Advancing past frame 39 with a sinking heart

AndersG said:
Yes, it happens, though I tend and try to remember to look suspiciously at the rewind knob early on.
Once, in Las Vegas of all places, it took about 10 frames before I noticed...

Apparently the film must have slipped from the take up spool after the first advance, so I got something rather than nothing..

/Anders
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I laughed and spat out my coffee, but this ended up being an interesting shot (or 10).

I've actually had it happen most often with an F6, despite the film indicator window. Thankfully I can carry over the tension-checking technique with it.
There's also the time last week when I opened a back loaded with a bulk-loaded roll, thinking there was nothing inside because of the black canister.
 
That's happened to me too. Just once, but the sinking feeling I had as the frame counter just kept on going on and on I'll never forget.

A related story. Back when I graduated from high school, a few buddies of mine went out west (USA) on a road trip. One of my friends bought a brand new Pentax Spotmatic 35mm SLR, which he had never used before. He assume you loaded it like the typical 126 instamatic camera of the day, you opened the back, dropped in the film cartridge, close the back, then took pictures. He dropped the 35mm film cassettes into his Pentax without ever threading the film onto the take-up spool. He "took" several 36 exposure rolls of film of the Grand Canyon, Grand Tetons, etc. Every roll of film wasn't exposed. Kind of ruined his trip.

Jim B.
 
Not sure that ever happened to me - I'm rather a specialist when it comes to rewinding only half of the film and then open the back because I think I heard or felt the film slipping out of the take-up spool (want the leader outside of the canister as I do the devloping myself usually).
 
Mackinaw said:
...He "took" several 36 exposure rolls of film of the Grand Canyon, Grand Tetons, etc. Every roll of film wasn't exposed. Kind of ruined his trip.
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Oh, that's terrible! I could see that really putting a dent in one's enthusiasm in general. I don't know what is worse - knowing you goofed up loading the film, or finding out that the film was ruined in development. Cue classic story of Capa's ruined D-Day negatives!
 
Only once that I can remember, after that I got into the habit of partially advancing film before closing camera back to check it's transporting OK, and regularly gently turning rewind lever to take up any slack before advancing the film and then watching the rewind knob turn as I advance the film.

I recently tore a film mid-roll in my Trip 35 without realising it. I thought it had become jammed and then freed itself. Took a few phantom frames and realised there wasn't enough tension to indicate proper film advance. Stupidly then popped the camera back in open shade to check what was happening! Closed it immediately when I saw the exposed film around the take-up spool and the torn end hanging out of the film canister. Amazingly, I only lost a few frames from the take-up spool. Some fogging at the edges.
 
I always watch the rewind knob. Never had problems with the camera I shoot mostly (one of the few OM-1's I have). Great take-up spool on that camera. I always manage to get 37 or 38 frames with it. Just check if the rewind-knob is turning!
 
lynnb said:
Only once that I can remember, after that I got into the habit of partially advancing film before closing camera back to check it's transporting OK, and regularly gently turning rewind lever to take up any slack before advancing the film and then watching the rewind knob turn as I advance the film....
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I guess that happened to everyone at some point of time and after that you just make sure ... as Lynn above.
None of these issues with the M9 & MM though 😉.
 
NeeZee said:
strangely enough the leica iiif (my main camera) is the only film camera i own, I never had problems with loading or opening too early after rewinding...
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Could be, I did this when I brought my IIIf out of retirement about 10 years ago. I never did it in the 1960s.

I hope you love your IIIf like I have mine. 50 years with the same camera and I can't tell you what it feels like to pick it up and shoot. I go Zen with it in my hands, I even think I do better composition with it.
 
zuiko85 said:
I go past 39 all the time, no problem.

Oh wait, I have a half frame.....never mind.
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That's a good one. Out of curiosity, is half-frame 35mm about the same as APS-C? What uses half frame - original PEN? I guess if you think about it, Barnack made his original camera shoot a double-cine frame, so you could consider yours a "full frame" and everyone else shooting 35mm "double frame"!
 
Yep.. did this while in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area with one of my first and last rolls of Kodachrome 64, just a few months shy of the 2010 retirement. And maybe a couple times since then...:bang:
 
Shooting a double Greek baptism with Nikon F's when I realized the rewind wasn't moving .🙁 Put that one down and started shooting with my 2nd F .Lucky me I caught it early on so didn't lose to many frames.
 
I don't think I've mis-loaded, but I've done something else just as bad: taking the bottom off my Leica without first rewinding. I plead heat stress and altitude sickness: it was a 110 degree day in the high California desert. I had just finished a roll in some gardens in Palm Desert, CA. I felt pretty dumb.
 
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