Is it possible to remove (& then reload) a roll of partially exposed film?? If so, how??

-- Steve Hines (shines@unitedsugars.com), December 20, 2001

Answers

That depends on your camera. With the EOS 3 and Elan 7/7E, you can set the appropriate custom function and the camera will leave the film leader out when the film is rewound. If you remember the number of you last frame used (write it on the canister), you can simply reload the film later and fire off the appropriate number of frames with the lens cap on and in a low light invironment (I hold mine inside my jacket or inside the camera bag), then finish the roll. I do this with my 3 and 7E - it is easy and consistant. Both cameras use an infrared sensor to advance the film to the right spot, ensuring accuracy of frame placement when you reload your film.

I'm pretty sure the Rebel will not do this. I don't know about the other models.

A few months ago, someone suggested in this forum that you can just pop open the camera back right before the film is completly rewound by listening for the sound of the end of the film scraping across the shutter area inside the camera. Good luck with that.

-- Derrick Morin (dmorin@oasisol.com), December 20, 2001.

It is better to rewind a fully exposed roll completely so that you will not use it again accidentally.

Canon EOS bodies allow you to perform a mid row rewind via a button. If not customised( EOS 30 above allows this function ), the film leader will be fully rewinded into the canister.

Konica and some other brands also offer a film leader extractor at around $18. I've used the Konica frequently and I'm pretty happy with its ease of use.

Once the leader is extracted, load your film into the camera,wind your roll to where you've stopped previously, and advance 1 frame from the last picture you've taken to prevent overlapping exposures.

-- Jason Poh (Jasonpgc@yahoo.com), December 20, 2001.

i have found that with the elan iie and other cameras of its nature that it uses an infrared light that counts the little holes in the film. this means that as long as you load the film such that the first hole is behind the light that you do not have to advance one frame because the counting mechanism is so precise.

-- Jeff Nakayama (moonduck22@hotmail.com), December 21, 2001.

Jeff is right. I have not been able to discern my stoping and starting points by viewing the processed negs. The IR sensor works every time.

-- Derrick Morin (dmorin@oasisol.com), December 21, 2001.

My camera is a Rebel G. Does this change your advice in any way?

-- Steve Hines (shines@unitedsugars.com), December 21, 2001.

The Rebel G doesn't have any custom functions to set, so rewinding with the leader out is not an option. But you can hear the sound difference as the film leader snaps off the take up spool & starts to wind across the shutter area. If you quickly open the camera back as you hear this snap, your leader will still be left out. You may want to practice this a few times with a wasted film roll. The Rebel's not very fast so this isn't all that hard.

If you miss and pop the back open too early you will loose some pictures. If you open too late the leader will be wound into the film canister. If that happens you need to use a leader retriever. They're cheap & small, so you ought to get one anyway.

Then write on the canister how many frames the frame counter said. You did check this first, didn't you? :~)

The Rebel G (and all other Rebels) pre-winds the film when you first load it into the camera and then "re-winds" the film back into the canister one frame at a time as you take pictures. This makes the counting backwards from the frame numbers on the film edge, but that really doesn't change anything as far as reusing a partial roll.

When you re-load it, the camera will pre-wind the film to the end. Then, with the lens cap on, you set the exposure mode and focus to manual, set a high shutter speed, take as many blank pictures as you need to get to where you left off and one more to make sure you will not overlap the previous frame. As far as I know the Rebel G does not have an IR frame counter so you need to add this extra frame. If someone knows otherwise, they can correct me.

That will get you back to where you left off. This method works for just about any 35mm camera made with a film rewind button, but some are easier than others to hear the leader being snapped off the take up spool.

-- Jim Strutz (j.strutz@gci.net), December 21, 2001.