Corrected entry: When Columbo has Galesko at the station, Galesko picks a camera off the shelf and opens up the back to show that the original negative is still in there (as proof of his innocence). But since none of them are in a dark room, opening the back of the camera would damage the negative, something Galesko should know since he's a professional photographer.
Factual error: Probably an in joke - the wheels of the "airliner" shown landing at LA international airport are those of a B52 bomber. They are very distinctive and look nothing like those on any airliner ever made.
Trivia: A clever, subtle hint as to Mason's guilt - Columbo arrives at the animal pound just in time to stop him feeding Laurel and Hardy (the dogs he trained to kill on command) a large amount of chocolate treats. He has planned this murder meticulously, and he would be aware that chocolate is extremely toxic to dogs. The amount he is planning to feed them from the bulging bag of large chocolate balls he is holding would kill both dogs within hours if ingested.
Any Old Port in a Storm - S3-E2
Question: As a homicide detective, why would Columbo have been present at an apparent drowning incident?
Answer: "Apparent" drowning answers your question - things are not always as they seem. Drowning could be accidental, but it could also be a murder in disguise. Moreover, the actual cause of death has not yet been determined - accident, suicide, murder, or natural cause (e.g, heart attack while swimming). Columbo would be there to investigate if anything looks unusual for it to be a mere drowning or if there is evidence or suspicion of something else.
This was just on TMZ.com's "Aaron Carter Dead at 34" (11/05/2022): "Law enforcement sources tell TMZ... homicide detectives have been dispatched to the scene but we have no information or evidence of foul play. It's standard operating procedure for homicide detectives to investigate such [drowning] death scenes."
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Correction: The film has already been developed and printed - Columbo has a huge blowup of the print. It cannot be further damaged by exposure to light. In fact the whole scene is nonsensical - there is no camera in the world which retains the film strip in the way shown here, and there is absolutely no reason for anyone to put the film back into the camera either - and no easy way of doing it. A professional photographer would know that.
The camera is an old Polaroïd of the 60s (model 800). The film used consists of two rolls : the positive one and the negative one. After taking a picture, the photo is extracted and the negative part may remain in the camera.