Loading film

Loading is the one step where a mistake can cost you the whole roll. Film that never catches the take-up spool records nothing, and a back opened at the wrong moment fogs every frame already exposed. Both are easy to avoid once you know what to check.

This guide covers 35mm and 120 film.

Cameras vary, so check the manual for your model. Most are free online: search for the camera's name and "manual". The principles below apply to nearly all of them.

Before you load

• Find shade. Film is light-sensitive from the moment it leaves the wrapper. Load with your back to the sun, or in the shadow of your own body if there is nowhere better.
• Check the camera is empty. Before opening the back of a 35mm camera, turn the rewind crank gently. If it moves freely there is no film inside; if it resists, a loaded roll is still in there. On a 120 camera, check the frame counter or red window instead. If the last frame has been shot, keep winding. The advance turns freely until all the film and backing paper is on the take-up spool.
• Work quickly but calmly. The few seconds the back is open are not enough to harm a fresh roll in subdued light.

Opening the back mid-roll destroys every frame

If you are unsure whether a roll is finished, rewind it and start again rather than opening the back to look.

Loading 35mm film

A 35mm roll comes in a metal canister, and the camera pulls film out of it a frame at a time.

How a 35mm camera holds film

A 35mm roll sits in a light-tight metal canister on one side of the camera. The leader is the shaped tongue of film protruding from the canister. You draw it across the back of the camera to the take-up spool on the other side. As you advance, film is pulled out of the canister, exposed one frame at a time, and wound onto the spool.

Teeth called sprockets sit between the two and engage the film perforations along the film's edges. These meter the distance travelled, so each advance moves exactly one frame. If the perforations are not seated on the sprockets, the film will not move even though the advance lever still works.

Point-and-shoot cameras

These are the easiest to load:

1. Open the camera back
2. Insert the film canister into the film chamber
3. Pull the film leader across to the mark indicated inside the camera
4. Check the perforations sit over the sprocket teeth
5. Close the back

Most models then wind the roll on automatically, either immediately or when the shutter is first pressed. Some advance with a thumb wheel or lever instead.

SLR and manual cameras

A single-lens reflex (SLR) camera needs more care, because nothing checks your work for you.

The shutter curtain is delicate and costly to repair

Never place fingers or the film leader against the shutter curtain while loading.

Catch the leader on the take-up spool first, while the canister is still out of the camera:

1. Open the camera back
2. Take the new roll out of its tub, but leave it out of the camera for now
3. Insert the film leader into the slot on the take-up spool
4. Wind the advance lever once so the spool grips the leader, holding the canister as the film pulls out
5. Lift the rewind knob, drop the canister into its chamber, then push the knob back down to hold it
6. Turn the rewind crank in the direction of its arrow until the film goes tight
7. Check the film perforations have caught the sprockets on both edges of the film
8. Close the back
9. Fire and advance two or three blank frames to move past the section exposed to light while loading

Most camera manuals give the other order, with the canister seated first and the leader drawn across afterwards. Both work. This one is easier to learn. Threading the leader into the spool slot is the fiddly part, and a loose canister leaves you both hands to do it with.

Confirming the film is advancing

This is the check worth forming a habit around, and it takes a second.

After closing the back, watch the rewind crank as you advance. If the film is properly engaged, the crank rotates as the film is advanced. If it stays still, the film is not moving. Open the camera in shade and re-thread it.

The frame counter is not a substitute. It counts advances of the lever, not travel of the film, so it climbs happily on an empty camera.

Loading 120 film

120 film is wider than 35mm and loads from one open spool to another, so the steps are different.

How 120 film differs

120 film has no canister and no perforations. Instead, the film is taped to a length of opaque backing paper, and the two are wound together onto an open spool. The paper is what makes the roll light-tight, and it is longer than the film so that it can protect it at both ends.

This has three practical consequences:

• The film runs spool to spool. The empty spool from your previous roll becomes the take-up spool for the next one, so keep it.
• There are no sprockets. The camera measures frames by how much paper has passed, not by perforations.
• The roll must stay tight. A loosely wound roll lets light creep in at the edges.

Loading a 120 camera

1. Open the film back or remove it from the camera, depending on the model
2. Move the empty spool from the previous roll to the take-up side
3. Break the seal on the new roll and place it on the supply side, feeding the way the diagram inside the film chamber shows. Cameras differ, so check the manual if there is no diagram
4. Draw the backing paper across the film gate to the take-up spool
5. Thread the tapered end of the paper into the slot on the spool
6. Wind on two or three turns until the paper is running straight and held under tension

Keep a thumb lightly on the supply spool as you wind those first turns. The slight drag keeps the roll tight, and a tight roll is the best guard against edge fogging.

Winding to the first frame

How you reach frame 1 depends on the camera's age:

• Cameras with an auto-stop: wind until the arrow or start marker printed on the backing paper lines up with the indicator inside the camera. Close the back and wind on. The camera stops itself at frame 1, and at each frame after it.
• Cameras with a red window: close the back and wind while watching the numbers on the backing paper pass the small red window. Stop at 1, then advance to each later number the same way. Keep the window covered between frames if it has a shutter, and avoid winding in direct sun.

Once the last frame is exposed, the roll is wound off and sealed rather than rewound. See completing your first roll.

Setting the film speed

Loading a new roll is the moment to set the camera's film speed. A dial left on the previous roll's setting is one of the most common causes of a badly exposed film.

Cameras with DX coding read the speed from the chequered pattern printed on the 35mm canister, and need nothing from you. Everything else has to be set by hand. That includes every medium format camera with a meter, as 120 film carries no DX coding at all.

Exposing a scene covers where to find the setting on each type of camera.

Troubleshooting

• The rewind crank does not turn as you advance: the 35mm leader never caught the take-up spool. Open the camera in shade and re-thread it. You lose only the first frames.
• The advance lever moves with no resistance at all: the film is not engaged, or the roll has finished. Try the rewind crank test before you open the back.
• The film advances but the counter never moves: closing the back did not trip the counter reset. Close the back fully. On some models the counter resets only then.
• 120 paper runs off to one side as you wind: the roll is threaded loosely or unevenly. Rewind onto the supply spool and re-thread, keeping tension.
• A fogged strip runs along one edge of the developed film: the 120 roll was loose, or the light seals on a 35mm camera have perished. Wind more tightly, and replace the camera's light seals.

With film loaded and the speed set, you're ready to start taking photographs.