A Really Bad Feeling

[OldNick]

I had an incident that still puzzles me. I was shooting a roll in the Leica IIIa that I have had for more than 50 years. The advance knob seemed normal, and I had no misgivings until I rewound the film. When I took out the cassette, the film was split horizontally for the length of the roll. I had cut the leader with a template, and the film had been in the camera for some time. All I could conclude was that something caused the film to split from the beginning, and it continued each time I advanced the film. I now look closely to be sure there are no rough spots when I cut a leader. Has anyone else seen this problem?

Jim N.

 

[varjag]

I once misloaded my Contax, when changing film in near-total darkness.. film didn't wind, but fortunately main part of show was already on the chromes.

Another time, after taking a roll in the apogee of an important political event at its epicentre, I rushed to replace the film without rewinding first, and took off the back :/ But, the dual-cyllinder cassette I used in place of take up spool has shut close and saved the film, only two last frames were lost. All Contax/Kiev users reading this, I would really suggest using such a cassette if only for this reason.

OTOH, I've never had a lens-cap accident, mainly becasue my lenses don't sport them while mounted on camera.

 

[PlantedTao]

I agree

I agree

Never happened to me. Why, you might ask? Because I don´t slam the film door(or base plate) shut before I see the film going in the take up spool, ok I lose one frame or two, but at least the film is properly loaded, and there is 35 frames to go. Why is this so difficult to do?:angel:
But the lens cover, that´s a satanic plot.

I always do this at the cost of losing a frame or two...ever since losing an entire roll of "keeper" shots 🙄 ... I believe it is well worth it.

Of course my recent genius move was to open the film door before rewinding the film...I was too excited to put in a new roll of film and get shooting again 🙂

Live & Learn

 

[steve garza]

Here's another bad feeling:
After shooting my 1st roll with Heliar 2.0 yesterday at the S.M. pier, I came home and mixed my soup (in a slight hurry wanting to catch the latest episode of "The Office"). I didn't adhere to my ritual of placing the chemisty in order and poured what I htought was developer into my tank. After emptying the container, I realized it was fixer, not developer.....damn!! just when I thought I had it down.....

 

[SolaresLarrave]

Steve, I've read so many stories about mixing the wrongest possible chemicals that when I bought mine, I chose very distinctive bottles to avoid the problem. Then, I wrote the contents in huge letters in some of the non-distinctive bottles (where the stop, photo-flo and HCA are stored), and even wrote their use on the label.

I simply see myself making exactly the same mistake... but I want to be ready.

Keep the stories coming! 🙂 This thread makes me feel less imperfect... 😉

 

[steve garza]

Color coded bottles.....

Color coded bottles.....

Steve, I've read so many stories about mixing the wrongest possible chemicals that when I bought mine, I chose very distinctive bottles to avoid the problem. Then, I wrote the contents in huge letters in some of the non-distinctive bottles (where the stop, photo-flo and HCA are stored), and even wrote their use on the label.

I simply see myself making exactly the same mistake... but I want to be ready.

Keep the stories coming! 🙂 This thread makes me feel less imperfect... 😉

now that's genius!!!! 😀

 

[steve garza]

Back to the pier this afteroon!!!!! nothing will deter me!!!!!!!

 

[JohnL]

It sure happened to me once or twice in the more than 35 years I shot film. What troubles me though is that it's modern equivalent, forgetting to put a memory card in in the DSLR, already happened four times in the last three years. Similarly, only having a filled up flash card in the camera that forces you to search and delete rubbish shots for each new one to add...:bang:

Many digital cameras can be set so they refuse to shoot if there's no card in the camera ... it's usually buried somewhere in the menus or custom functions.

 

[Terao]

Is this an opportune moment to mention the chimping abilities of the R-D1? 😀

Although that doesn't always prevent the lens cap issue...

 

[froyd]

thank goodness for the Bessa's film window

thank goodness for the Bessa's film window

...otherwise I would certainly be posting about how in mid-roll I always second guess myself and panic when I start thinking that the Tri-X 400 I loaded might actually be Kodak Gold 200... I hate that feeling!!! 😱

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

A friend of mine asked me to photograph his antique sailing boat. The plan was for us to get well away from other boats, then I'd get in his small rowboat and move off a couple of hundred metres and photograph from there.

All went well - until I got the pictures back and discovered that I'd left the exposure on +2 for the whole session.

 

[Didier]

Misloaded rolls

Misloaded rolls

Every 35mm photographer I know has done this once.

Not shure about only once 😉 ... I had misloaded the roll in several cameras several times, especially when on location, in a hurry. And of course the best shots ever made were just on these rolls!....
Didier

 

[biomed]

I walked out on a high steel open deck railroad trestle and shot a roll of film. The rails and crossties had been removed. There was only two rows of 12 inch wide planks to walk on. I was about in the middle of the span (100 feet or so from the either end) and a good 200 feet above the river below. After walking off the bridge, I realized that the film hadn't been advancing :bang: . I took one look back at the trestle and thought there's no way I am going back out there!!!

 

[RyanG]

About a year ago I rode my street motorcycle up ten miles of dirt road to a remote alpine dam. I hiked for hours, taking photos with my bronica sq-ai. It was my first time using that camera and that light meter -- an analog incident meter. I was really excited, and I thought I got some cool shots. Then after I got home I took a few shots at dusk. Right when I took out the light meter I realized that I'd been reading it wrong all day. I had been using the "low light" marker to figure out the exposures. All the shots ended up many stops overexposed, and I was sad.

Also, once on the main highway I found out that the bumps of the dirt road had unscrewed two of the four jets on my bike. I could only go up the hills at 30mph (most cars go 60mph on this two lane mountain road). I didn't have the tools on me to fix them.