Found out I was loading my film backwards for two years

I've been shooting medium format for a while now, mostly with my old Yashica Mat. Last week I was at a camera shop in Portland getting a roll developed, and the guy behind the counter asked if I knew the film was going in backwards. I laughed it off at first, but then he showed me the backing paper marks on my negatives. Turns out I had been loading the spool so the emulsion faced the wrong way for like 50 rolls. All those muddy, soft shots I thought were just 'character' or bad lens haze were actually me shooting through the paper backing. My portraits always had this weird foggy look, and I blamed the old lens. The guy said he sees it all the time, but I felt like a total clown. Has anyone else had a long running dumb habit like this they only caught because a stranger called them out?

2 comments

2 Comments

sage_perry5d ago

Swap the spool to load emulsion side in. Problem solved.

noahcampbell5d ago

...so yeah I did basically the same thing with my Mamiya C330 for about a year and a half. I was getting these weird halos around highlights and just figured my old lens had some kind of coating failure. Took it to a local shop in Austin and the owner just flipped the spool around right there in front of me. Felt like a fool, but now I always double check the backing paper orientation before I close the back. A quick tip is to run your finger across the exposed leader part before you load it. The emulsion side feels a little tacky while the other side is smooth. Saved me from doing it again on a trip to Big Bend last year.