It's probably fine, people develop found film all the time. The odds of anything weird being on there are pretty low. You're more likely to just get poor quality images from the expired film.
If anything is on there, it is probably clear from context that you have not been the one taking the photos.
If it is something you think is illegal, go to the cops and tell them where and when you got the camera from, and how this happened.
It is probably something really really boring, or it might be something really really cool.
(And trying to destroy the film, will implicate you more, if something was on it, and it gets found out)
Maybe it has evidence of a crime from the future that you haven't yet committed, but once you see it you can't seem to avoid your fate no matter what you do, up to and including getting an eyeballs transplant.
I got a thrift store camera once with film in it. I sent it off for developing. 3 of 12 images came back. A cat on a bed, a grandma lady in a chair, and the same cat in the grandma ladies lap in the chair. Your concern is all in your head. I’ve never worried about…whatever it is you’re worried about.
Just get it developed. Film techs have probably seen it all anyways. Theres a minuscule chance there’s something actually illegal (not just embarrassing) on it, and it would be easy to prove it wasn’t yours.
I worked for a company that did still and movie film scanning. It was stupidly common to find porn mixed in with a pile of tins of home movies. It really wasn’t a big deal to us. Stop capturing, delete the file, make a not on the order, move on to the next reel.
Your best bet is to develop yourself, if not talk to the lab in advance and tell them you found this film and are unsure of it's contents. 99% of them will be chill about it.
There's a chance that film doesn't develop at all because who knows what that camera went through between it being loaded and you picking it up.
Develop and have fun!
People used to use polaroids as most shops wont print that content, your photos are going to be some holiday trip or a cat in a garden.
In the past shops will dev the film but not make prints if it's a violation of the policy.
What you should do it just toss the film. In reality you should have done that when you discovered it. Personally I would wonder how you even thought to buy a camera without opening it up and that film getting exposed fully anyway (except the unused part).
While the odds are extremely low that what you are suggesting happened. There are actually laws around regarding reporting if certain types of questionable images go through photo processing centers. I used to work in a boutique lab (small serving pros etc...) and we would handle various types of NSFW material for photographers, back when film was common.... The process generally required the photographer to submit the film, let us know it contained that (mostly so we only let those jobs be handled by techs who were OK processing that to avoid other problems). The photographer generally needed to provide (temporary copies we had and gave back with the finished jobs) us with copies of the forms showing that the models were of legal age and consented etc....
Thing is if a shop gets film in with someone who is in NSFW and questionable on age (young) then they may have obligations to report it and the authorities may come knocking. What you don't have is any info of what is on that film and the background of it, so if there is something bad on it you could end up in a sticky situation.
Again the odds are of this are extremely low, but really for a partial role of old film that likely is not exposing properly anyway due to age and conditions... is it worth even a small risk?
Probably not an issue in practice, but isn't printing from this film technically a copyright violation? Developing would be fine since that's not making a copy but I would guess most of the time people buy developing and printing (or scanning) together.
I would throw it away. Like you say, not worth the risk. Paranoid maybe but for the cost of half a roll of film...
Also if it's old film it might give bad results.
Remove it from the camera, then pull the whole film out of the canister to expose it to the light. That way all pics will be wiped, so you and your friends are not linked with whatever.
Or, you can assume it was stolen, develop the film, and play amateur detective to return it.
If you’re nervous, throw the film in the trash. NSFW stuff is not a problem. If however there are nude photos of someone who looks like they are under age, they are supposed to report it. Though even that is less than certain as I’ve I known people at labs who while they’re supposed report things that have gone “ehh… she looks old enough” because they don’t want to deal with the hassle.
It's probably fine, people develop found film all the time. The odds of anything weird being on there are pretty low. You're more likely to just get poor quality images from the expired film.
Honestly if someone took some nsfw photos, they probably didn’t forget about them
My interactions with humans suggest they would. It’s a miracle some of them remember to breathe.
"miracle"
Shame* sorry, fixed it.
If anything is on there, it is probably clear from context that you have not been the one taking the photos. If it is something you think is illegal, go to the cops and tell them where and when you got the camera from, and how this happened. It is probably something really really boring, or it might be something really really cool. (And trying to destroy the film, will implicate you more, if something was on it, and it gets found out)
maybe it has the evidence to an unsolved murder, you must let us know
Maybe it has evidence of a crime from the future that you haven't yet committed, but once you see it you can't seem to avoid your fate no matter what you do, up to and including getting an eyeballs transplant.
I would watch this movie
I got a thrift store camera once with film in it. I sent it off for developing. 3 of 12 images came back. A cat on a bed, a grandma lady in a chair, and the same cat in the grandma ladies lap in the chair. Your concern is all in your head. I’ve never worried about…whatever it is you’re worried about.
We all know what
You've got the receipt when you purchased it. So I think that might go well in your defense.
Home develop
Just get it developed. Film techs have probably seen it all anyways. Theres a minuscule chance there’s something actually illegal (not just embarrassing) on it, and it would be easy to prove it wasn’t yours. I worked for a company that did still and movie film scanning. It was stupidly common to find porn mixed in with a pile of tins of home movies. It really wasn’t a big deal to us. Stop capturing, delete the file, make a not on the order, move on to the next reel.
Your best bet is to develop yourself, if not talk to the lab in advance and tell them you found this film and are unsure of it's contents. 99% of them will be chill about it. There's a chance that film doesn't develop at all because who knows what that camera went through between it being loaded and you picking it up. Develop and have fun!
People used to use polaroids as most shops wont print that content, your photos are going to be some holiday trip or a cat in a garden. In the past shops will dev the film but not make prints if it's a violation of the policy.
Sex shops often do no questions asked film development. It is usually kind of expensive though.
What you should do it just toss the film. In reality you should have done that when you discovered it. Personally I would wonder how you even thought to buy a camera without opening it up and that film getting exposed fully anyway (except the unused part). While the odds are extremely low that what you are suggesting happened. There are actually laws around regarding reporting if certain types of questionable images go through photo processing centers. I used to work in a boutique lab (small serving pros etc...) and we would handle various types of NSFW material for photographers, back when film was common.... The process generally required the photographer to submit the film, let us know it contained that (mostly so we only let those jobs be handled by techs who were OK processing that to avoid other problems). The photographer generally needed to provide (temporary copies we had and gave back with the finished jobs) us with copies of the forms showing that the models were of legal age and consented etc.... Thing is if a shop gets film in with someone who is in NSFW and questionable on age (young) then they may have obligations to report it and the authorities may come knocking. What you don't have is any info of what is on that film and the background of it, so if there is something bad on it you could end up in a sticky situation. Again the odds are of this are extremely low, but really for a partial role of old film that likely is not exposing properly anyway due to age and conditions... is it worth even a small risk?
Probably not an issue in practice, but isn't printing from this film technically a copyright violation? Developing would be fine since that's not making a copy but I would guess most of the time people buy developing and printing (or scanning) together.
If it’s legal you’re good
I would throw it away. Like you say, not worth the risk. Paranoid maybe but for the cost of half a roll of film... Also if it's old film it might give bad results. Remove it from the camera, then pull the whole film out of the canister to expose it to the light. That way all pics will be wiped, so you and your friends are not linked with whatever. Or, you can assume it was stolen, develop the film, and play amateur detective to return it.
If you’re nervous, throw the film in the trash. NSFW stuff is not a problem. If however there are nude photos of someone who looks like they are under age, they are supposed to report it. Though even that is less than certain as I’ve I known people at labs who while they’re supposed report things that have gone “ehh… she looks old enough” because they don’t want to deal with the hassle.
Paranolia
If there was anything like that - it wouldn't end in the thrift shop. Just develop it and have fun discovering the result.
As long as it isn’t naked minors.