Film failure (I'm a heartbroken rookie, please give me closure)

[dsegurola]

Hello everybody.

At the beginning of the summer I inherited a Nikon FE from my Great Uncle Felix and took lots and lots of pictures. I quickly fell in love with the camera and with taking pictures, but could never afford to get the films developed (being a student has its limitations - lots of things and people to take pictures of, no money to get the film developed with).

The first three films I used were a reduced Kodak three-pack from Waitrose. They were cheap because they were just about to go out of date. When they were finished I kept them in the fridge for a couple of months while I scraped 15 quid together for a trip to Boots.

Anyway, when I picked them up today they were still in the little sleeve with 'film failure' written on them. The film was blank and couldn't be developed, with a dark patch at one end of each. There was absolutely nothing on any of the films besides the dark patch.

To be honest this is heartbreaking. I've lost an entire summer's worth of photographs. I've got another three films ready to be developed in the fridge, but I bought them from different places.

Has anybody had anything like this before? I really just want to know if it's the film or the camera. The camera's old, obviously, but my uncle looked after everything he owned with noticeable care and I doubt he'd have kept a broken camera. The door on the back is a little loose and bends out slightly, do you think the film could've been spoiled by air getting into it? If that's the case, how easy would it be to get the door fixed?

So yeah if anybody can offer any help I'd be really really thankful, even if it's just 'yr camera is broked buy a new one lol'. Thank you.

[Roy5051]

Is the dark patch at the beginning of the film, and are the frame numbers showing, or is the film completely blank?

[benji]

Was the film properly engaged into the sprockets?
If not, the roll of film wouldn't have wound on, which would result in no frame being exposed at all.
(I think all film shooter may have done that at one stage or another in their early days).

Other than that, as you mentioned, the door may be the culprit, although "light" getting in -not "air"- would've caused the problem.
Benji

[AlexMonro]

The Nikon FE is a pretty reliable camera, as long as the batteries are OK. To check the batteries, press the battery check lever (on the back of the camera to the left of the viewfinder) down, and the LED in the middle of the lever should glow brightly. Replacement batteries (2x LR44 or SR44) are fairly widely available - I've even seen them in supermarkets.

Film doesn't get spoiled by exposure to air, but light getting in the wrong place will cause black marks on negative (print) film - in extreme cases, it will be all black - though your comment about a dark patch at one end suggests this isn't the problem, the dark patch is the leader of the film exposed to light when you loaded the camera.

One possiblility that have I have known happen with novice users is not getting the film leader properly secured to the take up spool - I did this myself with my first camera, a Zenit B, with results similar to what you described, except I developed it myself. This results in thinking you're winding the film on for each shot, but in fact it stays in the cassette. It's always a good idea to keep an eye on the rewind knob (on the left as you look through the viewfinder) and make sure it rotates as you wind on (it might not move for the first frame or two if there's a lot of slack). Nikon's system of securing the film leader to the take up spool is better than some others, especially if you feed the narrow part of the leader all the way through the slot.

If you don't currently have a film in the camera, you can probably do some basic checks to see if the shutter is working. Set the lens to maximum aperture, set the shutter speed to auto, wind on to cock the shutter, then open the back (make sure you don't touch the shutter curtains), and look through the camera towards a fairly bright light source, e.g. the sky or bright window (not directly at the sun!). Press the shutter button: you should see a brief flash of the shutter opening. Now repeat in an average lit room - the shutter should open for a noticeably longer time.

Just a thought, and it may be stating the obvious, but did you set the film speed correctly for the film you were using? The film speed dial is around the rewind knob, and the ASA scale used is effectively the same as the ISO figure printed on the film box.

There's a fairly comprehensive online manual for the Nikon FE here .

[Wheelu]

Sorry to hear this sad tale!

However there is more summer left and the Autumn is an even better time to take photographs, followed by possible snow at Xmas then we have the Spring - fantastic!

Sounds like the film was not exposed and good advice has already been given above.

Why not go to your local camera shop and buy a film from them, asking the people in there if they will quickly check the camera and show you how to load it properly? There is generally an enthusiast or two behind the counter who will give advice if they are not too busy.

The real magic (for me) is in developing your own films - it's cheap and easy - but that's a little bit further ahead perhaps.