Just when I thought I'd covered the full spectrum of goofs, I did 2 things that burned film during a shoot Friday. First, with the dark slide out after exposing a sheet, I opened the lens in preparation for focusing the next shot.
A few holders later, I pulled the dark slide out of the wrong side and burned the sheet I had just shot.
I've solved the second of your two new problems. After a comedy-of-errors sequence of screw-ups trying to do a macro shot where there was insufficient room, I finally pulled out the REAR dark slide and voila! I had forgotten to load the film holder! So if you make ENOUGH mistakes, they cancel each other out!
This is an old screwup that I'll never forget: It was years ago, during a large format shoot of a group of business execs, who weren't in the most cooperative mood as it was right in the middle of a swank cocktail reception - setting up to make the shoot as painless an experience as possible, finally getting the execs assembled, taking a frame - after which against my direction most of them fled back to the party - then removing the cassette without first replacing the darkslide! My immediate reaction was to shield the film under my armpit, as if I could save it - and when the three execs who actually remained on the scene saw me doing this, they approached me, and one of them asked "well, do you think the picture will come out OK?"
My present day screwups tend more towards the posts above, or just plain forgetting to turn the darkslide around before replacing it. A very painful screwup happened last summer, after returning from an assignment in Ethiopia - two tanks of 35mm Tri-x, ten reels total, were almost ready to go - but I had needed to substitute a fresh reel for a defective one for the final roll in one of the tanks. I'd carefully put the loose roll in its tank and replaced the lid before turning on the lights to look for a good reel - but had neglected to put the lid on the other tank! Amazingly, only two out of the five rolls in the opened tank were unsalvagable - but these were irreplaceable photos taken inside a sultans tent, and in his surrounding compound, near the Somalia border. Ouch!!
Once I had some sheets of tri-x developing in the jobo, on a motorized base. I walked into the other room, and about half an hour after that, remembered the film was still churning away in the developer. To my surprize, the film looked great! It was super contrasty, but just happened to be a very evenly lit portrait and it gave the model a glowing, porcelain-like look to her skin. I have used the same method several times (on purpose) since.
Oh ya? Beat this one. After coming back to Canada after many many years in Japan I built my own darkroom. It took about 6 months before I could actually do any photography. Once completed, I went out one frozen morning to a local frozen lake and exposed 10 sheets of 8x10. Came home all excited, as these were my first ever exposures in Canada. Got the holder in the darkroom, turned out the lights, removed the film...removed the film...no film! All holders were white tab out so I assumed that I had loaded them up before leaving Japan as I always did. Later that day my wife asked me, "so, did you get anything?" Oh well, it was good to get out there and practice!
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Still waiting for someone to come up with one I haven't done yet.
How about can`t get the darkslide back in couse the film did not sear properly?
How about can`t get the darkslide back in couse the film did not seat properly?
We are having unseasonably warm temps (mid 30's) here in Chicago, so I thought I'd go out and shoot. Of course with a brisk wind it was still cold. I started to rush and lost about 4 out of 12 shots to screw ups. Where do I start- bumped the aperture setting with my glove, didn't close the lens before pulling the darkslide, misread the aperture scale, almost pulling the back darkslide, and after replacing the darkslide, trying to figure out why the film is on the outside of the holder. To top it off, I tried a new method of developing (drum) with an untested lens and my shots are either overdeveloped or overexposed. I did find out that the inside of my camera is dusty as all the dust is now immortalised on the film due to static.
A crappy day in the field is still better than a good day in the office.
Eric
Dad, why is the lens cap on?
Yeah, I've done most of those too. My last big one was six rolls of 120. I load them in, screw on the top and pour in the developer. About two minutes later I do another 30 second agitation. This time one handed. The cross threaded top came flying off, film and chemicals shooting out all over the well-lit darkroom. Of course they were the most important rolls in a year. My grandma always said to use two hands.
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