Wow. New Way of Screwing Up?

[dazedgonebye]

Ok...I know there's not much new in the world and all, but I've never heard of this mistake.

I loaded a film holder in the camera, took my shot, then went to put the dark slide back in. There was resistance and I could not get it all the way back in. Eventually, it did go in. I was pretty convinced though that I'd messed that film up, so I put that holder aside and did 4 shots with two other holders.
After developing, I discovered I had four blank films.

Anyone want to guess what went wrong?
No, I didn't leave lens caps on.
Yes, I removed the dark slides.
Yes, I tripped the shutter.

Anyone?












It seems that first jammed film flipped itself in to the bellows and wedged itself perfectly between the folds, blocking the light path.

Do I get a prize, or is this just a common goof that no one talks about?

[Vaughn]

I inspect the 4x5 cameras we check out to our students for this sort of thing. But there is nothing like making a mistake yourself to get the lesson learned!

Vaughn

[dazedgonebye]

I got 4 shots off without noticing because I focused before the first two shots, which were bracketing exposure, and the next two shots were pinhole, so I did not look at the focusing screen for those.

Aghhhh.

[lenser]

Daze,

I've certainly done it as well and learned to double check that the film is definitely inside the rails when I am loading in the dark. That's how this happens. One side of the film does not get into the rail properly and so it sticks up and can fall forward when the slide is removed. Then you try to put it back in and it flips loose as you discovered.

It's always the most important exposure of the whole shoot. That's one of the rules.

[Glenn Thoreson]

Thanks for the tip! That's one I haven't tried yet, for some unknown reason. I thought I had made every goof possible. :D

[Gene McCluney]

When EVER you have a problem inserting a dark slide...check the camera inside after you remove the holder.

[darr]

quickloads!

[Tim Meisburger]

Lets see...
Don't pull the dark slide before tripping the shutter when your son is at bat in the last inning of the last game of the season.
Pull the dark slide before you close the lens.
Pull the dark slide before you put the holder in the camera.
Pull the holder before re-inserting the dark slide.

I have not done your mistake yet, but there is always tomorrow....

[Marko]

We all make those mistakes. A member of this board whose skill was well regarded if not exactly his character once forgot to pull the holder out and was left wondering for several minutes why his GG was dark despite opening the shutter...

Makes you wish for one of those LCD screens in the back that let you check your exposure right there and then, doesn't it? :D

[mandoman7]

There's a place you can put your fingers to be sure the film is slipping into the right channels when loading. If you're film is in those channels, it won't ever come out during exposure. Also, the slide should never require unusual force, particularly at the end of the push. That means the film is in the channel where the darkslide wants to go. Its an effective design.

JY

[Archphoto]

I never had this problem in the past 30 odd years.

One or two loading problems in the dark, but once you feel resistance during loading you know something went wrong.
I always place a finger on both sides when loading, thus making shure the film goes in right.

Peter

[dazedgonebye]

It's all clear to me now of course, and I'll never let it happen again.

Mostly, I'll work on loading the film right.

[Louie Powell]

It seems that first jammed film flipped itself in to the bellows and wedged itself perfectly between the folds, blocking the light path.


I've have film come out of holders - usually because the idiot who loaded the holder didn't get the film under the rails on both sides of the holder (er, that would be me).

[dazedgonebye]

I've have film come out of holders - usually because the idiot who loaded the holder didn't get the film under the rails on both sides of the holder (er, that would be me).

Well then, this is the last time I ever let you load my film! ;)

[jb7]

very inventive, well done-

[al olson]

I have misloaded the film so that it came out of the holder while I was attempting to insert the dark slide ...

... but I discovered the problem immediately and did not follow up by ruining the next exposures. Except for that, I don't think there is any known way to screw up that I haven't already tried.

I check my loads more carefully now.

[Michael Roberts]

Yes, there is a prize in it--but we need a name.

The Dark-Slide-Film-Flip-Bellows-Block (Head) Prize?

I've achieved the first part, i.e., the misloading and forcing the film out so that I couldn't get the slide in, just gave up and pulled the holder, and removed the film (hurts when using 8x10 trannies at $8-10 a pop). But I've never flipped the film into the bellows and then exposed more film w/o noticing. I think you definitely deserve a prize!

[Drew Bedo]

When our son was commissioned as an officer in the Marines, I did a portrait session with him in his dress uniform. Took twelve 8x10 Ektachromes. My buddy shot digital. Only one of my chromes came out: It was an open shutter shot and I "poped" the flash manually. Eleven were just black and unexposed.

The lens was an older model...old enough that it has BOTH an M and X synch. A little selector lever that had gone un-noticed...i was set for bulbs and I was using strobes. Disappointment doesn't begin to describe this hard lesson.

[MIke Sherck]

Just yesterday: put the 8x10 film holder into the camera, then metered the shot and stepped around to the front to set the aperture and shutter speed. Cocked and fired the shutter while looking into the front of the lens to make sure it worked, then stepped back around to the rear of the camera to pull the dark slide.

It was already pulled. Must have done it unconsciously. *Sigh*

:) Mike

[Brian Ellis]

There isn't anything real unusual about meeting resistance when you put the dark slide back in after taking a photograph. That used to happen to me quite a lot when I first started and before I discovered a way to make sure the film was going in the proper channel (as others have mentioned). The thing I never did figure out is why, when you have it in the wrong channel, the dark slide goes back in just fine when you're in the darkroom loading film and waits until you've made a photograph before giving any indication that the film has been loaded incorrectly.

[Andrew O'Neill]

I've had film actually come out with the dark slide. It was that really really thin Rollie IR stuff.

[Vaughn]

...It was already pulled. Must have done it unconsciously. *Sigh* :) Mike

I once took a one hour+ exposure (full moon, landscape at Pinnacles Nat Mon.). After the exposure I spent ten minutes or so looking for the dark slide (no flashlight). Finally found it -- I forgot to pull it out of the film holder.

Vaughn

[Ralph Barker]

Discovering new ways to screw up is the sign of an inventive mind. ;)

[Clement Apffel]

Ha ha ha. Some nice screwing up stories here.

I've done the X - M flash error once with a Mamiya RB67. 5 rolls of 6x7 were ruined...

I first thought it was the shutter. but when I noticed the 10 stops under-exposed images on my BW film... I finally understood the mistake I made.

I've done the mistake Mike explains as well. but in another silly way...
I shot the shutter. but it did a weird sound. I quickly went in front of the lens to see if my beloved 90mm was alright, tested out the shutter.... without having put the dark slide in.

It was a shot including people and movements so I wasn't able to do it again.

So I have my shot, quite a good one if you ask me. But with my big stupid blurred head on top of it. ha ha ha.


But the best one I made so far was this one:

I was shooting architecture in a little town in Egypt. My first shot went good and as the next one wasn't that far away, I carried the tripod with the camera mounted and ready on it.
But as I was setting the camera for the second shot I suddenly noticed a fly under my dark cloth on the GG. I removed the dark cloth to let it go… But nothing flew away.

The fly was inside the camera…

And of course during the 2s exposure of the previous shot it came on the sheet film.
Thankfully I shot another one where the fly had the courtesy not to stand on my film.

[Arp]

Patiently set up and composed a shot while waiting for the sun to appear from behind a cloud. When the sun appeared I made the exposure. Afterwards I took a second look at the GG and all I saw was fog! Seems like the sudden sun on the bellows combined with a slightly cold soaked camera caused condensation on the rear lens element.

[Marko]

Discovering new ways to screw up is the sign of an inventive mind. ;)

We are all inventive people here, but some are a bit more inventive than the others... ;)

[dazedgonebye]

That's what I get for stopping off at THIS place before doing my shoot....

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3426/3356060445_7aa4a6d024_o.jpg

[darr]

That's what I get for stopping off at THIS place before doing my shoot....

Now that is not an excuse, but self-medicating against the obvious!
:p

[Brad Rippe]

Thats a good one Daze,
Recently I made an exposure, I thought, but took out the REAR darkslide instead of the one thats pointed towards the lens. Really really dumb. I thought I've made all my mistakes...
-B

[MIke Sherck]

Now that I'm thinking about it, there was this one time when sliding the dark slide back into the holder after exposure seemed a little difficult -- almost as if the slide didn't want to go back in. This was in bright sunlight, so I had the focusing cloth draped over the back of the camera and was replacing the slide by feel.

After I got it in I pulled the film holder... and stared at a now toasted sheet of film as the dark slide fell to the ground. I had inserted it between the holder and the back of the camera. Ah, well...

Mike

[John Bowen]

Who says photography isn't "creative?" We are always finding new ways to screw up! :-)

[Arne Croell]

Patiently set up and composed a shot while waiting for the sun to appear from behind a cloud. When the sun appeared I made the exposure. Afterwards I took a second look at the GG and all I saw was fog! Seems like the sudden sun on the bellows combined with a slightly cold soaked camera caused condensation on the rear lens element.

Yup, I had that one happen this last winter in the Alps. Moving around in -12°C for a while and then the sun comes over the ridgeline and heats the bellows... It actually formed ice on the rear element for a short while.