how to completely fail (and then succeed) at loading 127 film

Following my last post, I thought it'd be appropriate to record my first attempts at loading 127 film into my new/old Kodak Brownie 127. 35mm, not a problem - but this 127 looked like it was gonna be tricky.

I'd managed to get hold of two rolls of Efke R100 from retrophotographic.com, and they'd set me back £5 or so each. Youch. It'd be worth it, I reassured myself.


Even the outside of the film didn't look easy. I was going to need some help. Enter the ever-wonderful FrugalPhotographer.com, and their downloadble PDF guide to getting this dastardly roll into your retro 127-takin' camera.


I also reached for my new-found-best-friend, my roll of black electrical tape. I knew I was going to need this once the film was loaded, to cover up the little red hole where the film numbers pop into view on the back of the camera, but it turned out I was going to need it sooner than that...


Snipping through the sticker that held the protective paper casing (or so I thought) around the film, I also happpily snipped through the VITAL PIECE OF FILM that fed into the take-up spool. Cue electrical tape. Also, there was no protective paper casing as the PDF guide had suggested, which flummoxed me a bit. (post-finishing edit: Ha! I thought I was flummoxed then?)


The film roll had a notch in it where it clipped into the advance wheel on the top of the camera. Or, again, so I thought. Turns out my camera actually had an empty roll in the place where the film's meant to sit, and no take-up spool - this actually makes sense, as when shooting 127 finished film is left on the take-up spool and removed from the camera without winding back to the first roll as with 35mm - but I didn't know that at the time. So, I happily loaded my film into the wrong side of the camera, connected it to, again, the wrong side of the camera, and sat back to admire my handiwork...


Hmm. Why was it upside down? And why, when I turned the film advance wheel, did the film not go anywhere, and simply start to pile up (and look worryingly loose around the spindle)...oh...

...And, the big, backwards-shaped penny dropped. It looked wrong because I'd loaded the film backwards, that's why. Sigh. This gaping maw in the centre of the picture is where the film should be. Yes, I'm a prize doofus.


And then, to add insult to injury, in the process of reloading it correctly this happened - the PDF was littered with warnings about "hold onto the springy film" and "DO NOT let go of the film", which of course I ignored - and then the film sprang out of my grasp and light flooded in between the rolls of paper. SIGH.

Having resigned myself to ruining this roll (that's £5 down the drain) I decided to go ahead and load it properly anyway, to make sure I was doing something right.


That's better! Starting to look like the camera in the PDF now...


...plus the advance wheel actually advances the film. And for my final trick – the little red window, complete with electrical tape and shot number. (I thought I'd use the flash through the red window, just to make properly sure the film was ruined)


Now all that remains is to pretend to take several pictures, get to the end, get the film out of the camera, load the damn thing properly and start taking pictures for real. To be continued...