Contemporary Photos

How do I get my 35mm negatives out of an Ansco Readyflash ready flash?

The camera uses Ansco's AllWeather 620 or 640 film.

The Ansco uses 620 roll film not 35mm. The 620 film is a paper backed roll of film 2.25 inches wide; as you shoot and advance the film it rolls off the feed spool and onto a take-up spool so if you used 620 or modified 120 film in your Ansco all you need to do is first roll the film completely off the feed spool and completely onto the take up spool; but I suspect what you did was jury rig some way to put a roll of 35mm film into your camera and use some sort of adapters to keep the film centered and another kludge for a take-up spool. This is a more complicated situation.

Three options:

Find a darkroom or make one, really not hard you just need a dark room since you are not going to develop the film it just needs to be REALLY dark. (Sit in there for 5 minutes before opening the camera and block any light leaks - I use navy or black bath towels). Then open the camera and roll the film back into the feed cassette in the dark. Steiglitz used to make a darkroom under his kitchen table and Ansel Adams used his car and a bunch of winter weight coats to load film holders on the road so you can do this.

Buy a changing bag. A changing bag looks like a black coat without a neck hole, You put the camera into the bag zip it up and then put your arms into the sleeves and perform the operation I outlined above.

Take it to a camera store and have them take it into their darkroom or changing bag and have them process the film when they are done. If the store does not process that kind of film it would be common courtesy to either tip the guy that rescued your film or buy something in the store - at minimum a couple of rolls of film or make his day and buy a new Nikon D3 (if you don't need the D3 you can send it to me!).