Does it matter how film is loaded into the canister?

[dufffader]

I've rolled my own film for close to 10 years now, and for the first time this month, I somehow managed to roll film into the IXMOO the wrong side (flipped). :bang:

Usually you get the emulsion side exposed directly to the light from the lens, but based on the curving of the film just before developing when I was transferring it to a stainless reel, I think I had a roll that had the base layer facing the lens instead. The IXMOO definitely had a bit more tension when rewinding the film as the crank fights against the tension caused by the reversed curvature.

Anyway strangely the development turned out to be normal, no difference detected, even after scanning.

So question is, does it really matter which side of the film is exposed towards the lens? Did I really load it the wrong way if the film turned out normal after development?

 

[Roger Hicks]

Usually, yes. Reversed film will be less sharp and underexposed, though some films will demonstrate far worse degradation than others. I know: I've done it myself, though not for some time.

Cheers,

R.

 

[gns]

A lesson all sheet film users learn right away.

 

[gns]

Thinking about this more....
Is it even possible to do that with 35mm film? Wouldn't you have to place the spool in the loader backwards? I don't think the bulk loaders I used would even allow this.
If you simply cranked it the wrong direction, the emulsion would still be oriented the same way (towards the lens).

 

[Highway 61]

If - supposedly, because it cannot be the case - it didn't matter, the images would look left-right flipped when looked at with the base layer facing your eyes.

If the film looks normally developed and exposed with images not left-right flipped when you look at the negatives with the base layer towards your eyes, then it's because you loaded the film properly, emulsion side facing the rear element of the lens.

With some films, if loaded very tight, and particularly with cameras having take-up spools taking the film counterclockwise (if you figure the take-up spool plane when viewed from the bottom of the camera), you can detect a curving of the film quite antagonist to something usual when you load the developing reel, but it shouldn't bother you. Tri-X for instance.

 

[pschauss]

If your film has frame numbers or codes printed in the sprocket area you should be able to tell which side of the film was exposed. If the film was exposed on the back side the letters or numbers will be backwards with respect to the images on the film.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Thinking about this more....
Is it even possible to do that with 35mm film? Wouldn't you have to place the spool in the loader backwards? I don't think the bulk loaders I used would even allow this.
If you simply cranked it the wrong direction, the emulsion would still be oriented the same way (towards the lens).

It is extremely possible. When I started rolling my own in 1966 or 1967 with 4x 200 foot cans of badly stored FP3, I didn't even KNOW which side was the emulsion side. And we don't all use bulk film loaders.

Cheers,

R.

 

[gns]

It is extremely possible. When I started rolling my own in 1966 or 1967 with 4x 200 foot cans of badly stored FP3, I didn't even KNOW which side was the emulsion side. And we don't all use bulk film loaders.

Cheers,

R.

Sure. It didn't occur to me that this might be done without a bulk loader. Of course, then it might be very easy to get wrong.

I'm not familiar with every film, but it also seems that this would be pretty obvious when loading your film into the camera, no?

 

[dufffader]

Sure. It didn't occur to me that this might be done without a bulk loader. Of course, then it might be very easy to get wrong.

I'm not familiar with every film, but it also seems that this would be pretty obvious when loading your film into the camera, no?

True. But once you have been loading hundreds of rolls, muscle memory takes care of it. Only realised it when I felt the tension and during reel loading before development.

I would have expected the roll to be a bit softer thanks to light diffusing through the base material before hitting the emulsion. I'll have to check in a bit more detail. But considering the circumstances, I thought the roll came out better than I had initially feared.

And I never got used to using bulk loader. Rolling it by hand in a dark bag while counting to 36 twists is the most therapeutic way to load film.

 

[wolves3012]

Just to hijack your thread slightly, how do you know which way a film is on a bulk reel? I'm rather thinking it's a bad move to inspect said reel in daylight! Is there a "standard" on how bulk reels come?

 

[Roger Hicks]

Sure. It didn't occur to me that this might be done without a bulk loader. Of course, then it might be very easy to get wrong.

I'm not familiar with every film, but it also seems that this would be pretty obvious when loading your film into the camera, no?

Not if you don't know which side is the emulsion side... And yes, when I started, I WAS that ignorant. Learned quite quickly, though!

Cheers,

R.