Botching a shot—or goodness forbid, two whole rolls—because of avoidable circumstances just sucks. I shot two rolls of Rollei 80S Retro in 120 format at the end of March. I bought them a while ago from Freestyle Photo and figured I’d give them a try. I had finally got a suitable strap for my Yashica-Mat twin lens reflex camera, so I used that.
Every roll of 120/220 film I’ve used up to this point has some stuff about the film name at the very beginning of the paper backing, then a double-headed arrow, which you line up with the arrow in your camera. Not Rollei 80S Retro. There are various bits that say “Start 8 6×9,” etc. Then there’s a directive in all caps: START. I didn’t want to wind too far, so slightly terrified by Rollei’s (Maco’s?) tone, I tightened the spool, clicked the back shut, and locked it down. I lost the first shot and got half the second. I did this on two rolls.
Here is TMAX 100 backing paper, then the offending backing paper on the right.
Anyway, this was totally my fault, but c’mon. Why shout “start” if you don’t mean it?
I do like the film, and maybe I’ll try it again sometime, now that I’m a little smarter.
David Shoots Film 
i just got myself a yashica mat too. waiting for it + some film to arrive in the mail. including some rollei 400S. thanks for posting this, i’ll definitely be careful how i load film. as its my first medium format, i have no idea how backing paper works or wat it does, i guess i should head over to youtube n find some videos
All you really need to know (and I need to know so I don’t mess up my next roll) is that the backing paper, which is what you see when you look at the fresh, unexposed roll, has to be behind the film. So it’s lens, then film, then paper. So when you’re loading the Yashica-Mat (or any twin-lens reflex camera) it’s pretty easy. You move the takeup reel to the top, put the roll of film in the bottom so that the film and tab come from the bottom of the roll (the paper will be white or yellow or at least not black), then pull it up over the lens area and attach the tab to the takeup reel on top. If you’re looking at black paper, you’re doing it wrong.
Also, when they say “load in low light,” they’re not kidding. It’s very easy to fog medium format film when the film has been removed from its foil or paper pouch. Crouch over it, do it under your shirt, whatever. When I load with my back turned to the sun, if it’s bright out, you can see light coming in on the rebate (edge) of the film after I develop it.