Ruined...

[MarkoKovacevic]

I ruined my Nikon EC-B screen I was trying to clean it, and water got in it. Good thing a replacement is $16 from KEH. I'll have to shoot with the Zorki for now. I feel terrible that I ruined my screen.

 

[charjohncarter]

Personal mess ups are the worst. I've had too many to count, I just had one today. Mine was about $16 too. Good luck.

 

[Rayt]

I once dropped a Noctilux onto the pavement

 

[bmattock]

I dropped a roll of B&W film fresh from the rinse right into the cat's litter box.

 

[MarkoKovacevic]

Processing 12 rolls of 120 today, talking with friends, and making notes, I managed to lose the thread. I use a water stop and I was rinsing and rinsing and somewhere, instead of the 'fix for 10' routine, the 'time for photo-flo' batch file kicked in. Ah wetware. My routine after the fix is to rinse and open the tank, THEN put the wetting agent in. I typically peek at this stage. Of course I had skipped the fix step. I cranked the lid and looked at at two reels of very strange-looking film. In a horrified moment, realizing that I was looking at stock just after developer-rinse and just as one of my friends said, "Hey, didn't you miss the fix?" I recovered the tank and poured fixer in.
I can say that I've made just about every other darkroom mistake but not this one. Until today.

The two reels turned out okay. I am waiting for a scanner repair, but comparisons with the other rolls suggest that density and range aren't too far off. I don't use a densitometer. Of course, the proof will be in the scanning.

Not disastrous as the shoot was for personal work, but it did make me think of the time when I managed to dump a bulk roll of 35mm stock on the floor of the station-wagon. On the way back from the game. The fact that it was 1979 might've been a factor.

Sorry to hear about the screen.

Hey the film should be fine as long as the dev is neutralized.

 

[anoldsock]

I once dropped a Noctilux onto the pavement

Yikes...how'd it turn out?

 

[nikon_sam]

I messed up the screen on my Mamiya 645 as soon as I got it...if only I had use water it would still be good...picked up another from KEH for about $17...
The whole mess-up actually work out in my favor...the replacement screen didn't have the 45 degree split-focus center...my eyes didn't like that split screen...😡

 

[ChrisN]

I dropped a roll of B&W film fresh from the rinse right into the cat's litter box.

Bill - that's gotta be one of the best stuff-ups I've heard of! I can just imagine how I would have reacted - the people in the next suburb would have heard about it! 😀

 

[thomasw_]

I have a routine with trix and rodinal of 50-1 that works well for me. I resist the temptation to introduce lots of new variables into my processing routine quite strongly. But I do use adox cms 20 with its 25-1 adotech developer at times. I recall this past summer starting to develop some adox cms 20, yet setting up the adotech developer at 50-1, not 25-1, because I went on autopilot thinking of my normal rodinal routine. I did get some interesting images as a result of my error, though.

 

[FallisPhoto]

I ruined my Nikon EC-B screen I was trying to clean it, and water got in it. Good thing a replacement is $16 from KEH. I'll have to shoot with the Zorki for now. I feel terrible that I ruined my screen.

Well, as long as you learn from your mistakes, it isn't too bad, and it didn't cost you much. Learning how to fix cameras involves ruining a lot of them until you develop the skills.

 

[Austerby]

I once dropped a Noctilux onto the pavement

Blimey. I dropped my 75/2 Summicron onto the pavement in Laos 😱

It was very scary but then lens itself was quite resilient - the red dot must have taken the brunt of the fall as it vanished, but the rest of the lens wasn't too bad - the focus and aperture worked OK and the glass was fine, though the lens body carried marks from the impact.

I carried on using it for the remainder of my trip and returned it to Leica for the Passport repair when I got home and it came back as new, if not better. Very nasty moment though.

My Noctilux isn't covered under any warranty - I hope yours was.

 

[Al Kaplan]

I bought a 50 year old "brand new" looking Voigtlander Vito Cl complete with a pristine leather case for a couple of bucks at a yard sale. The selenium meter worked and was accurate, the lens immaculate. I managed to drop it a couple of days later, the shutter jammed and the meter died. I did get the shutter working with some careful jiggling of the controls but the meter is gone.

 

[Rob-F]

Alfred Eisenstadt was so excited when he was assigned to photo Marilyn Monroe that he forgot to put film in the camera. He had to go take it all over again.

 

[sanmich]

I once shot 45 shots of a very interesting pilgrimage in Jerusalem during Easter.
Guess what...

 

[Muggins]

Has the film photographer yet been born who's not wasted at least one roll by not getting it onto the take-up spool right?

I'll second Fallis's comments that you bust a lot. First shutter I ever tried (OK, second, but a Purma Special is too weird to really count) to fix was a Prestor-RVS in a Werra. NOT a good option! My success rate on Werra's is still only one in 3 - when my "new" nice one expired recently, the person who found it in Prague took it back. I hope he can get it fixed at a sensible price because otherwise I have the choice of a lovely paperweight, or a lovely paperweight that I know I've buggered irredeemably...

And don't even mention the Altix-V...

Adrian

 

[Spider67]

I forgot to zip my computer case, the flap opened when I took it up.....luckily the laptop was not in it. My newly arrived Leica IIIc took the fall on the pavement. It only had a tiny scratch on topcover. It worked very well, the Rf was still great. But I would not do that ever again.
@ Al:Sorry for your Vito. I managed to finish 2 Gossen Pilots that way (Sixtinos)

 

[Muggins]

Oh yes... carrying something in an ERC with the flap down and a flash on the shoe isn't always a good idea either! Luckily my Retinette landed in a bush, and escaped with only a bent shoe.

Adrian

 

[FallisPhoto]

I'll second Fallis's comments that you bust a lot. First shutter I ever tried (OK, second, but a Purma Special is too weird to really count) to fix was a Prestor-RVS in a Werra. NOT a good option! My success rate on Werra's is still only one in 3 - when my "new" nice one expired recently, the person who found it in Prague took it back. I hope he can get it fixed at a sensible price because otherwise I have the choice of a lovely paperweight, or a lovely paperweight that I know I've buggered irredeemably...

My first attempts at repairs were both Yashicas. I killed two GSNs before learning how to replace that "pad of death." I got lots of spare parts and screws though, and I could probably do it in my sleep now.