Miscellany of Beginner's Blunders

Switching between my Hexar AF and my Leica, I usually bring the Leica up to my eye, frame the shot, and take the picture without focussing for one or two shots. Last time I sold a camera here, I decided that I could list it before I finished the last roll. I took some shots of the camera with my digicam and decided that I should open it up and take a shot of the inside. Surprise, surprise.
 
Abbazz said:
At that time I realized that the cap was still on the lens :bang: Of course I managed to shoot a few more rolls, but the magic light was gone.

From that day, I never used a lens cap on any of my RF cameras.
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My IIIf (like the IIIc before it) has small pinholes in the shutter that ruin the frame if I leave the lens cap off. This isn't a problem for me really because I'm now used to the practice of focusing, composing, removing the lenscap, shooting and putting the cap right back on, but at the festival yesterday while focusing on the crowds people kept trying to be helpful telling me "Your lenscap is on!" everytime I'd try to make an exposure!
:)

Fresh out of photoschool in the Army, for my very first photo assignment, I was tasked to load the 4X5 film for the portraits of the entire Battalion in formation. (Yes, 4X5 this was a few years ago.) Several hundred man-hours later when we got back to the shop to process the exposures, we realised that I had loaded every single sheet backwards so every expopsure was shot through the emulsion. We salvaged the job, but it was far from the best work possible. Took me a while at that post to make up for that initial impression. :rolleyes:
 
Taqi said:
Done the lens cap thing also...
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The thing I dislike when I do that, if your camera has apeture priority, the shutter will be open for second or two.
Every time that has happened I think that there is something wrong with the camera!
:mad: :D
Brian
 
I shot a whole roll yesterday and only realised when I started to rewind it that there was no film in the camera :)

I'm in the habit of leaving a bit of torn up film box in the hotshoe to tell me what film is in the camera, and removing it when the camera's empty. I obviously forgot to remove it this time....

Ian
 
iml said:
I shot a whole roll yesterday and only realised when I started to rewind it that there was no film in the camera :)

I'm in the habit of leaving a bit of torn up film box in the hotshoe to tell me what film is in the camera, and removing it when the camera's empty. I obviously forgot to remove it this time....

Ian
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Believe me, Ian, we've ALL been there on that one. Ever since doing that myself, I try to watch the rewind knob to make sure that a) there's actually film in the camera and b) the film that is in there is actually advancing. Gee, I guess that reveals one of the many other mistakes I've made (i.e., not getting the film loaded properly so it never advances and so I'm still shooting up to frame number 43!).

-Randy

P.S. As for the mistake of leaving the lens cap on, gee, I didn't think one could oneself a rangefinder camera shooter if you hadn't made that mistake at least a couple of times!
 
Ha, me too, Ian! Just last week I set out to take some shots of construction down the street, and after a few shots I got suspicious about how easy the film wind was.... Checked the rewind and verified no film in the camera! Duh... went back home and put some film in.

Then maybe hard to believe, the stupidity arose at the end of the roll too, as I popped the back when home in my office... without rewinding first!
 
I shot some star trails on slide film with my TLR once. Putting the camera away I realized the orange filter I'd been using for B+W's earlier in the day was still on the taking lens.
I frequently lose track of whether the film has been advanced, the shutter cocked, both, or neither on the one camera I have with separate controls for both. I've only double exposed a single frame with it, but wasted far more...
Opened the back on a 35mm camera without rewinding first, happened only once so far. Just lucky I guess.
Took pictures of the back of lenscap with Bessa L one too many times, then put a stripe of hideous yellow paint on the cap where it can be seen through the viewfinder. Problem solved.
What will be next?
 
How about managing to misload a Leica Standard, wander round Malta with it, then wonder (and panic) when the counter hits 27... for a 24 shot film?

Thankfully, the 350D didn't do that. I also managed to get 18 shots from the film, so all was not lost. :)
 
Let's see, uh ...

Never had the lens cap problem. However ...

1. Changing film and forgetting to reset the ISO/ASA. :(

2. Forgetting to focus. (Maybe too many beverages?) :)

3. Forgetting to wind. (See avatar as of Jun. 4)

4. Worst blunder in recent times ... running late and forgetting the camera! (Took the film, forgot the camera, yeah, go figure!)
 
dmr said:
Let's see, uh ...

4. Worst blunder in recent times ... running late and forgetting the camera! (Took the film, forgot the camera, yeah, go figure!)
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Interesting :D,.
Btw, last sunday I did the opposite...took the camera with a few frames to shot but I forgot the film .... just like having the cigarettes and no lighter for miles :bang: :bang: :bang:
 
I've done the whole forgetting to check for winding, only to find it never loaded thing. Not fun. :(

My first time shooting any sort of good B/W film, I took it to a one hour photo place, not knowing to tell them it was 'professional process.' They ran it through the C41 machine. I got a call telling me it was ruined. This wouldn't have been as bad if the shots were reproducable, but some were portraits of my favorite teacher who had come to visit us after she retired.
 
Welsh_Italian said:
Or when using an auto-exposure camera like the Olympus XA in poor light.

Remember Al, you don't pull away until the second click! :bang:
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This is btw, one of the ways to create pretty but abstract dancing lights especially when done near a colorfully-lit toll-booth or city strip.

:cool:
 
There's very few I haven't been guilty of, starting with my very-first-ever roll of film through my then M4-2 which I didn't load properly resulting in a roll full of blanks.

Since then I've left lens caps on, forgot to meter, forgot to focus, gotten ISOs confused, loaded film improperly, grossly over & under exposed, forgot to reset the M2's frame counter, selected the wrong frameline or forgot to change framelines on the R2A and just generally ended up with poor photos for want of concentration.

Luckily the only mistakes I seem to make nowadays are poor composition or choice of subject. :D
 
I did this last weekend...I used the 50mm framelines to compose & shot a whole roll of 36 exposures. Problem was, I had a 75mm lens on the camera.... I am expecting lots of cut off heads...
 
Ha, Dan I did send photos to the seller of my Canon ELPH Jr from the half-shot roll he left in it! Haven't done that myself; my trick is just don't sell any cameras... :)
 
dostacos said:
sell your Bessa R on RFF and have the new owner ask if you want your half shot roll of film back:eek: :eek: :eek:
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Or leave an exposed roll in the center console of your car and discover it three years later. :(
 
Something i remember from my childhood, that makes me religiously look to see the rewind crank turning.:rolleyes:

My family and I were on holiday in Scotland many years ago, went on a daytrip to the tiny island of Iona. We had glorious weather(very unusual), and a wonderful day made even better when we saw Harry Secombe:angel: filming "Highway." My dad took the pics. He also took snaps of Gordon Jackson:angel: after he'd stepped out of a burgundy helicopter, with his arm around me and my mum. He wouldn't let my dad take any until he'd finished signing his autograph on a post card.:cool: I also remember giving the guy a big hug....I watched "The Professionals" when i was a kid.

Two weeks later, when the photos came back from processing, the negs were fine, except for the Iona trip. They were completely blank.:bang:
 
St.Ephen said:
Something i remember from my childhood, that makes me religiously look to see the rewind crank turning.:rolleyes:
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I do this instinctively now. Back when I had my first 35mm I would always try to get that 38th frame (or 22nd., not to show my real age) and I had cases where the film either didn't fit right in the sprockets and wouldn't advance, or worse, get all jammed up on the take-up spool after a few frames. :( I'm always paranoid about a mis-loaded roll.

OBTW, that Canon QL mechanism has me spoiled! :)
 
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