I forgot (Page 4): Yes, I pulled that boner once, and later committed another. I was rewinding film in a Kodak Retina IIc. I wound on and on and on, and then thought I felt a change of...

Stanhope Loc: New York City

Yes, I pulled that boner once, and later committed another. I was rewinding film in a Kodak Retina IIc. I wound on and on and on, and then thought I felt a change of tension. I opened the back and found that only about 2/3 of the film had rewound. The most important shots on the roll were ruined. This error can happen on any camera that is rewound with a knob, although the Retinas are especially bad. They take forever to rewind.

PAR4DCR Loc: A Sunny Place

Did that once while shooting in Washington D. C., film was not advancing.

Don

tempaussie

rehess wrote:

Back in 1971, after I'd had a 35mm camera for about two years, I had a long-remembered experience.,

In 1976, I returned to Australia to meet my wife's family for the first time (long story). I took a 35mm film camera and when I first got down there, my camera developed a hitch that I could hear in the mechanism. One Sunday afternoon I sat at the kitchen table in my father-in-law's home and as I was talking with him, I took the shell off the camera and readjusted something that didn't quite look like it was working correctly.

During our month long stay, I took 18 rolls of film (36 exposures per cartridge) and due to the much higher cost of developing film in Australia, I waited until I got home to develop them. You know where this is going.

When I picked up the photos, they handed me 18 envelopes with photos inside. I had 7 photos that were developed and every last one of the others was blank. My "fix" turned out not to be.

My father-in-law was killed due to a coal mining accident before we got back again so we only have two photos of him that we took when he was alive.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

tempaussie wrote:

My father-in-law was killed due to a coal mining accident before we got back again so we only have two photos of him that we took when he was alive.

My condolences. That sort of thing hurts a lot more than the pictures I lost.

hassighedgehog Loc: Corona, CA

Did the film thing with a Canon FL-QL years ago going from one city in New Mexico to the Carlsbad Caverns. The route went through a tiny bit of Texas. Have left the card out of digital cameras. Current one lets me know right away that there is no card in it. Had one camera at a point which had some internal memory. Did not lose any pictures, but could only take a few before I ran out of memory, no spare card. Now carry spare cards.

Rakau Loc: Dunedin, NZ

I had a camera store many years back, and this was a common occurrence over the years.
One of the most heart breaking was an elderly couple who had taken 10 rolls/cartridges of film in the old 110 system.
After processing we found all images of their left ear. Turns out they held it the wrong way, with the lens pointing to their face

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

Rakau wrote:

I had a camera store many years back, and this was a common occurrence over the years.
One of the most heart breaking was an elderly couple who had taken 10 rolls/cartridges of film in the old 110 system.
After processing we found all images of their left ear. Turns out they held it the wrong way, with the lens pointing to their face

Sounds like my Dad, who attempted to play a CD by placing it shiny side up ... he was aware that was the recorded side and was treating it like like a 33 / 45 / 78 record.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

Stanhope wrote:

Yes, I pulled that boner once, and later committed another. I was rewinding film in a Kodak Retina IIc. I wound on and on and on, and then thought I felt a change of tension. I opened the back and found that only about 2/3 of the film had rewound. The most important shots on the roll were ruined. This error can happen on any camera that is rewound with a knob, although the Retinas are especially bad. They take forever to rewind.

Back when I used my film camera regularly, I memorized the number of rewind turns needed to pull the film back into the canister, and then went twice or three times that number.

topcat Loc: Alameda, CA

I think that everyone has done that at least once. If these are the only times that this happened to you, you are better than most. Certainly better than me.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

Thanks for all the comments - I have another roll of film, and when I have suitable subjects lined up {its b&w} I'll demonstrate I can still do this

10MPlayer Loc: California

rehess wrote:

Back in 1971, after I'd had a 35mm camera for abou... (show quote)

This comes under the heading of "s**t happens." I've done it more than once. I recently bought a couple of rolls of b/w film for my 1990s version Nikon Nsomething camera. I hope I don't do the same.

silveragemarvel Loc: Keller, Texas

The only film camera I ever really cared about taking serious pictures was my 1972 Nikon Ftn. I made the same mistake with film not catching in the spool. So, from that experience I always looked at the rewind knob that the spool was attached to make sure it rotated after I loaded new film and advanced the lever.