Not new to film... did I ruin my film?

[jodidziedzic]

Recently I purchased a 35mm camera (I've had the same exact camera before but it broke because it was old) and today I finished the whole roll of film since I've had the camera. I absent mindedly unlocked the back to get my film out but realizing I had to wind it I immediately closed it and wound it up.
So getting to the point, even though I didn't lift the back open (I never even saw into the inside, I just unlocked it,) did I expose my film to too much light to ruin it? And if so did I ruin the entre roll?
Nobody ever taught me this stuff I kind of learned on my own so I only know the basics. I know light exposure to non developed film ruins it but how much light?

 

[Mike_E]

Welcome to the forum.

You probably didn't but if you did do damage then you most likely didn't ruin the whole roll. Go ahead and have it processed.

Good luck.

 

[terri]

I agree with Mike - if all you did was unlock the back and it didn't fly all the way open, you are probably safe. I once went straight from shooting my auto-rewind Pentax to a fisheye Lomo, and thoughtlessly popped open the back forgetting to rewind it, while sitting on the bed, directly under the overhead light. My first instinct (after closing the back) was to throw out the entire roll, but I decided to process it and see how much was ruined. To my surprise, even the last frame was still usable - a mite compromised, but fixable in photoshop, and the first 2/3 of the roll were perfectly fine. I'll always advise to go ahead and process film that's had a brief shock like that now. You won't know until you get it developed!

 

[dxqcanada]

Yes, even if light did expose the film ... the frames at the beginning should be OK.

I have had many customers (in the past) completely open the camera back ... and about 50% of the roll was OK.

 

[Alex_Holland]

Haha I did that the other day with a cheap roll of black and white. Put it through the hoops in the dark room at home and got over half the roll to come out, so I'd say it's worth a try to save.

 

[Josh66]

LOL, I think we've all done that at least once.

The film that's rolled up inside the camera (the beginning of the roll) is likely fine. I wouldn't count on getting anything out of the last few frames though.

 

[JessicaPrice]

IVE BEEN SO STUPID WITH MY FILM. basically, i went to take it out of the camera and stupidly, instead of winding it so the film went inside the roll, i pulled it out with my hands and had the whole roll of unexposed film in my hands. i was in a room with really really minimal light but i touched the film... will this be bad for the film?

 

[Josh66]

Touching the film won't hurt it, but having the whole roll out in the light - even dim light is bad. Sorry to say it, but it's probably toast. I wouldn't count on getting anything out of it...


I would still develop it though, just in case. You never know - you might have a few usable frames...

 

[pityacka]

jodid.... You probably only ruined the last 3 frames or so. I did the same with my Nikon F100, after I had disabled auto rewind. Opened the back, realised what I had done, and closed it promptly. It was slide film and I thought the whole 36 shots may have been fogged, at least. When the film came back from the lab only slides Nos. 34/35/36 were ruined. The remainder were perfect.

 

[Airbase]

Hi Jodi,
I did the same thing recently, except I was outdoors. Fortunately I was in good shade under an enormous tree. The back popped halfway open and I didn't close it for 1 or perhaps 2 seconds. I was shocked when the roll came out fine! Perhaps the shots are slightly different due to that event, but since I cant compare to what it would have been otherwise, I was satisfied when all 24 images were clearly intact.

I've had friends who've fared worse though. Get it developed and hope for the best!

Cheers!