Film broke - how best to ...

[dmr]

Ok, here's what happened ... I left the camera (the GIII) with a fully-shot but not rewound 36 exposure roll of a special event last night sit in the car overnight and the temperature got down to about 8F.

This morning a while ago I was going to take it in to Walgreens to get processed, but when I started to rewind it, it broke off. The rewind crank turns freely and I can hear a click each rotation which I'm sure is the spindle clicking against the very end of the film, or else the tape or whatever they use to fasten it clicking.

I'm sure the film is still all on the take-up roll with the very end just sticking in the cartridge.

How is the best way to salvage it? Will a (real) lab accept film in just a light-tight container instead of a cartridge?

Anybody know any tricks to wind it back in? My guess is that it's kind of like putting toothpaste back into the tube. 🙁

Or should I just find a reloadable cartridge and wind it in there?

As long as I've been using 35, this is the first time I've ever had this happen, and I'm sure leaving it out in the cold didn't help. 🙁

Any hints? Thanks, gang?

 

[Ash]

get some tape, and get a cheap film you can use (of the same brand maybe?).

waste the whole film, and use the tongue to tape the film from the other cassette .

Either use a changing bag or a pitch black room. OR maybe ask the local lab, they should have a changing box/bag for this kinda thing.

 

[Flyfisher Tom]

Take a used cartridge (Walgreens will have some they routinely toss away), go to a darkroom (or light sealed closet or bathroom), unwind your film from your camera, use masking tape to attach to the used cartridge (there should be a short leader left), wind it into the used cartridge, take to Walgreens, and let the know if the ISO/film type is different.

good luck

 

[drewbarb]

Ash and Tom are right about how to get the film out and to the lab. You're right about the cold having something to do with it. Next time, let the camera and film come up to room temp before you wind or rewind the film. Good luck!

 

[jano]

Just take the camera to the walgreens or if you have a ritz/wolf, take it there.. the majority of them should have a changing-tent, they can do it all for you by spooling it onto an empty cartridge. 🙂 I've seen them at ritz, costco, and today in long's drugs.

 

[dmr]

Thanks, gang! 🙂

Thanks, gang! 🙂

Thanks for all of the help here, gang. Here's how things went ...

First of all, I made the mistake of phoning Walgreens to ask if they would accept film just rolled up in a container not in the cartridge.

Me: Do you accept film for developing that's just loose and not in the 35mm cartridge?
She: Oh, do you mean like a memory that's not in the camera?
Me: No, regular 35mm film but loose, not in a cartridge.
She: Yeah, we can make prints from that.

I thanked her and decided to go to plan B. 🙁 I could just imagine somebody opening the opaque cannister in room lights. 🙁

Anyway, plan B was suggested above ...

Step 1: Sacrifice a roll of film. 🙁 I looked around to see if I had something I didn't really care for (like Ferrania or W/A 400) but didn't find any. I figured W/A 200 was the cheapest I had. Pull most of it out, cut if off with about 1" hanging out.

Step 2. Cut a length of tape, I used that green plant tape, it was handy, and stick it along the edge of the film.

Step 3. Retire to the cellar, put a towel under the door.

Step 4. Open the camera in the dark, cut off the end of the film cleanly, and tape to the film hanging out of the cartridge.

Step 5. Carefully start feeding the film in past the tape, start to roll it in.

Step 6. Put the cartridge in the camera, rewind as usual. 🙂

I'll drop it off at Walgreens tomorrow. I wonder if they will notice that there's a 36 exp roll in a 24 exp cartridge. 🙂

 

[sjw617]

Walgreens will most likely just put it into their machine and the barcode will tell them it is a different kind of film. They will process it like the barcode tells them to. And the machine will also read 24 shots not 36. This is if the tape holds.
A real lab will accept raw film in a can. I do it for a Russian camera I have.

 

[dmr]

Walgreens will most likely just put it into their machine and the barcode will tell them it is a different kind of film. They will process it like the barcode tells them to. And the machine will also read 24 shots not 36. This is if the tape holds.
A real lab will accept raw film in a can. I do it for a Russian camera I have.

Ok, thanks. I just covered up the barcode and the DX code with nail polish.

When I take it in tomorrow I'll explain that what's in there is not what's marked on it. I'm sure they can handle rolls with no barcode or DX code. If they seem confused I'll take it to a real camera shop that I know can do it, but for about twice the price.

 

[jan normandale]

photo copy the bar code from a matching cannister of similar film. cut the code and trim , tape to the cannister. You can actually buy stick and peel bar codes for film cannisters to change the processing. So using the same one and taping it should work. When you drop it off tell them what you have done to see if they can think of any issues prior to the processing.

Bonne Chance/Good luck!

 

[davidbivins]

Some completely non-technical advice: make a connection with the person with whom you drop it off. Read the nametag, make eye contact, and tell that person that it's really important to you that the film be developed properly, that it broke and you put it into the cartridge.
When you phoned Walgreen's, you talked with someone who is being paid a relatively low wage for a job that requires not-a-lot-of-skill but is rather procedural. She was probably on autopilot with you.
The envelopes they drop your film into have fields for specifying variances from the "standard." Make sure she knows that it would mean a lot to you if she would make sure that it's developed properly. If she can't commit to that, take it somewhere else.
Never underestimate the power of people to see something through when they know it would mean a lot to someone else.

 

[dmr]

Success! 🙂

Success! 🙂

Walgreens will most likely just put it into their machine and the barcode will tell them it is a different kind of film.

Ok, thanks. I just covered up the barcode and the DX code with nail polish.

For those who care, I took the film in to Walgreens yesterday on the way in. I got an older lady (older??? she was probably about 10y younger than me, but definitely more mature than the typical 20-bopper droids they have there) and I told her exactly what was going on and why I did it and why I covered about 1/3 of the cartridge with nail polish.

She said no problem, and that I really didn't have to paint over about 1/3 of the cartridge and such.

She was right, they came out fine.

Much of this roll was some of my Weegee-look experimental shots, a couple which I'm attaching for anybody interested. 🙂

Thanks again, gang. 🙂

 

[DurwoodE]

... tell that person that it's really important to you that the film be developed properly,

If it is really inportant to you, don't take anywhere but a professional processor, someone whom you can be certain understands what you are telling them.

take this from someone who in the past has had the screwup power of ten men!

 

[sjw617]

the screwup power of ten men!

You too?

DMR, glad it worked out well.

Steve