There was one shot left on my 24 exp. roll when I accidentally dropped my camera in the river. After fishing it out of the river, tried to take the last shot so it would rewind and I could remove the film, but it wouldn’t work. I removed the two AA batteries, but film is still in it. So, is there any point in paying to have the film developed, and will my camera work after it dries out? (In case it matters, it’s a Nikon One-Touch 200.)
Yes, I would (take it to somewhere that they can open the camera in a darkroom and retrieve the film; the film should be OK.
KEEP THE FILM WET!
As long as it is wet, it won’t stick to itself. Put it in a baggie with distilled water and get it to a photo developer ASAP. It should be OK, though you could get some distortion if you dropped in a river with a high mineral/chemical content.
Shots from a camera that fell in the river:
http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/4444/244920.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/4444/244921.jpg
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If you have a light tight bag or room, get the film back into the can with as clean water as you can find (otherwise the emulsion may stick the film into a lump).
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Entirely dismantle your camera and dry it thoroughly. Corrosion and electronics don’t mix.
( If Muffin’s links don’t work directly, try copying and pasting them into a new browser window. )
Who knows - maybe your camera will end up like this guy’s: http://www.ljworld.com/section/arts/story/85743
It wouldn’t rewind; I should just pull it out as it is and put it in water? Don’t think I have distilled. It’s Sunday evening - nothing’s open.
I just know I’m screwed. :mad:
Yikes, don’t just pull the film out if it won’t rewind. It will definitely be destroyed if light hits it.
I don’t know what’s “right” but since it’s Sunday night with everything closed, I would just put the whole darn mess in a Ziploc bag (to reduce evaporation) and take my chances on rescuing the film tomorrow.
…unless the camera is worth more to you than the pictures. In that case, I’d disassemble it and dry the camera asap.
Major bummer.
Unless you are used to working in absolute darkness, you’d best wait and have a technician manually unload your film for you.
As far as water damage to the camera goes, what’s done is done, so waiting another day before drying it will probably not make any difference.
Yes it would, film would dry & stick to itself. I would just take it to a camera store & explain
to them what happened, Im sure they have heard it before plenty of times.
I put it in a baggie last night and got to a place today; the camera may be a lost cause. They weren’t sure about the pix but they’ll try – I’ll know Thursday. I really really want the pix to come out, but they weren’t of a momentous occasion, so I’m not going to lose sleep over it.
Thanks everyone.
That link shows some really cool pictures! I want a camera that does that! 