Loading new roll

[LouisRG]

Here's what I normally do...
1. Put roll in and pull across the film to the spool on other side.
2. Make sure it's hooked on the spool and advance. Press down the rewind knob so the film is in place.
--- If the door is still open at this stage and I press the shutter, will that ruin the film? As you can tell, I'm a complete novice, but I don't want to ruin too many rolls.

People I've been around have told me that if the door is open when you press the shutter to expose the film then it ruins it. Is that the case?

 

[snowbear]

No. The shutter is exposing the part of the film between the canister and the take-up reel. You've already exposed that to light when you pulled it out of the spool.

Now, if you open the door after you've shot, you will likely mess up the shots you've taken, but not what is in the canister (35mm - I can't say about larger formats)..

 

[LouisRG]

No. The shutter is exposing the part of the film between the canister and the take-up reel. You've already exposed that to light when you pulled it out of the spool.

Now, if you open the door after you've shot, you will likely mess up the shots you've taken, but not what is in the canister (35mm - I can't say about larger formats)..

Yeah that's fine, thanks a lot. I'm using 35mm and I did think that it ruined the whole lot, even what's in the canister.

 

[jcdeboever]

A lot of cameras (talking 135 film cameras) are different but generally ( door open) you will use the advance lever to get it firmly on the take up spool and press the shutter, close the door and advance until the film window is at zero. Usually it takes two advances, and two shutter presses. The only exposed part of the film is behind the zero or just past the curtain window and on the take up spool. You should have 24 or 36 exposures to use depending on the roll count. Some cameras like the Nikon FM, if your good at loading, will give you a couple extra exposures.

A good practice is to look at the rewind crank and make sure its moving, this tells you the film is being taken up properly. After the door is closed, I usually gently turn the rewind crank a little in the direction of the arrow rewind, until it is taught. Sometimes there is a little slack in the film and if you don't see the rewind crank move, you may think.you messed up when you didn't.

 

[Derrel]

One tip in loading 135-size cartridge films is to first thread the film onto the take-up spool, and make sure that it is through the slit in the spool, and that you have a good,solid,tight "wrap" of film around the leader part that has been threaded through the slit. Then, after the film leader has been threaded and wrapped around the take-up spool (which is done by using the film advance lever or knob, and the shutter release button) and you have a good,solid TIGHT "wrap", only then pull the cartridge across and place it into the film "supply" side.

This method almost entirely eliminates loading mishaps.

Thread and wrap the take-up spool FIRST. Make sure the film is wrapped and TIGHTLY on there. Only then, stretch the film across the film plane area,and then place the cartridge into the film supply-side hole.

Now, if you do this method in a totally, 100% dark room....you can pull that film over the film gate area, and shoot film that has NOT been exposed to light!!! This is a trick to sneak two or even three extra exposures onto a roll of film, but I do not really recommend this method for that reason, mostly because you'll end up with surplus frames that do not fit into negative filing pages or sleeves, which are based typically on having six, 6-frame strips of negatives, or seven 5-frame strips of negatives.

 

[TCampbell]

Basically what Derrel says.

I think many (probably most) of us have had film-load failures. When I first started in photography I didn't want to pull too much film out of the canister ... thinking I was wasting film. But if it misloads ... you can shoot what you *think* is a whole roll... and then find out that the film never advanced and you've just wasted a lot of time. BTW... sometimes you know the film didn't load because on a 24 exposure roll... and 25 or *maybe* 26 shots, you expect to feel the tug of the film not winding anymore... and it just keeps on going. But sometimes you rewind the film (thinking you did shoot a whole roll) and if you send it out to a lab... you find out the whole roll was unexposed when nothing develops on it.

So I've learned... MAKE SURE you WATCH that film wrap onto the take-up spool before you close the film door. There is enough excess film to act as a leader for this purpose. You should still have enough un-exposed film in the canister to get the full 24 or 36 exposures. But even if you don't... I'd rather have 23 good exposures ... if for some reason the film was short ... than a whole roll with nothing on it after developing it.