My film is printed upside down!

[Celia Daniels]

Hi!

I just got four rolls of Kodak Tri-x B/W film back from the lab that I'm working on for an art piece.

 

I thought it was a bit strange, cause they were wound on the reels emulsion side out, so I wound then the right way with the glossy side out and processed to view them in the projector. To my bafflement the footage was upside down. First I thought I'd just wound the film the wrong way around, so I tried to re-wind it to no avail. I then took out a roll of film I shot a year ago with the same camera (Ektachrome 100D) and I then realized that these new rolls are indeed shot upside down. When looking at the old film the sprocket holes are on the right hand side when holding it the right way up (ground at botton, sky at top) but doing this with the B/W films the sprocket holes are on the left!!

 

The only way to project the film is is to wind it on a reel inside-out and project it inside out. It's the same issue with all four rolls. Like I said I used the same camera and since the film comes in a cassette I didn't have any influence over treading etc and just stuck it in, so Ive only loaded it and started shooting. So here's to my question(s):

 

* Did this ever happen to you?

* Can it be that Kodak made a mistake in the manufacturing process and wound the film on the wrong way?

* Is it possible that the camera could expose the film upside down? (It's a Minolta XL 401). I hadn't used it for a year, but the last time when I shot the Ektachrome it worked perfectly.

* What will I do now??

* If I start editing, should I edit and wind my film emulsion side out and just project it that way?

* Is it still possible to transfer the film to digital (using frame-by frame technique) despite this fault?

[Simon Wyss]

Camera upside-down, action backwards

[Dirk DeJonghe]

A film can be wound onto a spool 4 ways: emulsion IN/OUT, head out/tail out. I think you have not yet found the right combination. Back to the rewinds.

[Mark Dunn]

 

 

I thought it was a bit strange, cause they were wound on the reels emulsion side out,

A camera original should be emulsion out, just as it went through the camera.

Rewind it.

[John Woods]

A camera original should be emulsion out, just as it went through the camera.

Rewind it.

 

Exactly. Camera stock is B-wind (emulsion out) so with reversal film you project the original camera stock as B-wind. Now if you had a print struck you would get it as A-wind (emulsion in) because you go emulsion to emulsion in a contact printer.

 

As for the OP's other questions. You can pretty much manipulate the image anyway you want if you had a digital transfer made.

 

If you want a film print for your art show you could use an optical printer to get the film blown up to 16mm. And depending on how you load the film and the capabilities of the model of printer you use, you can flip, flop and rotate the film image. If you are editing your original film you may want to get it blown up to 16mm for presentation/preservation reasons if you think your work might have a life outside of the particular show you are doing it for.