Film Help

rayjayphoto

Recently acquired a camera from my sister, (Canon AE-1 Program). I was figuring out everything and I unwound the film and took it out. (First time with a film camera). Now, this may not seem like a problem, except that my sister already took two pictures with the film.

Is there a way to get the film back in the camera and return to the third frame? Or do I have to compose the shots and put in new film? Thanks.

bfluegie

rayjayphoto wrote: »

Is there a way to get the film back in the camera and return to the third frame? Or do I have to compose the shots and put in new film? Thanks.

It's been a while since I have used film, but back in the day I would occasionally change film types mid roll. I would reinstall the film as normal. Then I would go into a darkened room and with the lens cap on I would take one more shot than I had taken. I would also sometimes set to the shortest exposure and smallest aperture to minimize the risk of exposure to the film. I never trusted the lens cap by itself, although doing all of the above is probably a belt and suspenders approach.

There is still some small risk that the first frame will get some exposure during the installation. I would usually try to minimize the amount of film I started on the take-up reel. The reason for the extra shot is because the film may not go in exactly the same and I would always rather have one shot less on the roll than an overlap.

If I was most of the way through the roll, I would usually just develop it as it was, but with only two I would definitely plan on shooting the rest.

I hope this answers your question.

T. Bombadil

rayjayphoto wrote: »

Recently acquired a camera from my sister, (Canon AE-1 Program). I was figuring out everything and I unwound the film and took it out. (First time with a film camera). Now, this may not seem like a problem, except that my sister already took two pictures with the film.

Is there a way to get the film back in the camera and return to the third frame? Or do I have to compose the shots and put in new film? Thanks.

Did you roll the film all the way back into the canister?

If so, you will need to do one of two things. Either get a small tool that allows you to fish the leader out of the canister again (you may have to search a bit, but it is not an expensive device as it is just a thin piece of plastic that you insert into the canister and hook on to the leading edge of film and pull it out).

Alternatively, you can get a reusable canister (or several, if you want to buy film in bulk and roll it yourself to save money). Open the existing canister (in a darkroom, not just a dark room. or in a film changing bag, which would be another inexpensive tool you will want if you decide to shoot lots of film and buy bulk rolls), take out the film and put it in the reusable canister.

Reload camera as the other reply has indicated (cranking off one more frame than had been used originally).

ziggy53

The "Safest" course of action is to just take the short roll (of two images) in for processing by itself. Load a new roll in the camera and start taking new images on the new roll. This segregates her images from yours and eliminates the potential problems of light leak and double exposures which can result from trying to reload a partially used roll of film which has been rewound.

T. Bombadil

ziggy53 wrote: »

The "Safest" course of action is to just take the short roll (of two images) in for processing by itself. Load a new roll in the camera and start taking new images on the new roll. This segregates her images from yours and eliminates the potential problems of light leak and double exposures which can result from trying to reload a partially used roll of film which has been rewound.

Good point.