The film holder nightmare we all dread and what to do

[Jim Galli]

Heroique, you should switch to 35mm film cameras. No, wait, then you'd be in a cold sweat all night long wondering how the counter made it to '42'. I think digital auto everything is your only hope.

[swmcl]

Hi all,

I have purchased a digital voice recorder to help me. I basically narrate the scene in front of me including all the camera setup details. With the amount of memory available in these things one can just press the 'record' button and leave it on for hours if need be although I tend to make just a short and succinct recording.

I do also number the holders and try to remember that a white darkslide means an exposure has been made. I guess that would make for two methods to ensure my data is recorded.

Rgds,

[Heroique]

Heroique, you should switch to 35mm film cameras. No, wait, then you'd be in a cold sweat all night long wondering how the counter made it to '42'. I think digital auto everything is your only hope.

That sounds worse than the original nightmare!

I'd rather share share practical insights, like my post #34.

And benefit by reading all these others.

[Ian Arthur]

Each of my dark slides are numbered. I start from number one and always shoot in pairs. When I've finished with a DS I put it back into the compartment of my camera bag the wrong way up. That's my visible indication as whether a DS has been used or is unused. I did try having a check off list on a notepad - but I either loose the pen or the notepad...!

[dikaiosune01]

I have two prevented measures that work well for me.

(1) label your film holders with permanent market sequentially. 1a and 1b (for the other side) then 2a and 2nd etc etc.
then shoot the film sequentially. So even if I forget to reverse the dark slide it know which film holder to shoot from.
(2) a piece of masking tape on each film holder. It serves two purposes. One, label what film I have in there. Two any extra exposure notations I might want to make.

My LF nightmare is when I forget to close the lens and pull the dark slide. 3 years shooting this thing and it still frustrated me. Argh!!