Film roll in a jammed camera

[nuri]

Hi, I bought a used Olympus Infinity Stylus zoom 105. Shot up to 14 frames with it and nothing seems wrong. After the 14th frame the camera got jammed and still is (as I'm typing).

Well its not about the camera being jammed but the film inside it. Is there any chance that I could remove the film and re-used it on other camera? If so, how do i do it? Should i just rewind it like usual or...

Thank you in advance!

 

[Paul-H]

Is it jammed or did you accidentally load a 12 exposure film, they used to make them.

Also if its jammed it may not rewind, it depends how its jammed.

If you rewind the film and it rewinds ok, depending on the cameras rewind mechanism it might full rewind the loading tab into the cartridge, which will make it difficult to reuse without extracting the tab.

The only other way is to open the camera in a changing bag or dark room and extract the fill that way. Just press the rewind button and see what happens.

Paul

 

[Gary A.]

On a manual rewind camera, yes you can. On a motorized rewind camera it is doubtful. Some motorized rewind cameras will leave a bit of leader sticking out of the cassette, but I think most most will not.

Okay, just did a search, you have a motor rewind which takes the film completely into the camera. The only thing you can do is to find a light-tight area and remove the film without rewinding. While in absolute darkness, stuff the film back into the cassette with the leader sticking out. Paul mentioned a changing bag, if you have one then problem solved. An interior walk-in closet or bathroom works also, just make sure you block off the gaps around the door(s).

In the field, when I had a film problem and couldn't rewind, I would button/zip up a jacket around the camera. Wrap it up tightly, stick my hands into the interior of the jacket via the arms and open up the camera. Not really recommended, but doable on the fly.

If you have anything of value on the exposed film, it may not be worth the hassle to mess with it. Just rewind and move on. Buy a cheap roll of film and see if it functions correctly before feeding it good film.

 

[Olympian]

Whatever you do, do NOT simply pull the film out of the camera. You will very likely strip the gears.

If you are partway through the roll, and the battery is good, press the rewind button on the bottom with a fingernail. Don't use anything sharp, like a sharp pencil or needle. It will pierce the rubber button and may damage the circuit contacts inside the body. (Pencil lead may short the contacts as well.)

If that doesn't work, install a new battery, then try again.

Final (and desperate) option, open the camera in a changing bag or absolutely dark room. Lift the cassette out of the camera. Press a finger against the film wrapped around the take-up spool and push in the direction that the film is wrapped around it, turning the take-up spool like it would if it were winding the film onto it. Hopefully this will disengage the wind gears, allowing the take-up to turn freely in the reverse direction. It may take several tries, but if you feel resistance, stop and try rotating the take-up spool again. Eventually it should free the gears and allow the film to be pulled out with virtually no resistance.

Oh, and then wind the film back into the cassette by hand before exposing to light!

 

[compur]

Jammed? Jam isn't good on cameras.

The way to remove film from 35mm cameras (especially motorized point & shoot cameras) is to re-wind it, yes.

You want to then re-use the film? (Is film that expensive?) Well, it can be done but I don't think you want to know how. The film leader would have to be pulled out of the cassette (after it was rewound by the jammed camera) which requires a special tool which you would have to find and buy and wait for it to be delivered and then you'd have to load the film into another camera and advance it at least 15 frames with the lens cap on so you don't double expose the first 14 (assuming you want to save them) and then proceed from there.

Or, you can buy another roll of film and try to keep the jam off it this time.

 

[jcdeboever]

I'd just pitch it, most of images blow anyway.

 

[Flash Harry]

You used to be able to get the leader retriever tools from most camera shops here in the UK for pennies so I'd think any pro-type store over there would have them or try ebay, I reckon you could make similar with an old strip of negs by cutting a 3mm x 3mm 'flap' in the film and picking it out so its raised from the film body in two spots which would correspond to the gear holes on the film to be retrieved, the process then requires you to rotate the film which is stuck towards the light tight aperture or rotate it slowly while listening for a click as the end of the spool drops from that opening, you then insert your chopped piece of cellulose in through the light tight aperture to hook the leader, a slow pull should bring it back out.

As for using it again, just how much does a roll of film cost these days? I used a leader retriever because I managed to slash my hand ripping open a spool in the darkroom for processing, I couldn't be bothered going to those lengths to reuse a few frames.