Ektachrome 100D

I popped in the cartridge of 100D without checking any notches or worrying about the filter switch.

I had a good feeling about this. It's dusk here so I wasn't super confident about the light, but we usually have beautiful skies here in Brooklyn this time of day.

I began shooting a hand-painted sign outside of my building. I felt the rumble of the motor and the world looks fantastic through a camera. I took my finger off the button to end my first shot, the shot that would be the beginning of this experiment.

Unfortunately, the motor didn't stop running. I couldn't figure out how to get it to turn off. I assumed the film was being exposed this whole time. My first shot would not end. I tried to hurry inside artistically. I tried to shoot some things in the living room like plants, a sculpture, and myself in the mirror. It took that long to remember that I could stop it by taking out the batteries. That's what I did.

I put the battery back in and it started up again immediately, the camera button still locked depressed. I took the battery out again and tried to jostle the cartridge, a terrible idea. Then I removed the cartridge, an even terribler idea. I popped it back in place, put the battery back in, and pressed the now back to normal button.

There was a click. The camera began to rumble again. I took my finger off the button. The rumble stopped.

At this point I assumed whatever I had done to the cartridge by taking it out and popping it back in had done the trick. I took aim on the sky through the kitchen window and pressed it again. The button stuck on again.

Here are my assumptions.

The camera isn't even moving the film forward at all. The reason the button sticks, is because the film is jammed in the camera. This means, that I am shooting nothing and the camera is either busted or really doesn't read this film AT ALL.

AND/OR

The camera is running and it is jamming from the film type it isn't built for. I will have loads of shots of the floor and such during the periods when I was trying to take out the batteries to shut it down.

Neither of these possibilities is very good. I guess I would prefer to have it shoot and not stop and require the removal of a battery to stop the shot, than have it be totally uselessly stalled and jammed.

I think ideally I would like it to mean that when it engages and disengages properly, it is shooting properly and when it doesn't engage properly it isn't shooting or exposing any film. Fat chance of that though.

It sure will be embarrassing to hand this roll over to someone to develop.