Help! Trouble loading film..

[jamlid]

Hi all, so I've just gotten a Pentax K1000 for my birthday today and it's my first film camera but I'm having problems with it!

I've watched some videos online about how to load 35mm film but none of them answer my query..

So I think I might have the film the wrong way up! Which coloured side should I be able to see with the camera back open? At the start of the roll there is a curved bit where one half is cut out and one half is longer for feeding into the spool.. Should this longer half bit be on the bottom or top?

I've tried a roll in already, but when I advanced the camera, the reversing handle thing turned the wrong way to the arrow! But a guide I read online said it should turn the same way as the camera!


I've also done something really really stupid - I had my first roll in and I took some photos (maybe 5 nice photos of me and my girlfriend on my birthday) but then when I realised the lever wasn't turning the direction of the arrow and from reading the guides it sounded like i'd put it in wrong, I played around with the camera trying to get the roll out but I've wound it so the film is completely inside the cansister. Is there no way I'm getting this back now? Would they still develop it with only 5 pics on? It'd be expensive just for 5, but it'd be worth it

Apologies for sounding so stupid!


Thanks!

 

[TheBigYin]

There is a way I've found - it rely's on having a bit of 35mm film that you're not bothered about - say, a blank bit of negative.

Apply some double sided sticky tape on one side of this bit of film, then push the prepared film and tape into the canister, with the adhesive side facing the center of the canister (towards the inside core).

Push it in until it seems to jam, and then turn the spindle on the film canister to wind it in further.

Once 4 inches or so has disappeared inside the canister, give it a sharp pull (not too far or you'll pull too much film out), and the leader of the film should pop out attached to the tape! If it doesn't, try it again.

 

[jamlid]

Wow, thanks! That worked perfectly first time!

I've inserted the film in and just clicked it to 10 with the lens cap on, max aperature and 1/1000th shutter speed so it doesn't expose anything on top of those images

So just thinking about it, maybe the reversing lever thing turns the wrong way to the arrow because I'm advancing the roll by taking the photo? Meaning the reversing arrow is telling you which way to go when removing it from the camer?

 

[Scarecrow]

As for putting the film in the camera, it really should only go in one way.

With the canister in your left hand, and the film coming out to your right, the little spigot that sticks out one end of the canister should be at the bottom.

This means that with the canister in the camera, the film exit slot should be almost flush with the guide rails that run across the back of the camera over the shutter curtain.

 

[TheBigYin]

Wow, thanks! That worked perfectly first time!

I've inserted the film in and just clicked it to 10 with the lens cap on, max aperature and 1/1000th shutter speed so it doesn't expose anything on top of those images

So just thinking about it, maybe the reversing lever thing turns the wrong way to the arrow because I'm advancing the roll by taking the photo? Meaning the reversing arrow is telling you which way to go when removing it from the camer?

The arrow on the rewind lever is to tell you which direction to rewind the film at the end of the 36 exposures. When you wind on the film (by cocking the lever at the other side of the camera, the rewind spool will rotate to prove film is passing through the camera, its direction of rotation should be opposite to the direction arrow on the rewind lever.

As an aside, some rewind mechanisms are even more clever, and when you press the button at the bottom of the camera, then rewind the film, the film counter will count back down from 36 to 0 again - not all cameras do this, but it is handy when they do

 

[jamlid]

Thanks for the info everyone!

Well I'm a bit worried because when I put the roll back in and clicked it through about 10 exposures with the cap on to miss out the ones I'd already taken, I'm not sure what happened. I used it a bit tonight, took a couple of pictures and it said it was on 5! Despite it saying 10 earlier. So it was counting up from 5 now.. worried I've done double exposures now!

So I put the lens cap back on and jumped a few photos and been shooting with it from about 15. Probably going to end up with tons of blank photos, etc. but it's my first development so I can live!


Ahhh, the life of film..

 

[TheBigYin]

most cameras have a couple of frames worth of film to pull through before the counter even starts - according to the manual it just says repeat until counter hits 1...

When you get used to the camera, you can sometimes get photo's registered on the 0 frame of the 35mm roll. With smaller compact 35mm's I've even seen shots on the 00 frame!