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I had ordered a used bulk film loader recently. And the person who sold it to me probably thought that a good thing would be to provide me the bulk film loader with bulk-film in it, intact. Not expecting a bulk film in the loader I opened it only to find a bulk film in there - I would say that atleast 75% of a 100ft film was still in there. While surprised, I had half of the film in my hand and the other half still on the spool. What I am curious about is to whether all of the bulk film has been exposed to light and therefore completed destroyed, or some initial layers in the bulk film have been destroyed and the remaining layers might be salvageable? I am already planning on developing these films at home, in case I can get any confirmation,or information that some initial layers of the film might be destroyed and the later layers might actually be intact. But currently I have looked around the internet and nobody seems to have had this problem. Also, I do not know what type of film this is. From the looks of it it looks greyish on one side and the color of coffee on the other. Any suggestions? Advice?

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To answer your question- it depends. Light probably didn't penetrate more than a couple of layers into the portion that remained spooled, but the edges will be fogged. How much depends on the intensity of the light it was exposed to, the length of time it was exposed, and the film speed. You might try developing test samples to see when or if the fogging is minimized.

I wouldn't trust it. You don't know what happened to it before you received it. You may not know what film type/ISO it was loaded with.

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  • Thank you. I suppose there is little that one can do with this roll.
    – Bartha
    May 19, 2020 at 0:47
  • Well, you could unspool a couple of turns from the part that remained wound and then try developing the next foot or two. That would tell you the film type (from the edge markings, assuming you can read them) and the amount of fog you can expect.
    – BobT
    May 19, 2020 at 2:38
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    I have been using the film for about 2 years now and as you accurately pointed out the edges were the ones fogged. I occasionally get a foggy edge. The film in general is usable.
    – Bartha
    Sep 29, 2022 at 23:44
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    Thanks for the (rare) followup. I'm glad it was useable.
    – BobT
    Sep 30, 2022 at 15:32

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