.

pentaxuser · Feb 15, 2014

RattyMouse said:
I found the broken chip. It was in my jacket pocket. So that means that putting my GF670 into my pocket while the film was in there somehow managed to damage it. That is NOT a lot of pressure or energy to break the roll.

If the film was in the camera when you put it in your pocket how is it possible to damage the spool while in the camera and presumably protected by the film compartment?

I may have misunderstood what you mean or do not know enough about the camera of course

pentaxuser

Regular Rod · Feb 15, 2014

Invest in a few rolls of Rollei CR200. Save the canisters they come in and re-use them for any other 120 film you need to put in a pocket...

RR

benjiboy · Feb 15, 2014

This Isn't "roll film failure"' it's roll film spool failure.

RattyMouse · Feb 15, 2014

pentaxuser said:
If the film was in the camera when you put it in your pocket how is it possible to damage the spool while in the camera and presumably protected by the film compartment?

I may have misunderstood what you mean or do not know enough about the camera of course

pentaxuser

Let me be more clear. The film that was broken was fully exposed and then put into my pocket. Then while shooting a new roll of film, I would put my camera into my pocket, the one with the roll of film that got broken. Somehow putting my camera into my pocket was enough to damage it.

Roll Film Failure!

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