A Question about 35 mm film and canisters

grampsted · Nov 21, 2020

Hello. I mentioned in my introductory that I had inherited some items from my mother's estate. I found several film canisters, a couple being gray metal and another metal that is Kodak branded if I remember correctly.

My questions are, how do I know if this film has been used but not developed? I haven't opened the canisters in fear of ruining the film if it has been used. These canisters come from before 1970. Probably the mid 60's up to the first two months of 1969. Also, if they have not been developed, what are the chances of them still being good? They were kept in a dresser drawer in an air conditioned house.

dxqcanada · Nov 21, 2020

Developed film would not be in the canister. If you turn the spool you should not feel like there is any film inside.
If he film is still in the canister ... you cannot know if a roll of film has been exposed (shot in camera) even if you take it out in the dark.
If there is no film leader hanging out, then it is probably used as it is typical to rewind all the film into the canister after shooting/exposing ... though it could have been accidentally wound in.
They will probably still be something usable on the film if you get them developed.

480sparky · Nov 21, 2020

dxqcanada said:
... ... you cannot know if a roll of film has been exposed (shot in camera) even if you take it out in the dark...........

If you remove it in the light, it will, with 110% certainty, be exposed..... :bouncingsmileys:

Using a leader retriever one might be able to look for a crease in the leader to help determine if it's been threaded into a camera.

grampsted · Nov 21, 2020

Thanks for both of your replies. I think my safest route is to turn it over to a developer and let them check it out. Hard to find them in my area. I want a service that does not send anything off in order to be developed. This film, if it has been used, would not only be of great family importance, but it might possibly be valuable to the media. It came from Vietnam during the war.

480sparky · Nov 21, 2020

Are they color or B&W? Many labs won't do B&W any more. But if they're B&W, a custom lab should know how to deal with them better than the corner drugstore.

Designer · Nov 21, 2020

grampsted said:
Hello. I mentioned in my introductory that I had inherited some items from my mother's estate. I found several film canisters, a couple being gray metal and another metal that is Kodak branded if I remember correctly.

My questions are, how do I know if this film has been used but not developed? I haven't opened the canisters in fear of ruining the film if it has been used. These canisters come from before 1970. Probably the mid 60's up to the first two months of 1969. Also, if they have not been developed, what are the chances of them still being good? They were kept in a dresser drawer in an air conditioned house.

These canisters that you have mentioned; do they have a screw top? If so, then these are simply the storage canisters, and the film inside should be inside another canister, (the one that is inserted into the camera). If the tops unscrew, then it is safe to open these to see what is inside.

If you are talking about the canister with a slot lined with black fibers, then that is the actual film canister, which probably contains film. If the plain gray canisters have shiny end caps, then they are probably reloadable film canisters, which may or may not contain film.

If you have a couple of film canisters that contain reloaded film, then it's anybody's guess as to what kind of film is inside. If you talk to a regular camera shop that does film developing, they might agree to open the canisters in the dark to try to find out what kind of film and try to get them developed.

Good luck!

dxqcanada · Nov 21, 2020

35mm Film cassette/cartridge stored within a metal container ... modern ones are plastic.

grampsted · Nov 21, 2020

The leather case has something inside of it, probably a roll of film, but is softly squeezable so no metal. I didn't realize that the one metal canister was dented badly until now. I'm pretty sure he was shooting color. He brought some slides with him when he came home on emergency leave and they were color. My logic on a possible scenario is that developing wasn't readily available when they were out in the jungle. When they came back to the rear people had their film developed. These canisters came back from Vietnam in an unknown state because the person who they belonged to did not come back alive. Thanks to all for their replies, so far. EDIT; I thought I saw one that has Kodak on it, but it may be I was thinking of the Kodak Camera's that were in the same box of miscellaneous that the containers were in.

480sparky · Nov 21, 2020

If those are what they're in, it's typically OK to open them. Then you're down to the canister that actually goes into the camera.

grampsted · Nov 21, 2020

480sparky said:
If those are what they're in, it's typically OK to open them. Then you're down to the canister that actually goes into the camera.

Would they have been put back into the canister after being used? In other words, they could be film waiting for use or film that's already been shot? Should I open them in a low light area?

Sorry if I am being redundant with my questions, but I just want to ensure that I don't mess anything up.

480sparky · Nov 21, 2020

The canister that goes into the camera itself is light-tight. The ones in your post are merely for physical protection.

Yes, film is usually put in those after exposure. This is why any place that develops film will have buckets of the plastic ones they're happy to give away.

grampsted · Nov 21, 2020

480sparky said:
The canister that goes into the camera itself is light-tight. The ones in your post are merely for physical protection.

Yes, film is usually put in those after exposure. This is why any place that develops film will have buckets of the plastic ones they're happy to give away.

Okay, I just checked and these do have a roll of film in them. Thanks.

dxqcanada · Nov 21, 2020

As Sparky mentioned ... if the 35mm cartridge has film sticking out of it then it may be unexposed ... unless you can see some creasing/bent in the film which may indicate that it was in a camera once.
If you want to be safe ... just get all the film developed (not sure if Labs these days charge for blank rolls).

grampsted · Nov 21, 2020

dxqcanada said:
As Sparky mentioned ... if the 35mm cartridge has film sticking out of it then it may be unexposed ... unless you can see some creasing/bent in the film which may indicate that it was in a camera once.
If you want to be safe ... just get all the film developed (not sure if Labs these days charge for blank rolls).

View attachment 200525

I think that is what I am going to do. I'm hoping to find a lab that does it on site. I have reason not to trust with images such as the ones that might be on here. Long story, but a photographer has a box of slides that came from Vietnam, or hopefully still has them. Not having much luck on getting them returned to me. I gave them to him at his business and he stated he would scan them for me at no charge because they were so historic. I told him I wanted to pay him and do it as a business transaction. Now he remembers that I just gave them to him because I no longer wanted them, which is unbelievable. He says he still has them and will return them to me. That was over a month ago. Anyway, I am having a trust problem now when it comes to extraordinary items.