My whole roll came back blank and I finally figured out why

I shot a whole roll of Portra 400 at a friend's wedding in Chicago, got the scans back, and everything was clear. I thought the lab messed up. Then I loaded a new roll into my Canon AE-1 and heard a weird click when I closed the back. Turns out I wasn't pushing the film leader far enough into the take-up spool, so it never caught. The tip-off was that the rewind knob never turned when I advanced the lever. Has anyone else had this happen with this camera?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_fiona1mo ago

That Canon AE-1 take-up spool is a classic trap. I actually load mine differently than the manual says. I hook the leader and then give the rewind knob a little turn to take up slack before I close the back. It makes a quiet click you can feel. If you just close it, the film can pop off that little hook too easy. I've shot hundreds of rolls this way and never had a blank roll.

camerona791mo ago

Sounds like @the_fiona just got lucky for hundreds of rolls.