I only have one body - the Leica M6 TTL. I love both colour and black and white photography and I often feel the need to change a half exposed film from colour to black and white - but I feel reluntant to do this incase I ruin the exposure on the films.

I have just read in the National Geographic Photography Field Guide that is OK to do this and the authors recommend: 1. Noting down the number of exposure in the film you are about to remove. ... 2. When replacing it leave the lens cap on, use the fastest shutter speed and the smallest aperture available and click and wind to the exposure number one greater than you have exposed.

Do any of you guys practice this, can it ruin exposures, is there anything else to the proces

-- Matthew (mat@theeto.com), December 24, 2001

Answers

I've never had a problem in thirty years. Why not get a 12 exposure roll and just try it for yourself?

-- Glenn Travis (gmtravis3@home.com), December 24, 2001.

I've never had a problem in thirty years. Why not get a 12 exposure roll and just try it for yourself? I might add, that the biggest problem is learning to listen for the end tail of the film so that you don't either: 1. rewind into canister; 2. not rewind far enough, and ruin some exposures. Assuming you get through this, I then write the last exposure number one the film tail.

-- Glenn Travis (gmtravis3@home.com), December 24, 2001.

Matthew,

Yes, the procedure does indeed work. You may want to note the last exposure number on the leader of the partially exposed roll of film using an indelible marker. This is especially handy if you don't get back to the roll that you pulled right away.

Good luck.

-Nick

-- Nicholas Wybolt (nwybolt@earthlink.net), December 24, 2001.

This is fine for casual photography but, for anything important, always completely rewind your films regardless of the number of exposures used. If you are busy shooting, it is very easy to accidently reload that marked roll of film and ruin two sets of images. Pretty tough to have to explain how those once in a lifetime photos did not work out! Film is cheap and once in a lifetime only comes once in a lifetime!

-- John Collier (jbcollier@powersurfr.com), December 24, 2001.

The above methods should work fine, I 'miss' two exposures however, just in case!

Regarding going from b+w to colour and back again I have always found this difficult, each format for me requires a totally different way of 'seeing' which I have to tune into.

-- Giles Poilu (giles@monpoilu.icom43.net), December 24, 2001.

I also prefer to waste 2 exposures rather than one. I've never accidentally reloaded a used roll thinking it was a new one because the leader always has a little crimp in it--except on auto-loading cameras and all I've ever used except the R8 rewind the leader into the cassette. I always carry a leader retriever so it's not a problemm

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), December 24, 2001.

Matthew:

I successfully changed film 30 years ago with a Nikon F. I use the same principle today. I waste one extra shot each time I change film as a safeguard. I don't listen for the tail to come loose, I feel it. The crimp as mentioned above is an excellent way to tell if the film is a partial roll. As John states, messing up frames is a bad move, and he is a professional that can afford the film, however us amateurs cut a few corners now and then, and this is one that I cut. Enjoy the holidays. :)

-- Mark A. Johnson (logic@gci.net), December 24, 2001.

It's also helpful to use films with the same ISO speed. Saves one step in changing and eliminates one very probable source of error.

-- (bmitch@home.com), December 24, 2001.

I always start the film the same--with the shutter wound and the first sprocket hole on the top edge of the film engaged with the first sprocket tooth. Then when/if I pull the film, when I put it back in, I can start right where I left off.

-- Michael Darnton (mdarnton@hotmail.com), December 24, 2001.

Time to get a second body man, and you´re still in time to ask Santa.

-- r watson (al1231234@hotmail.com), December 24, 2001.

Get another body, or start using shorter lengths of film.

For me, witching mid-roll is something I will never do again. I've ruined 2 rolls (four different vacations) of absolutely once in a lifetime travel/vacation shots, mostly evening and night shots in fantastic light. It would cost me a fortune to travel to all those places again, and I will likely never catch the same light or occasions...

-- Mani Sitaraman (bindumani@pacific.net.sg), December 25, 2001.

Sorry, that should read "switching mid-roll is something I will never do again".

"witching mid-roll" is something you can ask Peter Hughes about ;-)

-- Mani Sitaraman (bindumani@pacific.net.sg), December 25, 2001.

I did manage to ruin some images on one roll, on vacation, by missing the reminder note I had put into the film canister, reminding me to advance the film beyond the exposures already made. Apart from that, I've never had a problem when switching rolls. I've even switched rolls from Nikon to Leica before. Or the other way around.

Do be certain the lens cap is on when advancing after reinserting the film! I always set to highest shutter speed and minimum f-stop as well, just to be sure.

If the roll is accidently rewound into the canister, all is not lost. There is actually a gizmo available for fishing the leader back out, by snagging a sprocket hole. In a pinch, I suppose a bent paper clip would work. But by rewinding slowly and being alert to sensing when the film releases from the takeup, this shouldn't be a problem.

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), December 25, 2001.

If you switch films mid-roll, it probably means you're not shooting enough! Shoot more, switch less, and don't waste frames (which could be risky).

-- Tony Rowlett (rowlett@mail.com), December 25, 2001.

I've switched rolls midway through quite often. I always write the frame number and exposure index on the leader when I do so I'll know where and how to start using it again.

Only once have I double exposed frames doing this. I had just finished reloading the film when the friend I was waiting to meet arrived. Because she was a distractingly attractive friend, I forget to advance the film to the proper frame and later started taking photos over the half dozen exposure that were already on the roll. Oddly enough, the frames lined up perfectly, and some of the double-exposed shots were rather interesting.

-- Mike Dixon (mike@mikedixonphotography.com), December 25, 2001.

I switch rolls regularly and I write the numbers of exposed frames on the canister. Just be careful, as someone above mentioned, not to rewind the film completely back into the canister. It can be a little difficult to switch film between different cameras because the taking spools at some cameras turn the film the other way round. In this case you must bend the film start back into neutral position.

-- Thomas Haller (thomas.haller@web.de), December 26, 2001.

I would say it is 10 times more difficult to load unfinished films from other camera (Lieca or not) into a Leica camera, an M6 in my case. Film will be jamed easily. Just be careful. Try to avoid it if possible.

-- kenny chiu (amchiu@wordnet.att.net), December 26, 2001.

Thanks guys. I guess the ideal is to get a second body - may be one day. The next best option is to take more exposures so that I do not need to switch film too often. But if I have to switch most of the problems are human errors so as long as I pay a lot of attention to what I am doing I should be fine. I am going to practice this week before I face any one in a lifetime situations. Th

-- Matthew (mat@theeto.com), December 27, 2001.