What are the chances?

LyleB · Dec 11, 2010

I found an unexposed 135 roll of film in my clothes dryer tonight. It was in the plastic can. Does not have any water inside can, no apparent water spots on the exposed lead. In other words, it looks like it went through the wash cycle without getting water inside. The dryer is always set to low, so what are the chances the film is still ok?

I've never washed and dried a roll before.

chriscrawfordphoto · Dec 12, 2010

Film is cheap, reshooting pics that don't come out cause you were too cheap to buy another roll of film is a lot more trouble. I would toss it and just buy a new roll.

little-infinity · Dec 12, 2010

The canister is light tight, if light can't get in i doubt anything else would either. Don't hold me to that, just a wild guess. You never know.
Check the lip of the film canister (the part where the lead comes out with the black foam) to see if it's bent open. If it's tight you should be OKAY.

But I'm not sure.

So shoot, but with that said don't put anything critical on it!

georgegrosu · Dec 12, 2010

LyleB, principale problem here is that the film (emulsion) go to water spool and the run drying spool.
Perhaps the layers were glued together. Now you can tear pieces of emulsion you unzip the film. Or the emulsion to become glossy in the place glue to the suport.
If you have a chance to not have this kind of problems likely to go.
George

Slixtiesix · Dec 12, 2010

I would throw it into the trash bin.

2F/2F · Dec 12, 2010

Sounds like excellent practice film.

Domenico Foschi · Dec 12, 2010

Very likely it's not good anymore. As it has been said film is relatively cheap. I would throw it away.

Jesper · Dec 12, 2010

I would definitely try it out of curiosity.
I wouldn't trust it for anything important but put in in a second body just to see what happens

Rick A · Dec 12, 2010

Go ahead and shoot it. The worst that can happenis it is no good. The alternative is that it is still good, in which case you gained some negatives to print(always good).

Q.G. · Dec 12, 2010

Indeed.
A perfect opportunity to find out what happens if you let a film go through a washing - drying cycle, safely sealed in its cannister. That alone is 'fun enough' to give it a try.
Nothing learned, no fun activity to embark on, when you throw it away.

lxdude · Dec 12, 2010

How low is "low"? Film does not like heat. If you want to use it be prepared to have poor results, though it might come through OK. If it's B+W, I would expect it has a better chance of being OK than color film. If it's color you might get some freaky colors, which could be fun.

hpulley · Dec 12, 2010

If you're developing it yourself then it will cost, what, $1-2 in chems to develop and fix it right? Why not? Heck, even a dev only lab should be $5-9 or so. Geez, people are considering throwing away a can of film for under $10 of cost, sheesh!

hasselbladuser · Dec 12, 2010

Hi,
If you can still tear the film out to put it in the camera, then the emulsion did not melt and you could probably still expose it. There might be some fogging because of the temperature, but I would definitively try it to see the result!

bdial · Dec 12, 2010

If there was no water in the film can, it's likely ok in that regard. However the bigger problem is the heat, as suggested by others. I would go ahead and shoot it, but with the awareness that it may not come out how you'd like.
If the dryer didn't run for very long, like maybe less than an hour, it's probably not much worse than what it would get sitting in a car in the summer (which is certainly bad enough).

I'd much rather find a roll of film in the dryer than my cell phone

lxdude · Dec 12, 2010

bdial said:
I'd much rather find a roll of film in the dryer than my cell phone

How do you get a roll of film into your cell phone?

I did have a cheapie $20 Go-Phone go through the wash once, hot cycle. It was half full of suds in the LCD window, which made it look sort of like a miniature front-loading washer itself. I removed the battery, ran water into it everywhere I could find a spot to, then poured distilled water in to flush out the tap water. I shook out the water and set it in the sun for a day. I put the battery in, charged it, and it worked just fine.
I have to wonder if one of those fancy phones would have fared as well.

LyleB · Dec 12, 2010

Thanks, I initially tossed it right into the trash, but then dug it back out. When I opened it and saw it was dry, I reconsidered just tossing it. Seems folks buy outdated film all the time to try out, so maybe this would be ok too. It's just cheap Fuji color film. I'll go ahead and shoot it if it's not glued together. Nothing important, just playing. I'll just view it as an experiment. I'll let you all know what happens. It may be a few days before I get a chance. Middle of the week anyway.

Thanks for your input.

bdial · Dec 12, 2010

How do you get a roll of film into your cell phone?

Use an analog phone, of course...

It wasn't one of the really fancy ones, but it didn't survive the experience.

tkamiya · Dec 12, 2010

Maybe you can sell it on Ebay saying it's a "specially made heat treated film"

What are the chances?

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