Fuji lab destroyed my film

[vince_tan]

I send 2 rolls of Fuji Velvia to Fuji Labs in Kansas for developing. For one

of the roll, I had to change camera half way. Anyway, to my surprise when I

got the film back. Enclosed with the envelop is a roll of Fuji Sensia and 2

more mailer pack. A letter explaining that they have damage my film. When I

checked the slides, half were ok (the first half of the roll), then the rest

were cut in the middle. Literally, they send me the slide, mounted but was cut

in the middle. AAARRGGHH. I wonder how a roll of Sensia can compensate for all

the damage pictures.

Vince

[todd peach seattle, washi]

Sounds pretty standard, I'm afraid.

 

Did you warn them about the re-load? Most labs set the 'registration' on their cutters on the first few frames and then let it run full auto. This will unfortunately result in well, what you got.

 

It's a good idea to mark on the envelope that the film has been re-loaded. This was conventional wisdom 20 years ago when I was on the other side of the film counter, maybe something has changed since.

[matthew_julian]

Yes, I think you bear some of the blame for failing to alert them to the reload and resulting misalignment of frames. I probably would have asked for unmounted development for that roll.

[stephen hazelton]

On the other hand, it's not uncommon for cameras that are not functioning 100% properly to have film spacing that is not perfect, so they really ought to be a bit more on the ball than that.

 

By the way, while you can blame this on Fuji, Kodak/Qualex isn't perfect either- they cross-processed (unintentionally) a roll of Velvia for me several years back. The best part was that on the film envelope (with prints) was a bright orange sticker saying I should check my exposure.

[frank_oddsocks]

It's completely your fault for not telling them, and they are being kind by giving you the

free film. As said above, you're supposed to warn them if they need to stop the mounting

in the middle. The very rare times I reload film, I ask for the film to be "unmounted"; slide

film should then come back in one long strip from a professional lab.

 

Putting the film back in the camera once it had been taken out was not, traditionally,

anything anyone ever did in the days before built-in motorized wind. So it is not expected.

[kelly_flanigan1]

This is a problem at some labs when the Lennigrad LTM body is used. The camera has NO typical 8 tooth sprocket that revolves 1 rev per frame. The frame spacing gets larger with each shot, as the take up spool takes up the exposed film! With astrophotography in the 1960's and midroll loading from the Exakta from the Nikon I learned quickly never to allow a lab to auto cut my slides

[craig_shearman1]

The other way to guard against this is simply not to reload one roll from one camera to the other. A roll of Velvia is only about $5, so why risk losing important photos for the sake of saving a few pennies?

[jtk]

Mounting is risk, mailaway labs are risk, all labs are risk. If your few shots were very valuable you would have used a professional laboratory and you would not have had any lab mount them.

[mike_king3]

Afraid you have to take responsibilty for this one. The only time I'll put a roll back in a camera is if it's a roll I'll be processing myself. I think it's nice they gave you a roll of film. Film is cheap, cameras are cheap, (I have spare bodies, so that I don't have to change film types mid-roll) the only expensive commodity in photography is time.

[ilkka_nissila]

This is ridiculous that some responders say that it's the OP's fault. I routinely do this (take film out and put it back in), done night exposures, some people have Xpans, there is no reason to tell the lab, they're supposed to look at the frames that they're cutting.

 

Of course, a roll of film is standard compensation for lab screw-ups. But it definitely wasn't your fault. Next time use a pro lab.

[steve_bingham]

Consider using a pro lab, where mounting can be done by hand. What you experienced has happened to all at one time or another.

[janvanlaethem]

I agree with Ilkka, the lab should be more careful when cutting the slides. Of course it's easier for the lab assistant to just put everything on auto and have a cigarette in the meantime.

 

I also got films ruined by sloppy labs. I've had slides put through C41 chemistry. I've had Kodak black and white infrared film taken out of the film canister inside a shop when I specifically asked them to handle it in complete darkness.

 

And I've had slides cut right through the middle and they were an assignment: I had to take pictures of an art exhibition, which basically consisted in tiny objects hanging from the ceiling and lighted by individual spot lights in a completely blacked out room. The lab started cutting ok and then somehow missed it mid-roll and screwed up from there. I had to re-do the whole shoot, so that meant making another appointment with the artist, spending a complete morning between travelling to the exhibit room and shooting and basically looking like an idiot for not having anything to show for my first efforts.

 

No free roll of film will compensate for time lost. And certainly not for pictures that you will never be able to repeat. I've learned my lesson, always have my film processed in one strip and cut and mount the slides myself.