Is My Entire Roll Ruined?

Question

I'm fairly new to photography on an actual film camera. I went ahead and bought a Kodak Ultra F9.

I'm sure this gets asked a lot but on the first roll I had accidentally hit the rewind button and opened up the back to investigate for a few seconds before closing it. Later of course I found out that was NOT the right thing to do.

The second roll I was all finished and had made sure I did not open the camera until it was ready. To make a long story short I opened the camera, thinking it was completely rewound, and it wasn't. I did eventually get it and shipped them both to a lab to be scanned.

Both times I opened the camera were inside with dim lighting and closed within seconds. I know there is not much hope for a couple exposures, but I am worried the entire roll of film will come back destroyed with light leaks on all of them. I am just worried and excited because developing film does cost a bit of money and I'm wondering if it will come back completely blank and not useful.

Answer 1

1. Unexposed film that remained in the film cassette should be unaffected.
2. The film that was fully exposed to external light will be completely obliterated, with no visible image.
3. The film that was on the take-up spool may be unaffected, or it may show some light damage around the edges. The closer the film is to the outside layer, the more likely the light damage.

Here is a typical example of light-leak damage. Note the exposure along the long edge, and the evidence of more light coming through the sprocket holes than in the area in-between holes.

That shot might be salvageable with cropping — it was fairly deep on the take-up spool!

But this is how it will look closer to the surface of the take-up spool. I think this was the next layer below the totally exposed surface layer.

Answer 2

Any exposures that were fully exposed to light when opened are likely destroyed or washed-out, but any fully inside the canister or within the reel (not visible) of the take-up reel should be OK.

Answer 3

Undeveloped film records a photo by chemically reacting to light. Even after it has been exposed properly in the camera, it remains sensitive to additional light until it has been "fixed" at the end of the development process.

Used properly in a camera the amount of light allowed to shine on the film is comparatively small. Film needs to be very sensitive to light in order to allow taking photos using short exposure times that typically range from 1/60-1/1000 seconds or even shorter while only allowing light to shine on it through a small hole (the entrance pupil of the lens).

When the back of a camera is opened in an environment with pretty much any light present the amount of light striking the film is MUCH greater than what is typically allowed through a lens. With no lens and light box controlling how much light is allowed to shine on the film, effectively you're at near zero focal length lens with a near infinitely large aperture. The light is also allowed to shine on the film for MUCH longer that is the case for a typical shutter duration that is only fractions of a second long.

Any parts of the film that are exposed to direct light when the back of the camera is opened will be completely fogged. That is, when developed the negative will turn completely opaque and not allow any light to pass through.

Parts of the film that are inside the film cannister should be protected as long as the felt around the opening that the film passes through is not damaged.

Parts of the film that are wound on the camera's takeup spool are what might or might not be safe. It all depends upon several factors:

• Does the takeup spool have discs on the ends of the shaft to prevent light from leaking into film from above and below it?
• Is the takeup spool recessed into the main body of the camera in such a way that when the back is open it's still in shadow?
• How tightly is the film wound onto the takeup spool? Is it allowed to uncoil when the camera back is opened? The tighter the film is wound, the less light will be allowed to reach the part of the film in the middle closest to the spindle of the takeup spool.
• How bright was the light in the environment when the back of the camera was opened? "Dim" lighting could be anything from a room illuminated with a 100W bulb, which will probably completely ruin all of the film outside the film cannister, to a room with a single candle burning on the other end of it, which would take several seconds to do any serious fogging of the film wound up on the takeup spool. That's a huge range.
• For how long was the camera back open? One-half second? Four or five seconds? Ten or twenty seconds? That's a pretty wide range as well.

The main thing to learn from this experience is to never open the back of your camera unless you are SURE the film has been wound back into the film cannister.

If there's any doubt at all, then only open the back in a completely dark room, such as an interior room with no windows and a rolled up towel blocking any light from shining in under the bottom of the door and feel with your fingers to see if the film has been rewound or not. Or you can use what is known as a changing bag that was used back in the days before roll film came protected inside light proof cassettes. Larger and medium format film cameras still use film that is best loaded in complete darkness. Changing bags are made of solid, opaque material and have arm holes with elastic that hold the material tightly against the user's arms.

Answer 4

Simple! Anything exposed to direct light will be washed up and unusable. Anything left in the plastic casing that has not seen the extra light will be ok.

The plastic casing of a film is supposed to provide a light tight holder, so that the film held inside it does not get contaminated. Even if exposed to light, the film inside the holder is fine! When sent for development, the entire holder is removed from the camera and brought to the development studio. This happens in broad day light and none of the photos are corrupted.