Unloading unfinished MF film.

I went out today with a new (to me) Bronica SQAi and exposed 11 frames. When it came to remove the film I could obviously have just exposed the last frame and wound the advance crank, but for some reason I thought it would be possible to wind the smaller crank on the film back to wind the film onto the take up spool. I seem to think this is possible on Hasselblad's but don't really want to waste a film to try it.

Do any Bronica or Hasselblad users know if it is possible to wind remaining film off, or do we have to operate the shutter 6 times if we want to remove a half used roll of film? I tried with film back both on and off the body.

Is it really that much of a hardship to snap blank frames? Maybe just shoot something random, you might end up with something you like.

You are right that it is possible with Hasselblad magazines. The magazine's crank allows to wind the film all the way through. It only blocks and needs the camera to unblock it when the film counter reaches 1. After that it is free to wind the film as far as you like.

Sorry, I never handled no Bronica. - I'd either snap blanks or hit the changing bag with that magazine scissors and besides my tank a somewhat suitable container for the remaining "sheet" of film to be not wasted.

 

I guess you can test a lot of winding characteristics / mechanisms by reusing just the backing paper of a film you processed?

Possibly it time to get another back and return to the original when there's something more photo worthy with

the unfinished film :) . Peter

Is it really that much of a hardship to snap blank frames? Maybe just shoot something random, you might end up with something you like.

No hardship, I just wondered if it was possible with the Bronica. Your right though, that last frame may be the best one.

When it came to remove the film I could obviously have just exposed the last frame and wound the advance crank, but......

Isn't this why interchangeable film magazines were invented?

 

Talk about making an issue where there is none!

Interchangeable backs were not made to make unloading unfinished film easier, no.

JE/\SSSSSSUS Just fire off the last frame

Isn't this why interchangeable film magazines were invented?

 

Talk about making an issue where there is none!

It's not an issue, just a question.

Several of my folding cameras (old - 1930s) can use film or plates. One of them has a rewind knob; you can disengage the film advance and put the roll film back on the supply spool if you want to use plates for a while.

JE/\SSSSSSUS Just fire off the last frame

As mentioned, it wasn't a problem, I was curious if Bronica have the same facility Hasselblad do. If I was JE/\SSSSSSUS it probably wouldn't have even been a question.

The raison d'être for interchangeable backs is the ability to change film mid-roll. There is no good way to rewind film onto a feed spool even in a darkroom, and no way at all to rewind the film in the camera. Buy another back or two, and save yourself a lot of grief.

"When it came to remove the film I could obviously have just exposed the last frame and wound the advance crank, but for some reason I thought it would be possible to [...]"

 

Who turned that into a "buy another back" thing? How would that answer the question whether you could wind on the unexposed part of a film using the crank on a magazine?

"When it came to remove the film I could obviously have just exposed the last frame and wound the advance crank, but for some reason I thought it would be possible to [...]"

 

Who turned that into a "buy another back" thing? How would that answer the question whether you could wind on the unexposed part of a film using the crank on a magazine?

 

You are supposed to save it until you find a use for it, which you could do with another back.

 

Many of us don't like to waste film, and would save it.

 

Otherwise, find something to shoot, even though it isn't so interesting.

 

For negative film, when you pay by the print. In that case, you would want

to do it with the lens cap on.

 

For 35mm cameras, you would normally just rewind early.

I suspect that some autowind 35mm cameras automatically rewind

at the end of the roll, with no manual activation.

You are supposed to save it until you find a use for it, which you could do with another back.

 

Many of us don't like to waste film, and would save it.

 

Otherwise, find something to shoot, even though it isn't so interesting.

 

For negative film, when you pay by the print. In that case, you would want

to do it with the lens cap on.

 

For 35mm cameras, you would normally just rewind early.

I suspect that some autowind 35mm cameras automatically rewind

at the end of the roll, with no manual activation.

Are you supposed to save it? I don't think so. If you take photos of a subject, are you then supposed to wait to see and use those until you have found occassion to expose whatever is left on the roll of film?

 

Yes, some people do. Some people had the memories of two Christmasses and a summer holiday on one roll of film. But i really do not think you are supposed to.

 

Anyway, the OP's question was how to wind the film on. And 'switch to another magazine' is definitely not the answer to that question.

Yes try not to get two Christmases on one roll. My first year of college, I had one 36 exposure roll of Ektachrome for the whole year.

(Well, partly that is because I was busy enough with class work, and not so much time for photography.)

But later years I was much faster at using it.

 

The multiple backs are nice if you need different films before finishing one roll.

 

Otherwise, there is the challenge of finding places to use film, and timing things right to finish the roll at the right time.

You could argue, though, that often having to find things to take pictures of that you wouldn't have taken anyway, just to fill a roll, is more of a burden than knowing that you wasted a frame or two.

Just about a year ago (just before Covid restrictions) I was out with an FE2 and a roll of film.

 

On shot 36, the shutter locked up, so I decided to rewind. A little later, I decided that the battery

probably was just dead. (It seems that the battery test is that the camera works or not.)

 

So, yes, it was only one or two frames. We were away on a short vacation, so there could

have been more things to shoot, but I didn't feel so bad. (Actually, the whole reason for bringing

that camera was to finish the roll.)

 

Otherwise, sometimes I go around the neighborhood, or a nearby (small) nature area, to take

pictures that I wouldn't have taken anyway.

Last month after some snow, I had a Certo Dolly with 127 film. (Does that count as MF?)

 

Snow is pretty unusual in Seattle, so it seemed like a good chance to get some pictures,

even though I was using up the whole (8exp) roll. And even if you are just trying to find

things to finish the roll, sometimes they are surprising:

 

You could argue, though, that often having to find things to take pictures of that you wouldn't have taken anyway, just to fill a roll, is more of a burden than knowing that you wasted a frame or two.

You don't have to work very hard at it. Pointing the camera randomly is not a burden and who knows what you might get. Better than a blank frame, even if it is a blank frame.

You don't have to work very hard at it. Pointing the camera randomly is not a burden and who knows what you might get. Better than a blank frame, even if it is a blank frame.

 

Only if they don't charge by printable image.

 

Traditionally, slide didn't charge for mounting blank frames, but for (usually negatives), they would charge for each print.

 

I think at least once (maybe only once) someone managed to print something

that wasn't at all an image of anything.

Are you supposed to save it? I don't think so. If you take photos of a subject, are you then supposed to wait to see and use those until you have found occassion to expose whatever is left on the roll of film?

 

Yes, some people do. Some people had the memories of two Christmasses and a summer holiday on one roll of film. But i really do not think you are supposed to.

 

Anyway, the OP's question was how to wind the film on. And 'switch to another magazine' is definitely not the answer to that question.

 

Addrressing the OP.

I presume you just want to remove the film from the camera, and scrap the unexposed part of the film.

I think on the Hassleblad, you have to remove the back from the camera, then you can wind the take up knob.

 

Then to QG

However, the next question that some will ask is . . .

How to save the last X frames on the roll to finish it off later?

 

Why?

If it is to switch film from B&W to color or ISO 100 to 400, a back change is how to do it.

As [uSER=2403817]@rodeo_joe|1[/uSER] said, that is one of the purposes of the removable backs.

 

Now if you were shooting a TLR or a SLR without a removable back, the picture changes. You have to do it the hard way.

 

The other thing is, if you wind the film forward, to "save the last x frames." You have to rewind the film in the darkroom (or changing bag) to get the roll of film so that you can load it again. As I recall, the 120 film is taped to the backing at only one end, the front. The film is not designed to load from the back end of the roll. You have to rewind the film, to load from the front.

 

With 35mm film, sometimes I used to save part of the roll. 35mm cameras did not have removable backs.

We would note how many frames were shot.

Then rather than wind forward, we rewind back into the cartridge, leaving the leader sticking out. So that took care of that issue.

On the reload, we always sacrificed a couple frames after the number of frames previously shot, because of uncertainty of where the last exposed frame was on the film.

 

As for TWO Christmases on the same roll.

In the old days of film, it was more common than people today think. Back then, many people were FRUGAL That is because many had lived through the depression and then the rationing of WW2. So they did not waste.

2 shots for XMas, 1 for son's birthday, 1 for daughter's birthday, 2 at the next XMas. And that is only half of a 12x roll.

When I first started 35mm, I wondered WHY there wasn't a 12x roll, and how I was going to shoot 20 frames, much less 36.

Addrressing the OP.

I presume you just want to remove the film from the camera, and scrap the unexposed part of the film.

I think on the Hassleblad, you have to remove the back from the camera, then you can wind the take up knob.

 

Then to QG

However, the next question that some will ask is . . .

How to save the last X frames on the roll to finish it off later?

[...]

You do not have to remove the back. Just wind on using the crank on the back.That crank is only blocked when a freshly loaded film is at frame 1. Then you have to release the camera with back attached to unblock the magazine crank. After that you can use that crank at any time you wish. No camera interlock.

 

Yes, another question could be...

But this question the OP asked is not that next question.

 

(snip)

 

Yes, another question could be...

But this question the OP asked is not that next question.

 

Sometimes discussions go on even after the OP has left, and may never come back.

 

But all of us are interested in different, and sometimes related, problems of photography.

 

So, to me, there is no reason not to ask different questions, somehow related to the original.

(Completely unrelated should start their own thread, but don't always.)

 

Maybe the OP wants to waste the end of black and white film, but not color film?

 

In any case, it is interesting to know about how others have done it, and sometimes

the reasons why. Yes I have taken partial rolls out of 35mm cameras. And some other

times, though rarely, wasted the last shots on the roll.