On an SLR camera, can I change lenses in the middle of a roll?

Question

I took three rolls and only about a third of each came out at all. The rest are completely blank.

This is my first time using an SLR. Be nice.

Answer 1

Yes, you can change lenses at any point in a roll.

Look at your negatives from the rolls that didn't turn out. Are there dark spots that you can't see through? That indicates severe overexposure from light hitting the film. Maybe from Mirror lock-up, opening the back of the camera, exposure during processing, (the least likely scenario), or overexposure during the taking of the image. If the latter is the case, the frame will be very dark, but the edges will still be transparent. If the frame is dark from edge to edge, then you have a light leak of some sort.

Or are they transparent like the edges surrounding the pictures that turned out? That would mean the film was not exposed at all, or at least not enough to produce a printable image.

Is your camera manual? If so, maybe you are not using correct exposure settings. Or if automatic, maybe the camera is malfunctioning.

Go outside in bright daylight. Set your shutter for 1/250 and the F stop at f8. Shoot an entire roll at once, focusing on the same spot, and see if there is any variation from frame to frame.

Good luck!

Answer 2

On a film camera, which you have, you certainly can. There are two impediments to the light getting on the film surface. The mirror will do a bit, but the shutter is behind the mirror and nothing touches the film if the shutter is closed down.

To see what is happening, when your camera is empty and there is no lens in it, put the shutter speed on B, on 1 second, and open the back. Cock the camera and while looking through the back, you will see the shutter open. Do the same thing again, but look at it from the front. The the mirror will go up and and the shutter opens - you can see right through the camera.

The only problem you might have, and only a few cameras have this, is a mirro lock up. That is a setting done by something on the camera's outside surface, that locks the mirror in the up position. That exists on the cameras that have it, so that when you are taking an exposure and you don't want any wiggle at all in the camera, lock the mirror up. You have to focus first before you lock the mirror up, but the shutter is still closed, so there is no light going to the film.

The mirror lock up is for a variety of reasons. If you are doing a macro and are very close to a delicate subject, the movement of the mirror will possibly cause the picture to have some wiggle evidence. People who take pictures through telescopes also use it. Read the instructions to your camera and seeif it has a mirror lock. Four of mine do, one does not. But three of the cameras are the same brand and model, the other one is the same brand, but a different model.

Answer 3

Yes you can change the lenses on the middle of a roll; that's the idea with SLR cameras.

A black roll is not due to the film not advancing, a black film means that the film was over exposed (it got burned by light). A continuous black burn (no small frames) means is not the lens or the exposure metering. It means is the camera body (a leak), the film or at the development process.

I don't know what camera model you have. So check if the camera is "leaking" light or if the meter is measuring as it's supposed to do.

Also check if you got right the ISO setting (automatic cameras do it automatically but manuals do not). Check speed and if the lens is working properly, if the aperture inside the lens get stuck open, you'll get burned film frames.

Also check the film, if they were very very very expired or exposed to a direct heat source (rare but possible). Also try developing somewhere else, may be is the development not the camera or film.

And finally check how are you getting the film in and out of the camera; many new users do it the wrong way (older cameras are easier to spoil the films by improper film loading and removal).

Answer 4

As for changing the lense mid-roll. the answer is yes.

Now, on to the problem of you film not coming out. Maybe the mirror and shutter that would black the light from getting to your film while changing the lense is malfunctioning. Therefore when you change the lense, you wind up exposing the film.
What camera are you using?

I would also double check and make sure the film in advancing properly if it is an older camera.

Answer 5

Yes

Answer 6

Yes,

You can do. The mirror blocks the light path to film or sensor

Answer 7

yes, after all the shutter is closed.