Point and shoot camera decided to rewind the film mid-roll

While I was out shooting with my Yashica T4 recently, it decided to just rewind after I’d only taken about 16 shots of the 36-exposure film. I had used the camera successfully before but I wasn’t sure if the camera had some problem.

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My best guess was that the creased end of the film leader meant it was fatter on the take-up spool. I would imagine the camera has some sort of resistance sensor in the motor to decide when it can’t pull any more film out of the canister. This may have triggered if the rolled up exposed film filled the take-up space and caused the resistance.

There are all sorts of reasons it might happen in a camera, but this seems the most likely explanation here. All was not lost – I have the film reloaded and advanced to the similar position so I can finish the roll. Note that if you’ve lost the film leader into the canister, then a retrieval tool can help you get it back.

If you reload into a point and shoot where you can’t use a lens cap to block out all light, then you need a darkroom or a changing bag. Make sure to fully test the camera controls before loading the film back into it; the last thing you want is the flash firing inside the changing bag over the existing frames (you won’t even see the flash going off!)

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