Changing lens mid-roll

[Cranialpush]

This might sound a stupid question but with an M6 should I worry about changing lenses mid-roll? I had a roll come back ruined and can't fathom what I could have done wrong apart from changing lens mid-way.

Thanks.

 

[mknawabi]

you can do it just fine with absolutely no worries. it was made to handle that

 

[manfromh]

Changing lenses mid-roll will not ruin the film. Shutter is covering the film at all times when not exposing.

The ruined film may have been bad work in the lab.

 

[ChrisN]

Changing lenses won't hurt the whole roll. But when you do change lenses, don't have the camera facing directly into a strong light source. The shutter curtain rides in a set of channels, which are designed to keep the light out, but with time and wear they can allow strong direct light to leak through, especially if a lens is not mounted. I discovered this through experience.

Edit to add - this type of leak was discussed a few years ago, in this thread. The images have been deleted from the old threads, but the text might still make sense.

 

[Ronald M]

Turn your back to the sun to be safe.

Sometimes the light shields go bad on early M 6`s and less frequently on other M cameras and there is some streaking with the lens off. It it gets bad enough, the problem will show with the lens on the camera.

 

[MichaelW]

I had a roll come back ruined and can't fathom what I could have done wrong apart from changing lens mid-way.

Can you describe in what way the film is ruined? Was it colour or B&W? If you give a clear description of how it is wrong then someone might be able to explain what happened.

 

[Ronald_H]

Changing lenses won't hurt the whole roll. But when you do change lenses, don't have the camera facing directly into a strong light source. The shutter curtain rides in a set of channels, which are designed to keep the light out, but with time and wear they can allow strong direct light to leak through, especially if a lens is not mounted. I discovered this through experience.

Yup, for all practical purposes changing lenses on a 35mm RF or SLR won't ruin your film. But like Chris I have had problems with an older FED-5 in very bright outdoor light, due to the reasons he describes above.