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I accidentally removed the battery from my Ricoh RT-550 camera and the film counter reset back to 0. I was in the middle of using it and still had ~10 frames left...

Does this mean I should just remove the film and process it with ~10 blank frames or can I still use it to finish shooting the roll?

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    \$\begingroup\$ it might not make much difference, but what camera exactly is it? \$\endgroup\$
    – osullic
    Commented Sep 26, 2018 at 16:49
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    \$\begingroup\$ @osullic this can make a huge difference as some cameras have a setting for the rewinding mode to either push the film into the cartridge all the way in or to let some of it hang out. This is crucial for re-inserting the film. \$\endgroup\$
    – null
    Commented Sep 26, 2018 at 17:32
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    \$\begingroup\$ The options available to you are completely dependent on your camera. Please let us know what model camera you are using and also what the status of the film is...for example, on inserting the new battery, did it rewind? Did nothing happen except the film counter rest (film is still in the same position)? \$\endgroup\$
    – OnBreak.
    Commented Sep 26, 2018 at 17:34
  • \$\begingroup\$ The camera is Ricoh RT-550 \$\endgroup\$
    – Pamela Lemmuela
    Commented Sep 26, 2018 at 19:05
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    \$\begingroup\$ If any question, and if the existing pictures are important at all, then simply have the roll of film processed now as is, with no risk. The remaining blank space is very inexpensive to waste. Why worry with it? \$\endgroup\$
    – WayneF
    Commented Sep 26, 2018 at 20:34

2 Answers 2

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If the film actually rewound in conjunction with the counter reset, then you could take enough shots with the lens cap on in a dark room to get you back to approximately where you thought you were. If you're off by a couple, or if the alignment isn't exact, you may lose a couple of your shots, but that's better than losing all of them.

If the film did not rewind, and is actually still in the same position, then you can just continue shooting until you hit the end of the roll. Your counter will be off for the duration, but should hopefully be correct for your next roll. If rewinding at the end of this roll doesn't also reset to 0 (i.e. it counts backwards past zero as it rewinds), then you may need to redo the battery insertion between rolls or at the start of the next.

Depends on how the counter works, I guess.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ This is assuming that the film rewound to the first frame, not just that the counter reset to 0? \$\endgroup\$
    – mattdm
    Commented Sep 26, 2018 at 16:25
  • \$\begingroup\$ What do you mean by "losing all of them"? What option would lose all images? \$\endgroup\$
    – null
    Commented Sep 26, 2018 at 16:25
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    \$\begingroup\$ @null Double exposing them would be a form of loss... Or creativity... \$\endgroup\$
    – twalberg
    Commented Sep 26, 2018 at 16:31
  • \$\begingroup\$ @mattdm Yeah, that's a valid point... Maybe rewinding and then redoing the battery remove/replace to get to a consistent point would be required first, I guess. \$\endgroup\$
    – twalberg
    Commented Sep 26, 2018 at 16:37
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    \$\begingroup\$ @PamelaLemmuela, in my experience, film rewinding is rather noisy. If you didn't hear the film-advance motor running for a substantial period of time when you put the battery back in, it didn't rewind. \$\endgroup\$
    – Mark
    Commented Sep 26, 2018 at 19:39
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Carry on shooting. If there's any doubt about the rewind, open the camera under a blanket. You can finish the rewind manually if required. The processing house won't care if the tail is lost into the cassette.

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