What is this?

[LondonNight]

Hi, I'm new to this awesome world of film photography. Found this weird 35mm roll in my attic, i can't figure why the slit from which the film comes out is on the wrong side. Can't figure out how one would fit it in a camera... On the left is the weird roll, on the right is a normal Fujicolor roll for comparison.

 

[wfooshee]

What should be the top of the spindle will have the splines that you see on the roll to the right. The bottom of the spindle will have a bar all the way across it, but well recessed.

Someone has disassembled the spool for whatever reason and reassembled it upside-down, which you can see by the bit of leader sticking out. The leader is not the full width of the film, and would be at the top of the spool. That leader is at the bottom.

I don't see how the got the bottom of the spindle to be the long end unless they unwound the film and rewound it, shifted on the spindle.

Doesn't matter, because if it's been sitting in the attic for lo, these many decades, it's toast as far as being a useful medium goes.

 

[LondonNight]

What should be the top of the spindle will have the splines that you see on the roll to the right. The bottom of the spindle will have a bar all the way across it, but well recessed.

Someone has disassembled the spool for whatever reason and reassembled it upside-down, which you can see by the bit of leader sticking out. The leader is not the full width of the film, and would be at the top of the spool. That leader is at the bottom.

I don't see how the got the bottom of the spindle to be the long end unless they unwound the film and rewound it, shifted on the spindle.

Doesn't matter, because if it's been sitting in the attic for lo, these many decades, it's toast as far as being a useful medium goes.

I just checked, it seems the long end of the spindle has the splines like the roll on the right has, and the other end has the recessed bar all the way across. This is interesting... it may be that this is actually a wasted roll someone used to practice loading onto a developer tank film holder thing? That would explain why its assembled backwards (they didn't care to assemble it right afterwards, as it is a wasted roll anyway). Still, on the offchance the roll isn't a "sacriffice roll", even though I may get nothing out of it, or really bad pictures, I think I'll try to develop it at some point.

 

[vintagesnaps]

Might be interesting to see what's on a roll someone tinkered with! Maybe that'll explain why it was done. Or you might get bupkus, but I'd be curious.

 

[LondonNight]

Might be interesting to see what's on a roll someone tinkered with! Maybe that'll explain why it was done. Or you might get bupkus, but I'd be curious.

For sure I'll try to develop it at some point!

 

[hydroshock]

ooooh cool, that's some oldy stuff. Like previously stated it's most likely toast, but on the offshoot it got pulled off of a spool for whatever reason and not exposed completely there may be something fun on there. No telling but I suspect it would need a special developer.

 

[Sharpshooterr]

That spool looks like the type of spools that one loads themselves with a loader and not store bought.
The fact that there is some sticking out would say it's not been exposed. Very few people were using a partial roll, removing it then putting it back in to finish off the roll.
Many like to used old damaged film for the very different look that it cam give.
You could take a couple shots then develop those to see what look it gives you. If you like the results then you could seriously shoot the rest of the roll.
In the dark you could even see how many exposures are left on the unused roll!
If it's re-loadable just remove the caps and switch them around to normal!
SS

 

[flyingPhoto]

wasnt there a system that used a spool to hold new film, and then a second spool to wind the exposed film onto for eventual removal from camera?

Ansco comes to mind for some reason

 

[K9Kirk]

Gremlins!

 

[webestang64]

That is an old 80 ASA/ISO film from German Democratic Republic. I believe those are re-loadable cartridges and somebody while reloading did it backwards.

 

[RacePhoto]

Someone has disassembled the spool for whatever reason and reassembled it upside-down, which you can see by the bit of leader sticking out. The leader is not the full width of the film, and would be at the top of the spool. That leader is at the bottom.

Doesn't matter, because if it's been sitting in the attic for lo, these many decades, it's toast as far as being a useful medium goes.

That is an old 80 ASA/ISO film from German Democratic Republic. I believe those are re-loadable cartridges and somebody while reloading did it backwards.

Both right, I used to buy Agfa B&W film, because it came in the plastic canisters (the one on the left) and I could reload from bulk. The metal cap kind are unreliable and could pop off unexpectedly, while the plastic ones had a threaded end. It's just assembled with the spool upside down.

If you have a true dark room or changing bag, you can open and feel what's actually in there. I don't recall any old film camera that had backwards spools as there were standards for film. There were however, cameras that you pulled the entire film, into the body, and it wound back into the canister as you would shoot. Kind of interesting, as exposed film was now inside and protected, if some light leaked in, over time.

Good luck!