I May Have Just Ruined 48 Sheets of Film

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Ian-Barber

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In the darkroom, I opened a new box of FomaPan 200 5x4 film.

I loaded 2 sheets into the dark slides and then placed the remaining 48 sheets (sandwiched between cardboard) into the black light proof bag.

Because the bags are larger than the film box, I folded one side over, as I was doing this, I saw a flash of light as my fingers moved along the bag :(

Now the big question is... Have I just ruined 48 sheets of film ?

I need to remove a sheet and see if its ruined, Is exposing a sheet in the camera the best way to do this?
 
Just process a blank sheet of film. Where did this flash of light come from ?

Ian
 
Ian Grant said:
Just process a blank sheet of film. Where did this flash of light come from ?

Ian
Click to expand...

The flash of light appeared to come from the outside of the black bag as I moved my fingers down it whilst folding it to make it fit back inside the film box
 
It does sound like static. It's happened to me, perhaps when the air was very dry, as it can be during sub-zero temperatures. Almost certainly your film will be safe. At most, the outer sheet will be affected and the rest will be protected by the stack. Undeveloped film is fairly opaque, (and so is cardboard) so the inner layers should be safe. And you say it was from the outside of the bag anyway.
Although the spark would have seemed bright, you will have been observing with dark-adapted eyes, so the actual brightness would be quite low, probably invisible in normal levels of lighting.
Sacrificing a sheet should reassure you. A spare piece of film is always handy for demonstrating to beginners how to load dark slides, how much bigger LF film is than digital sensors, or what the notches mean.
 
I've only seen this once in 40 years - it was last Autumn with a box I think of HP5 (or maybe Delta 100) and I had no issues. As David says once you've been in the dark a few minutes your eyes are very sensitive slow films (I class Fomapan 200 as slow). It may be from the clothes we are wearing rather than the film bag itself.

Ian
 
Ian, yep, it's definitely static electricity. During the dryer months of the year--at least, when I lived in areas of the US that had wet/dry times of year ;)--I tend to make slow, smooth movements when handling film and holders and/or loading roll film on to reels. This should help tremendously to mitigate any static charge. Btw, those plastic bags film comes in are really bad for generating a static charge! All that said, I doubt you've ruined even a single sheet of film. And, if you have I'd bet it's just the "top-o-stack" sheet. I've had this happen to me a few times over the years, but never ruined even a single sheet.
 
Thanks chaps for the reassurance. I was surprised to see it happen from the bag. Lessons learned to do as Alan says and make smooth movements.
 
I have heard of this problem when film was removed from the dark slide but I've forgotten the source. Presumably the air was very dry indeed with the photographer dressed head-to-toe in nylon, wearing rubber boots and making sudden movements. Apparently this did leave a lightning-flash mark on the image. It must be a very rare occurrence.
Ian (B): When it happened to me, it seemed to happen when I flexed bag. All very curious.
 
I've had it happen when removing the paper backing from roll film, too. For many years now, I slowly roll off the paper backing in one hand as I roll the film into the other. Then, I load the reel. Never have had any static charge using that method.
 
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