Can a partially exposed 35mm film roll be reloaded and used again?
Asked 4/17/2020
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I’m new to film photography and may have loaded a 36-exposure roll incorrectly. The camera counter stopped at 12, and when I tried to unload/reload it in a dark room, the film would not rewind past a certain point. Some of the film has likely been exposed. If the film leader has been cut or damaged, can the remaining film still be saved and reloaded, and what should I expect?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
6y ago
2 Answers
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It appears ( possibly, it is hard to tell ) to me that the leader is no longer smooth and has been hand cut.
Sometimes I have film loaded in my camera of an ASA that is not right for the light that I find myself wanting to photograph in, so I rewind it back just enough to leave the leader out of the cassette.
I may want to develop what I have shot on the roll before I shoot the rest of the roll, so in the darkroom I pull out enough to get what I shot and cut it off for development. I then cut the curve in the leader, ( Create a new leader on the film remaining in the cassette ) to match the factory leader so I can load the remainder in the camera. This means the number of shots on the roll is no longer what the factory label says, so I use tape and a marker to indicate approximately how many shots are in the cassette.
The only film that will be savable will be any that is still in the cassette, if there is any. You will need to go into a darkroom, ( Completely dark, not a closet with a sliver of light coming from under the door. BLACK, complete darkness ) and see if you can pull any film out of the cassette. If you can, then rewind it back in and you can shoot what is left. If you can't pull any out, then there is no more in the cassette.
Originally by user50217. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user50217
6y ago
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Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Yes—possibly. If the roll was handled in darkness and the film inside the cassette is still intact, the remaining unexposed film may still be usable. From the description and photo, the leader may have been cut or reshaped by hand. That by itself does not ruin the roll.
You can create a new leader by trimming the film end to a shape similar to a normal factory leader, then reload it into the camera. The main downside is that the roll will no longer have its full original number of exposures, so you’ll need to estimate how many frames remain.
Any film that was exposed to light when the camera back was opened will be fogged and unusable, but film that stayed inside the cassette should usually be fine. If part of the roll was already shot and you want to preserve those images, a lab or darkroom can cut and develop the exposed section, leaving the rest in the cassette for later use.
In short: the roll may be salvageable, but expect to lose the exposed portion and end up with fewer total frames.
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