31. Traditional B&W Photography: Loading & Unloading Film

For 35mm film, loading and unloading film is the easy part. You can do this in regular lighting. This video from ILFORD shows the process:

NOTE: loading and unloading film varies from one camera to another. If unsure, check Youtube for a tutorial specific to your make and model.

Just take out the roll of film, open your camera, and place the film inside. Pull just enough film out to slide over to the spool on the right. As you close the camera, you will hear the spool rolling the film enough to expose fresh film into place. You are now ready to take pictures. Keep taking photos until the film is used up – on the last photo, you will hear the camera automatically wind all the film back up safely into its case (unless it's an older camera, in which case you need to find the Spool Release Button, press it, and then hand-crank the film back into its case on the left. Make sure all the film is inside the case, before you open the camera!). Once this is done, you may open the camera and take the film roll for development.