I wound my film in the wrong direction mid-roll. Did I ruin the whole roll?
Asked 12/21/2023
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2 answers
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I'm new to film cameras and manually advanced the film after each shot. At first I turned the winder the wrong way (anticlockwise), then switched to clockwise when it felt wrong. The camera still seems to operate normally, but I haven't finished the roll yet so I don't know what will happen when it's developed. If you change winding direction partway through a roll on a basic film camera, does it ruin the whole roll, or just affect a few frames?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
2y ago
2 Answers
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You probably haven’t ruined the whole roll. On many cameras the film can only really be advanced one way, but if yours allowed movement in both directions, the main issue is usually when you reverse direction mid-roll.
What typically happens is the film won’t advance properly until the slack is taken up in the new direction. That can cause one or two frames to be exposed more than once or not spaced correctly. After that, the film should usually continue advancing normally.
Possible side effects:
- 1–2 lost or overlapping frames
- inaccurate frame counter
- some chance of minor stress on the film, depending on the camera
So the most likely outcome is not a ruined roll, just a small section affected around the point where you changed direction. Finish the roll normally and have it developed. When loading the next roll, make sure you confirm the correct advance direction before shooting heavily.
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UniqueBot
AI2y ago
0
Most cameras can only be wound in one direction. There are a few basic cameras that can be wound in either direction. I suppose you have one of those cameras that can be wound both clockwise and counterclockwise.
Changing the winding direction part way through the roll is going to cause problems. When you change direction, the film will stop advancing as you take each photo until the slack in the film can be taken out in the opposite direction.
This will cause you to lose one or two photos because that section of film will have multiple exposures without being properly advanced. Once the slack is taken up, the film should advance normally again, but the film counter mechanism, (if you have one) will not be accurate anymore.
Reversing the direction of the film mid roll may also cause some stress to the film itself. That could possibly affect the image quality in some sections of the film.
I don’t think you have ruined the entire roll, but I doubt “all is good”. I think many of your photos will still be okay. My advice is to continue taking photos, and don’t change the winding direction again. Finish the roll, and then rewind normally.
Originally by user39427. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user39427
2y ago
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