Film ... keeping track of exposures relative to time when shooting multipl rolls.

[Keith]

A week ago I photographed a forty eight hour computer game writing marathon for 120 computer nerds/geeks ... it went non stop from a friday afternoon until sunday afternoon and aside from scurrying of home for a few hours sleep and a change of clothes occasionally I was there for the entire event.

I shot nine rolls of film over the period in three different cameras ... my Ikon and 50mm Sonnar ate five rolls, R4A and 25mm Biogon ate three and one roll through my M3 with a 90mm Summicron on it. I was marking each roll with a niko as it came out of which ever camera with the camera's ID and which number roll it was and thought I had it all under control ... but now that I have to develop and scan all the film I've suddenly realised how easy it will be to mix them up during processing and lose my sequence which is important for the final result. Photographs I took on sat look little different to photos I took on sunday in reality so identifying them by what they represent is near impossible ... but my final submission needs to be sequential!

Is there a logical way to do this in future so that I don't get myself in this situation again ... maybe I should have marked the film leader as I removed each film from it's camera but of course that's a little tricky when the leader's inside the cassette! I suppose alternately I could have marked them before loading?

😕

I guess this is why late generation SLR's had data backs!

 

[Pickett Wilson]

I make a game of such things. I have someone in the photo (or multiple someones) hold up the number of fingers representing the roll number in the sequence and snap a photo as the first on the roll (you can invite them to act silly, too, if appropriate). A data back for cameras that had them available works, too, but isn't as much fun.

 

[Keith]

I make a game of such things. I have someone in the photo (or multiple someones) hold up the number of fingers representing the roll number in the sequence and snap a photo as the first on the roll (you can invite them to act silly, too, if appropriate). A data back for cameras that had them available works, too, but isn't as much fun.

Great idea ... why didn't I think of that? 😱

 

[Pickett Wilson]

Experience, here. There was a time back in the day when I was shooting 75, 80 (or more) rolls of film a week from four nikon bodies. You get pretty creative. Back then, I also notched the film gates of the different bodies with different patterns (kind of like Hasselblad back notches) so I could tell which body something was shot with (mostly in case one developed problems).

 

[JPSuisse]

Hi Keith,

I carry an exposure book, where I note date, time, place, body, lens, aperture and shutter speed. The naming system works now, but it took routine to get it right. Especially when many different film rolls are involved.

With EXIF Tool I can then add most of the info to the scans with one "fell swoop." One time I lost the book though... Now, I take each page out and leave it at home as soon as I can.

I'm always noting what I'm doing and there I don't know how many shots of me on my knees making notes by friends. I also note my impression of the actual light contrast (high, average, low), so that I can bump up the development time a notch, if most photos were "low contrast scenes.

Cheers,

JP

 

[Freakscene]

On top of keeping track of the films, then you need twin checks:
http://www.libertyphotoproducts.com/catalog/Twin-Checks,218.htm

Marty

 

[Leigh Youdale]

I like the "situational finger shot" idea, but Keith, you can buy little gadgets that will extract the leader from a film canister. I have two of them and they work pretty well. Sometimes I have to have two or three goes but they DO work.

 

[sepiareverb]

Simple. I've been doing this for years and it works fine.

The films are numbered so the first step is taken care of.

Load the tanks (I use 4 reel tanks) and line up the empty metal cassettes on the counter as they go in the tank- one next to the other. I put them to my left as I load, so the most left one is in the bottom of the tank, the most right one is in the top of the tank. I write down what film is where in the tank so I don't screw up. When the films come out of the wash I hang them to dry with the original metal cassette as the weight.

 

[atlcruiser]

I use these:
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_05048339000P?vName=Computers%20&%20Electronics&cName=OfficeProducts&sName=Desk%20Accessories%20&%20Workspace%20Organizers&sid=IDx20070921x00003a&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=05048339000P

Usually write down the EI and when/where/key word on each tab then try to keep them sorted by color.

My issue is usually with film speed not cameras. I use red for "hot" rolls, slow speed all the way to "blue" for cold/dark rolls with hi speed film.

 

[dcsang]

Be methodical.
I only dev two rolls at a time.
I know what rolls they are and which way I put them into the dev tank.
I also only ever dev the same film - so always two rolls Tri-X, two rolls Tmax3200 etc.

When I hang them, I know which is which.
When I sleeve them, I have already written the date, camera, film, etc. on each sleeve prior to sleeving.

Not easy, and painfully slow, but it keeps me from mixing up the film.

Cheers,
Dave

 

[Gumby]

SHOT LIST... lots of notes briefly describing the shots and time each was taken. That takes time (and maybe even an assistant) but if absolute knowledge of sequence is necessary than it is a reasonable investment.

 

[robert blu]

I use the "first shot" technic similar to what Picket Wilson explain. It works simply, just need to take note which film is exposed with which camera. When working with two cameras I put the other camera in the first shot!
robert

 

[nikon_sam]

I make a game of such things. I have someone in the photo (or multiple someones) hold up the number of fingers representing the roll number in the sequence and snap a photo as the first on the roll (you can invite them to act silly, too, if appropriate). A data back for cameras that had them available works, too, but isn't as much fun.

This will work and sounds like fun for someone...you could also add or replace fingers with one of those Dry Eraseboards...write all the info on it and make it your first shot on each roll...

 

[Don Parsons]

I used my reporter notebook to write #1, #2, etc. Doing a football game, after a good play, I shoot the scoreboard timer so I would know what time in the game it took place.

 

[Gray Fox]

When I used to shoot umpteen high school sports teams over a weekend I used a pad of roll shoot sheets in 8.5 x 11 size. Fill in the appropriate camera, lens, lighting, location, date and time and team name(s). This was always the first shot on the roll and stayed with it through processing, negative sleeving and eventual printing. I'm sure you could make something generic enough that it would apply to whatever event or subject you shoot in the future. This works fine on 35mm, but cuts into production a bit more with 120 or 220. Still, it gives one a secure feeling all the way through the process, and can be a life saver if you send your film out for processing. Hope this helps.

 

[Keith]

I actually sat here last night and painstakingly extracted the leader from each roll using two pieces of film which is a method discussed in a thread here ages ago. I marked all the leaders appropriately so I dodged a bullet this time.

I think a small white board photographed with the first exposure of each roll would be helpful in future ... taking notes was never a strong point with me. I would have had plenty of time and opportunity to do this.

 

[tomalophicon]

When you rewind your film, stop rewinding before the leader goes into the casette. You'll hear the leader flip out of the take-up spool (if you listen carefully). Wind a bit after that, et voila, you'll have a casette with an exposed leader.
The good thing about this is not only you can mark it, but you won't have to bust open any more casettes in the dark, you can just pull out the film and snip or tear the edge off. ALSO, you can load the leader in the light into your spool, then turn the light off to start spooling.

 

[clayne]

There's a pretty simple way to do it: Take a sharpie, write on the canister (or on the backing paper if 120/220) the actual notes for date, camera, EI.

It doesn't take much space:

"250, F3 28/2"
"2/12/2009"

Keep said sharpie with your bag. You don't need a leader or anything else - just the canister (which you'll keep until development).

When you rewind your film, stop rewinding before the leader goes into the casette. You'll hear the leader flip out of the take-up spool (if you listen carefully). Wind a bit after that, et voila, you'll have a casette with an exposed leader.
The good thing about this is not only you can mark it, but you won't have to bust open any more casettes in the dark, you can just pull out the film and snip or tear the edge off. ALSO, you can load the leader in the light into your spool, then turn the light off to start spooling.

This will screw you the second you have any dust on the felt. It's always best to just retract it and break the canister open in the changing bag. Takes 2 seconds to do.

 

[nikon_sam]

I use the sharpie method but only to designate the day and event...I could write the roll number (roll #1, #2, #3...) but I normally use two cameras so they don't come out in order due to shooting more with one body over another...

 

[Soothsayerman]

I used to use a little film clapboard with everything written on it as my first exposure, then made notes as necessary.

No need anymore since I only shoot one roll at a time! 🙂