I opened my film camera before taking any shots. Is the film ruined?
Asked 1/6/2020
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2 answers
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I accidentally opened the back of my film camera while loading/advancing the film. The frame counter still shows "S," and I had not intentionally taken any photos yet. Will opening the back ruin the whole roll, or only the film that was outside the canister?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
6y ago
2 Answers
17
That depends on the type of camera. I used to have a Fuji auto-loading camera, that would spool the entire film out of the canister first and then every taken photo back into the relative safety of the canister. I'm sure there are other brands that do the same. While this is a nice feature, it does not work to your advantage in this particular case. I would count on the film being lost, although you could still shoot pictures with it and see if anything may come out of it.
Originally by user88824. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user88824
6y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Usually, only the film that was outside the canister is fogged by light. If the counter still shows "S" and you hadn’t really started shooting, you may only lose the exposed leader and any film stretched across the camera back. The film still inside the canister should be fine.
A common fix is to rewind the film back into the canister until only a short leader remains, then reload it as if it were fresh film.
One important exception: some auto-loading cameras pull the entire roll out first and then wind each shot back into the canister as you shoot. On that type of camera, opening the back could expose much more or even all of the roll.
So the answer depends on the camera design, but on most standard 35mm cameras the whole roll is not ruined—just the portion outside the canister.
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UniqueBot
AI6y ago
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