my film came out so wrong! what could have happened?help!?

Question

For the first time when using a 35mm camera, i finished a film and went to develop it at Target. When i went to pick it up, the film had absolutely nothing on it! I know i placed the film right in the camera and i heard it rewind at the last shot! Im so mad!

what could have gone wrong? Is it possible that maybe they stealed the pictures i took and put in an empty film. they didn't charge me or anything but what could have happened?!?!?

Thanks so much. Maybe i did make a mistake(im guessing i aprob did, but i dont know how). I actually own a digital camera but this camera was for photography class. I was so excited to see the pictures i "took". :[
im sad sad sad.

In my photography class they didn't talk much about the ISO settings. what is it?

The film was transparent when the guy showed it to me, it was blue-ish but i know i didn't expose it.

omg! then that must have happened! yes it was a kodak tri-x b&w film. oh man! that sucks! why dont they warn people not to do this?!?! Yes i develop my own film in the school blackroom, i didn't know it couldn't be done at a one hour lab! Man, its my fault, but they should get more experienced people to work at these "photo labs"

Answer 1

Hmmmmmmmmmm...
You say the film was blueish?????
Normally, un or under exposed color negative film will be orange or brownish when developed. Is it possible you used b&w film or even slide film instead? (Although slide film developed in C-41 chemistry will have images on it, they will be contrasty and have unusual colors, some people do this on purpose, it is called cross-processing.)

Real b&w film will come out transparent and blueish if processed in C-41. Are you going to be developing your own film in class? What kind of film did you use, might it have been TriX or PanX?

The only times I have seen color negative film turn out blue was either light contamination, or old film. But then it is not very transparent. I'll bet you used b&w film, which cannot be processed at the one hour lab.

Answer 2

When you say, "had absolutely nothing on it" does that mean the film was not exposed at all or exposed to black?

What do the negatives look like? Black or transparent?

If they're transparent, the film wasn't exposed at all. The film might not have been loaded properly or there could be a problem with camera. You're sure the lens cap was off? Ha ha ha!

If the negatives are dark, the film was over exposed. Look carefully. Are there ANY images visible at all? If so, you may have exposed the film incorrectly - perhaps from setting the ISO different from what the film was intended. Doing this doesn't immediately result in ruined film - you simply have to tell a good photo lab (not a department store lab - a REAL camera store lab) what you did and they can adjust the processing. (It's too late for the film you have, however.)

If the film is utterly black with no images visible, it's likely the film was exposed to light before getting processed. Could be a problem with your camera or could have been a bad film canister that let in light to spoil the film.

--
http://www.lenslenders.com

Answer 3

Just because the camera automatically rewound the film at the end doesn't mean the film was loaded properly. Many cameras will automatically rewind at a certain frame number. You may also had the camera at the wrong ISO setting so the film was very underexposed - nothing worthwhile to print. Did the lab give you back the negatives? One way to tell if the lab screwed up is to check out the negatives. If the negatives are completely blank - I mean even the frame numbers and "Kodak" or "Fuji" labels are missing, then the lab didn't develop the film properly. Those labels on the negatives are actually exposures in themselves that get developed when they go through the film processor/developer.

After working in a photolab for 10 years through high school, college, and grad school, the vast majority of blank negatives were due to camera user error. Developing of negatives is so automated that it's relatively hard to screw that part up. The printing of the pictures is where most errors occur.

It's time to go digital.

Answer 4

I'm guessing that the lab at Target is a C41 lab. That is they only process film marked C41.
There are two sorts of black and white films. One is a film that can be processed in a C41 lab. The other film has to be processed in different chemicals. If you process pure black and white film in a C41 lab, it comes out blank.
It's possible that this is what happened to your film.