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Dropped a roll of Ektar in a creek in Portland and saved 22 of 24 frames with one weird trick
So last Saturday I was hiking up near Forest Park in Portland with my Pentax K1000 and a fresh roll of Ektar 100, and I slipped on a wet rock while crossing this little creek. The camera went in, totally submerged for maybe two seconds, and I just stood there staring at it like an idiot. I popped the back open right away (bad move, I know) and saw the film was wet but not soaked through, so I ran to my car, took the roll out in the dark, and stuck it in a ziplock bag with a couple silica packets I had in the glove box. Got home, called the lab on Monday, and the guy told me to just let it air dry in the bag for 4 days before dropping it off. Picked up the scans yesterday and 22 frames came out fine, only the first two were a total loss. The colors are a little hazy on a few but honestly kind of cool. Has anyone else dunked a camera and had the film survive, or did I just get lucky?
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victor_butler502d ago
The silica packets probably did more than you realize. Portland humidity is no joke and those little things pull moisture out of the air inside the bag, so once the film started drying it wasn't fighting the wet air around it anymore. What really worked in your favor was taking it out in the dark and not trying to wipe the emulsion, because that stuff scratches if you even look at it wrong when it's wet. The hazy look on some frames might just be mineral deposits from the creek water drying on the surface, so I would not try to clean them now that they are scanned.
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