Noob question.

3cups

Hi folks,
Probably a silly question but can anyone tell me if it's safe to change lenses on a 35mm SLR while a film is loaded in the camera? Just seemed to me that taking off one lens to put on another would open up the camera to light getting in and overexposing the loaded film.

Shrimp

As far as i know it shouldn't. As the lens sits infront of the shutter, (ie the things that blocks the light) the shutter is there, and is only opened when u click the shutter button. It shuld not let light in if u just take the lens off.

I didn't explain that too well... it's late, sorry early.. lol.

If ur unsure, u could just change the lenses in a Room with the lights off, or a dark room. ha, just kidding. dont take my word for it fully, i wouldn't wanna be the result of a ruined film. Double check it.

joolsveer

3cups wrote:

Hi folks,
Probably a silly question but can anyone tell me if it's safe to change lenses on a 35mm SLR while a film is loaded in the camera? Just seemed to me that taking off one lens to put on another would open up the camera to light getting in and overexposing the loaded film.

It is perfectly safe to change lenses with film loaded as the focal plane shutter in a 35mm SLR completely covers the the film frame.

Zombrex

3cups wrote:

Hi folks,
Probably a silly question but can anyone tell me if it's safe to change lenses on a 35mm SLR while a film is loaded in the camera? Just seemed to me that taking off one lens to put on another would open up the camera to light getting in and overexposing the loaded film.

No, when you have the cap of the lense is off the lense the light is shinning into the back of the camera anyway, removing the lense completely doesn't make any difference. The film is contained in the light proof compartment in the back of the camera. The high speed shutter system of the SLR that sits infront of the film blocking out all light from exposing it when the shutter is closed. You can see the shutter clearly when you load a new roll of film. When you actually take a picture this shutter (BTW which is very delicate, never touch it with your fingers) flips open at hight speed and then closes again, exposing the film to light from the front of the camera for what ever speed you selected (1/200 of a second for example). If you take a shot with no film and the back of your camera open (as if you were loading film) you will see the shutter flick open for a second and then close again.

So long story short, the exposure of the film has nothing to do with whether the lense is on or not, so removing it with a half exposed roll of film in your camera does nothing to the film.

Having said that it isn't a very good idea to leave your SLR without a lense or at very least a body cap over the lense slot for any lenght of time because dirt and dust can get into the body of the camera. If you are changing lenses try and do it quickly, and if you want to leave your camera body without a lense buy (you probably got one with the camera) a camera body cap, and a front and back cap for your lenses.

3cups

Thanks guys, put my mind at rest.