Dropped my roll of Portra 400 in the mud at a creek in Vermont

I was down by the Winooski River last fall trying to get a shot of the leaves reflecting in the water. I went to swap rolls and my fingers slipped, dropping the fresh roll right into a puddle of brown mud. Fished it out and wiped it down with my shirt, but I knew some grit was stuck inside the canister. Loaded it anyway and shot the rest of the day, figuring I'd lose half the frames. When I got the scans back, about 12 of the 36 shots had these gnarly dust specs and scratched lines across them. Has anyone else tried saving a muddy roll like that, or did I just waste $12 on processing?

2 comments

2 Comments

robert27517d ago

Lost like 15 shots from a roll I dropped in sand at the beach once. Honestly those scratched frames can look kinda cool if you lean into it. Gives them this gritty vintage vibe that makes people think you did it on purpose. So yeah you probably wasted some cash but you might get a few keepers.

rubyj1117d ago

Gritty vintage vibe" is a good way to put it if the damage is random and light. But were those scratched lines consistent across the whole roll or just in the frames where the film was more exposed? That would tell you if the dirt was just on the surface or if it got ground into the pressure plate inside your camera.