Quickload mini disaster

**Don Miller** · 14-Oct-2003, 17:36

Well, I was stupid.

In the dim light of the first shot of three days of shooting I had a jam of a quickload holder. I cleared the ruined sheet of film but didn't check to see that I had removed the metal clip. What happened next? Three days of unexposed film. I had heard this could happen but I just wasn't careful.

With the metal clip in the holder subsequent film still loads with the reassuring click. But when the cardboard is retracted the film moves with the cover.

The only good news is that I didn't have any "Oh my gosh look at that" shots. Everything I saw I can find again.

I'm still confused by what caused the initial jam. But I'm pretty sure it was something I did. But the holder is going in the trash anyways.

After many years of photography I've had my first film disaster. Not the end of the world, but I sure miss the thrill of placing new sheets of film on the light table this evening.

**Gene M** · 14-Oct-2003, 19:53

Murphy's large format law.

There are a dozen things that can go wrong before you release the shutter. There are at least that many things that can go wrong AFTER you release the shutter.

It's all part of the romance, isn't it ?

**Jon_2416** · 14-Oct-2003, 20:47

Ouch ouch ouch. Sorry to hear the news, Don. I had a Unidrum catastrophe a few weeks back. No fun to lose film at that point.

**Ken Cravillion** · 14-Oct-2003, 20:57

Whoops! Forgot to close the lens...

Seeing the FILM come out of the quickload...

**Christopher Condit** · 15-Oct-2003, 11:16

Personally I have found more ways of screwing up hand-loaded trad filmholders than ReadyLoads, so I stick with the latter. Don't know if it would work with QuickLoads, but my technique for leaving the metal clip in my ReadyLoad holder is to pull out the film while pushing the release button only 99% of the way down.

Leave the QuickLoad holder in the bottom of your closet till you ruin a shot with a trad filmholder. If you still want to, discard it then.

CXC

**Doug Herta** · 15-Oct-2003, 14:36

I make it a habit to grasp the film sleeve where the internal part attached to the film is (the little striped area on the Quickload sleeve) and feel the film stay in place as I pull the sleeve out. Just a simple tactile *extra* step to add to all of the other ones attached to the LF workflow...