Forgot to reverse a darkslide after shooting

[BennehBoy]

Chris, just shoot them all as normal, better to have 1 possibly interesting double than a sheet or more of unexposed film...

Regarding cost, don't fret too much I just got 5 sheets of 8x10 C41 back from the lab with no image on (all significantly underexposed due to a mistiming shutter), that's around $75 after development (UK prices)!

[Kevin Crisp]

There are some mistakes you need to get out of your system, you have a lot of company. I agree with Deanne, number them. I always expose the lowest number first. That way if I get to the next set up and made this mistake I know which one is next. Seriously, you will quickly find that reversing the slide is something you automatically and you won't make this mistake again. I do take quick notes too on little cards and I wish I'd started doing that about ten years before I did. Adds about 30 seconds per shot, worth it in the long run. If you've got company and they will fill out the card to your dictation, it doesn't add any time at all.

You can move on to forgetting to stop down, pulling the slide with the shutter still open for composition, hitting the tripod when you're almost ready to go, forgetting to really lock down the head so that the camera slumps forward, thinking you have the holder in all the way when it is about 1/2" short on the left side, etc. etc. etc.

Keep at it.

[Andrew O'Neill]

We've all been there before. We all learn from our mistakes. Just next time, don't make the same mistake.

[tim o'brien]

Some people might call me a Maoist, but the reality is, I have a red notebook, very thick, that I record the number and side (I use A and B, you can use F and S) of the holder with the film type inserted. When I go shooting, the book comes with me. When I expose the negative, I write down where, when, lens, aperture and shutter speed. If I am being really anal, I'll write down the incident light reading from my meter and sometime readings from shadows and highlights. Most of my film holders are also filed with notches that I can cross reference back to when I develop them.

It helps I was interested in Journalism when I was in high school and the 5 'W's were impressed in my head. it also helps that as a robotics engineer involved in system development and test, I carry a notebook around all the time, everyday.

So go mark your film holders, get a notebook (just like Weston), and never make this mistake again. There are many many more mistakes for you to make to waste them on this one.

tim in san jose

[mandoman7]

I got a little olympus message recorder as a gift with a computer order a while ago and I love it now for making notes on shoots. You see news reporters using them on tv, they're slightly larger than a bic lighter.
There's just one button to hit and it keeps things in order. The advantage is that I can make detailed comments about such things as what I need to remember for the next shoot or whatever. I've gotten quite dependent on it when things start to get busy in the field now.
I also number my holders and then use a notch system on the flaps that identify the exposed film later. So when I've record that #110 was exposed with an orange filter, I can find the negative with no fuss. Jeweller's files with a round for "0" and a triangle for "1", so it would be triangle, triangle, round, right near the film notch area, for that one.

[Shen45]

ExpodDev on a PalmPilot.

[Brian Ellis]

You didn't get the point. Nobody removes any sticker after the exposure is taken either. . . . .

Sorry if I misunderstood. When you said "take them off after the exposure" I thought you meant take them off after the exposure.

[GPS]

Sorry if I misunderstood. When you said "take them off after the exposure" I thought you meant take them off after the exposure.

Sorry for my misleading expression. I meant not to put them back after the exposure.

[poco]

I've got a system that avoids this problem that's a lot simpler than it sounds in describing:

I keep my holders in ziplock bags, 4 or 5 to a bag. I always pull fresh holders from the back of the bag and replace them in the front of the bag ( the side of the bag that has the film type written with a sharpie) The basic rule is that any holders that are upside down in the bag have had both sides exposed. If I take a fresh holder from the back and expose only one side, I put it back in the bag right side up, but in front of the growing number of upside down holders, which tells me I still have one shot left on it. Eventually, all the holders are upside down and I start a new bag.


The only tricky shot is the very first one from each bag -- one side is exposed but the holder goes back in the same orientation as all the others. But I figure the day I can't remember that I've exposed my first sheet, is the day to hang the whole thing up.

[Kevin Crisp]

One of Picker's newsletter suggestions was to take the camera out of the bag at home, set it up, get it ready to take a picture, pretend to take one (i.e., empty holder) break it down and put it back in the bag. Repeat 100 times. You will not longer have to think about reversing the darkslide (and doing many other things you don't want to make mistakes on) if you actually do this.