Changing ISO

[chikne]

Pah, I don't know why I never thought of doing that before but, changing mid roll with a mechanical camera is actually well doable, I've been doing it for a couple of days now. What a life saver, and it saves me from carrying, or having to buy a second body (save GAS for lenses 😛)!!!

Anyone else does that?

 

[JeremyLangford]

sounds hard

 

[projectbluebird]

There is one potential pitfall to be aware of.
Development times change with different ISO ratings. If you go too far, you may end up with an unusable negative.

 

[Chris101]

There is one potential pitfall to be aware of.
Development times change with different ISO ratings. If you go too far, you may end up with an unusable negative.

I think he might be talking about re-winding a roll back into the cassette, noting the last exposure number.

Then loading a roll and shooting blanks (make sure your lenscap is light tight!) until you get to the next available shot.

I do this to change film mid-roll, and it works OK, because the Leica is pretty consistent as far as the position of the starting frame goes. Sometimes I get confused, so I write the last frame shot on any roll I change out with a sharpie.

 

[MichaelM7]

I do it quite regularly, although I normally loose one exposure to make sure, I don't get any overlap. This is sometimes psycologically "hard", especially if you're shooting something like Kodachrome were each frames costs a small fortune (in comparison to other slide films or B/W negative films).
I need it less to change ISO but more to make sure, I have the right film for the right occassion (B/W, colour negative or slide) when I go out, e.g. any family events are more likely to be shot in colour negative, to please all the relatives and to distribute the prints.

 

[amateriat]

I've rarely done it...mostly when I've decided to change film types after shooting two or three frames. Once I've gone beyond ten frames or so, it makes no sense to me to do anything other than "kill the nickel."

As far as changing film speed mid-roll, about the only film I think you can get clean away doing that with (at least anywhere from EI 50 to 800) is Ilford XP2 Super. Kodak's BW400 might operate in a similar manner, but I've never tried it with that film, and have heard a conflicting report or two from elsewhere.


- Barrett

 

[drewbarb]

When I take a partially shot roll of film out of my camera, I write the the speed used and the frame number on the leader with a sharpie. I have got into the habit of always checking the leaders of the film I am loading to make sure it's not a partially shot roll, or to know what frame to advance to before I start shooting if it is. This avoids a lot of unintentional double exposures and grumbling later.

 

[Rapscallion]

I do this all the time. It's just a matter of remembering how many shots you took with the roll and then advancing far enough.

 

[JeremyLangford]

isnt it hard to rewind back to the very beggining without rewinding the film back into the canister?

 

[Pablito]

isnt it hard to rewind back to the very beggining without rewinding the film back into the canister?

listen and feel for the little click.

and invest in a film picker for insurace.

but I only ever shoot one film so I don't do it.

 

[mackigator]

This is easy with the Hexar RF - it pauses at the leader out point during a rewind for this purpose.

 

[goo0h]

I do this too periodically, but I still want a 2nd body! 😉 It's doable, but is a bit tedious at times.

 

[hans voralberg]

I do that sometimes when it really comes to the point I need to grab some shots and dont have anything else at hand. But having 3 bodies with different films help 😛

 

[chikne]

Uh, I got a double exposure because of that today =)

 

[clarence]

I don't do it because I mostly use medium format cameras. 12 shots fly by very quickly, and there's no such thing as a rewind crank.

Clarence

 

[crawdiddy]

I do it all the time, and I've never had double-exposures due to the practice. One thing that helps, is to reload the roll into the same type camera it was originally exposed in. That way the leader-required remains the same. I always make "dummy" exposures at f/22 (or minimum aperture) and maximum shutter speed, with the lens cap on, and often with my hand around the lens cap (for a belt-and-suspenders approach).

I also write the exposure to wind to on the cassette, and I also have a film leader picker, as mentioned earlier. And I have practiced using it, although I have not needed to for this purpose. When you rewind the film into the cassette, you hear the leader disengage from the winding axis, and you also feel the tension lessen from the rewind-crank.

You should get a junk film cassette and try it first. Also, try out your film leader retrieval skills.

Oh, and save the junk film cassette for when you get your first Barnack Leica, to practice loading film there. It's maddeningly difficult the first time.

 

[MikeCassidy]

I have done it fairly often, I always go one extra frame beyond what I shot when I reload. With a M3 its easy to feel the film come off the spocket when rewinding.