Vent: Loading my first roll of film took me 45 minutes

I got my first camera, a Pentax K1000, and the film would not catch on the take-up spool. I kept pulling the leader out and trying again, thinking I was lining it up wrong. After about 30 tries, I finally saw a tiny metal hook inside the spool that I needed to slide the film under. I felt so silly for missing it. Has anyone else had a simple step that totally blocked them when starting out?

2 comments

2 Comments

gibson.sean9d ago

My uncle gave me his old Minolta when I was 15 and I ruined three rolls because the rewind knob wasn't engaged... I just kept shooting on the same piece of film. He looked at the camera and started laughing when he figured it out. That whole summer I thought I was just taking terrible, blurry pictures.

allen.drew9d ago

Man, that sounds exactly like my first time. I spent forever just staring into the back of the camera, completely lost. It’s one of those things that seems obvious once you know, but the instructions never really show it clearly. You’re definitely not alone in that struggle. Getting past that first weird hurdle makes the rest of it feel way more rewarding, idk.