Took me 4 hours to figure out I was loading film backwards

I got a new to me Canon AE-1 Program last month and could not figure out why my first two rolls came back completely blank. I thought something was broken with the camera. I spent like 3 hours online reading forums and watching videos about shutter issues and light leaks. Then I finally realized I was putting the film cartridge in with the spool knob facing the wrong way so the film never actually advanced. It took me a whole Saturday afternoon and I wasted two rolls of Portra 400 just to learn to look at the little arrow on the film canister. Has anyone else done something this dumb with a new camera or am I the only one?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_barbara23d ago

Oh man, you are definitely not alone. I did almost the exact same thing with my first SLR, except I got a whole roll of film that was just light leaks from not realizing the rewind knob wasn't catching. It's one of those things that makes you feel super dumb after you figure it out but honestly it's a rite of passage. Next time just double check that the rewind crank turns when you advance the film, that's my quick test now. Did you save those blank rolls or toss them?

river_adams2517d agoProlific Poster

Wait, you actually kept the blank rolls? That's wild to me. I tossed mine without a second thought because I was so mad at myself I didn't even want to look at them. I still have the empty canisters though, mostly because I forget to recycle them until they pile up in a drawer. Do you ever open them up and check if there's anything salvageable, or are they just sitting there as a reminder of the lesson?