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Slide film - exposed or not. 35mm


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Hi,

I have a slide roll with leader out (little extended) in a canister with handwritten instructions (my own) saying clean and use.

 

I shot the photos long ago - couple of months ago and am not able to remember the context in which I wrote on the canister and if this for the film.

 

I asked the lab and they said they will cut a few frames and develop to check if its exposed or not. This is velvia 35mm roll.

If they cut a few frames , can I still load it into the camera?

 

Is there any other way?

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Hi,

I asked the lab and they said they will cut a few frames and develop to check if its exposed or not. This is velvia 35mm roll.

If they cut a few frames , can I still load it into the camera?

 

Is there any other way?

By testing, they might cut in half you best photo.

 

Yes, if they just cut off a little you can load the rest. Any other way to find out if it's exposed - no.

 

Me? If I thought it might be important, I'd have it all processed.

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Some time ago, I bought on eBay two rolls of TX 135-20 in non-crimped cartridges.

(That is, not very new.).

 

The leader stuck out just a little bit, not near the way they always come new, so I suspected

that it was used. I developed one, but no images, so it seems not used.

 

I still have the other roll to use sometime. I also have bulk Tri-X to load into them.

 

Another time I bought a used one of these:

 

Actionsampler Camera

 

(but not the clear version shown).

 

I found it had film in it, rewound it leaving a little leader out, while counting the turns on

the rewind crank. I later put it in another camera, maybe counting the turns of the rewind

knob and adding a little to be sure, and used the rest of the roll.

 

If I take film out of a camera, I put a note on it, maybe written on tape, of how

many shots one should shoot without exposing before using it.

 

"Clean and use" doesn't sound like any shots were taken, but only you would

know your own conventions.

-- glen

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There is usually a reverse curl in the leader if used. When I had to change films in mid roll, I would write number of exposures and date on the leader. If I lost track, binary choice, throw the dice & develop to find out, or toss the roll in the junk box to use some time when it "doesn't matter" problem is, it nearly always matters, I'd guess there are probably in excess of 40 cassettes in the junk box from down all the years. I should at least toss anything undevelopable- but an Interesting collection in its own way.
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What the lab is doing is called a "clip test" and actually use to be a not terribly uncommon thing.

 

If it comes out unexposed, ask the lab to pull the leader if you don't have your own leader pick(it's something labs do all day and it will probably take them a few seconds, but if you've never used one before it will be an exercise in frustration) and then re-cut a leader. Those of us both who bulk load film and who have bottom-loading rangefinders(Leica III series and their copies) are no stranger to doing this-it can be done freehand pretty easily with a pair of scissors. The key is to avoid sharp edges and ideally don't run your cuts through a sprocket hole.

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There is usually a reverse curl in the leader if used.

 

Good point

 

A new film has a leader 2 1/4 inches long, very smoothly curved and closely hugs the canister. Any deviation from this probably means the film has been played around with

 

The OP said "the leader is out", a "little extended" - but how much ? If it's not within a 1/32" of 2 1/4", it's either been manipulated by hand winding the canister spindle, or it's been in the camera, possibly exposed and rewound, in which case the 2 1/4 inches is lost and can become any length from about 3 inches to the film being fully retracted into the canister

 

The film doesn't necessarily have to have a "reverse" curve, but it will more than likely have a kink in the leader where it caught on the sharp edge of the slot in the take up spool. The direction of the kink will depend on the rotation direction of the take up spool

 

In modern compact point & shoot film cameras that have automatic leader take up (no slot in take up spool), the leader will not have a kink, and it will be much more difficult to determine if the film has been used, so again it comes back to the 2 1/4 length of the leader and whether it still retains the smooth curve closely hugging the canister. Also, with motor rewinds in these cameras, the film can be rewound all the way into the canister, or just short of it leaving a leader sticking out, but varying in length with different point & shoots

 

If we knew what camera the OP has that he thinks the film was used in, we might be able to figure out what the leader should look like if the film has indeed been used. What I would do is to set the leader at 2 1/4 inches and compare it against a new undisturbed film, and if the film has been through a camera, the differences should be noticeable, a kink perhaps, the curve of the leader not quite right, the leader curved tightly and touching the canister ( a new film fresh out of the box has a leader curved concentric to the canister with the leader's tip about 1/8 inch away from the canister)

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There is usually a reverse curl in the leader if used.

 

For reasons I don't remember, there was discussion some time ago, on which cameras spool emulsion in, and which emulsion out.

 

Ones that wind emulsion out will make the reverse curl.

 

I don't know how long it stays after rewinding.

 

Well, mostly, I pretty much always rewind all the way in, unless it is a partially used roll, which I don't do all that often.

-- glen

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Good Point - pretty much in Nikon world!

 

I went through my cameras, I knew I had one here that wound the spool the wrong way - Nikomat, body only for $35, I haven't used it yet, I bought it to fit a Russian mirror lens which I already had, it has a Nikon bayonet mount adapter

 

I took shots of a new film and a used film

 

This is the new film, undisturbed and it's clear that the leader is curved fairly concentric to the canister but doesn't touch the canister. The length of the leader is 2 1/4 inches. It doesn't hug the canister as I iterated before. In fact the used film (below) hugs the canister

 

505791173_NewFilm.jpg.1f6ebc9f1ba904e3e2c867051e00b78a.jpg

 

This is a used film, fully exposed and the leader is tensioned tightly around the canister due to the leader having already been wrapped around the smaller diameter take up spool

 

1843749422_UsedFilm.jpg.684147a54f5d0d6909ffb544365cd618.jpg

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Good Point - pretty much in Nikon world!

 

If I remember, the discussion before was about Canon QL, which uses springy rubber tipped pads to grab the film as it winds, emulsion in.

 

Canon rangefinders in the Leica tradition spool emulsion out.

 

Past that I am not sure, but they do come both ways.

-- glen

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Here's one from the junk box - suppose It could be from something else, but I can't ever recall changing rolls on the Leica, and I got that when my Dad passed on a few years back, and wasn't using the junk box. I do have quite a few different old Nikons. Memory is a strange thing! :confused:

[ATTACH]1275603[/ATTACH]

 

I rarely use my Leica so don't recall exactly how the leader comes out looking, but that doesn't look out of line for the big spring clip on the take-up spool on bottom-loading Leicas.

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HI, thanks for all the replies. I use a canon elan 7e ( eos 30 ) and eos 3. I do write the frame number on the plastic canister when I switch rolls mid-way ( different lighting conditions - iso change , slide / negative) . I have unfortunately done double exposure , spoiling really good photos - landscape / wildlife over architecture.

 

The roll in question - I think it did not load properly and I got some dust on it and possibly did not load it to avoid scratching the film. Leader does not seem to be out much. thanks all. How are you JDM ? Remember you helping out with my Slide Projector in 2009 or 2010.

 

For all the analog lovers, I have a facebook group called film photography india. Please feel free to join.

 

Been on Photo.net from 2000 and this is one of the best resources on the net. Thanks to all the wonderful people in here.

 

Wish you all an advance merry Christmas

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