Blank film - hoping there's a dumb reason I'm missing!

danielfellowes

danielfellowes

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So I bought an Olympus OM-1N camera recently. It's my first time trying to use film. Everything on it appears to be functioning correctly but my first roll of film came out completely blank.

I can see through the back that the shutter is working fine, and I checked the film was actually winding on, and that's the only suggestion I can find online! I haven't tried another roll yet because I've been a bit put off.

I'm hoping there's a dumb, simple explanation for it. Or that Max Spielmann ruined my film and lied to me haha.

Are there any other reasons a film would come out totally blank?
 
Normally when this happens the reason is that not enough leader has been fed into the take-up spool and the entire film has been left in the canister. Most of us have done this once. How can you check the film was winding on when it was out of the camera and back from Max? With practice you can tell how long it takes to rewind a full film and feel the change in tension before it fully goes back into the canister. The next debate is should we rewind fully back to the canister and break it before processing, or leave a bit of leader protruding so you can full the film back out without breaking the cansiter at the risk for scratching the film.
 
Did the negatives have the edge markings (saying the manufacturer, film type etc) showing?
 
Well if the leader was black (firms usually add the first few frames in the sleeves) and the edge markings visible then it would seem the film was dev ok......so it would seem either the film never wound on or a serious mechanical fault, if a minor mechanical fault you should see something on the negs .
A tip...When you operate the winder on\shutter lever an easy check is to see if the rewind knob is revolving this shows the film is engaged. Anyway don't give up and as mentioned we have all at some time ended up with blank negs cos we did something in a hurry or forgot to do a basic check.
 
Assuming the film edge markings (make, frame numbers, etc) are visible on the negatives, either the shutter isn't working (which you seem to think it is) or you didn't load the film on the take up spool properly (either not winding it on enough for it to be secure - or turning the take up spool the wrong way to wind the film onto it, then when you close the film back and use the winding lever it turns the take up spool in the opposite [correct] direction and unwinds the film off the spool!); or the winding mechanism isn't working under load.

I see you are in the Midlands - a few of us F&C regulars are meeting up for a day out at the Black Country Living Museum near Tipton this Saturday (7th July), you'd be welcome to join us if you can make it? Let me know if you can; bring your camera along I'll bring a 'test film' that I keep for just this sort of thing. You can load that into your camera, shut the back and fire off a dozen or so shots then open the back and see if the film has advanced like it should. This should at least establish whether or not the camera has a film transport issue. Hopefully it's just been user error and your camera is OK, in which case you can take some photos around the museum with the rest of us, if not bring another camera with you just in case.
 
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danielfellowes said:
I can see through the back that the shutter is working fine, and I checked the film was actually winding on, and that's the only suggestion I can find online! I haven't tried another roll yet because I've been a bit put off.

I'm hoping there's a dumb, simple explanation for it. Or that Max Spielmann ruined my film and lied to me haha.

Are there any other reasons a film would come out totally blank?
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I have a Fed 2 that works fine with the back off - I can see the shutter fire - but the shutter will not fire with the back in place.

Really, the question about edge markings is critical. If the film is absolutely blank with no edge markings, they fixed before developing. If the edge markings are fine it is either you or the camera.
 
Can you see the film back of the camera if you fire the shutter with the lens off?
 
Thanks for all the advice. I checked about 10 times that the rewind knob was turning so I'm fairly confident it wasn't that. I'm going to see if the shutter works with the back on with no lens on when I get home this evening.

I didn't actually get the film back, they called to tell me it was blank so I just got them to chuck it. I'll be sure to get it back no matter what this time!
 
Wow - they didn't send it back?! Don't use them again then! A blank film can still really help figure out what has gone wrong. Don't give up yet though but if you can get an old-hand to check out a few of the mechanical problems it would save you some time and money ( and frustration! )
 
danielfellowes said:
I didn't actually get the film back, they called to tell me it was blank so I just got them to chuck it. I'll be sure to get it back no matter what this time!
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Is this a tacit admission that there is/was a processing failure? I sometimes think these 'professionals' reckon we're thick and try anything to get out of admitting failure.

I recently paid for Airport Valet parking and thought it a good idea to get the car valeted which I paid for at the same time. When I collected the car it was all sparkly clean - inside and out. I was then told by the driver/deliverer that I hadn't paid for cleaning. I said I had and that was the end of it.... if he was certain I hadn't paid why did he just leave it? I think he was just trying it on - I wonder many times he's said that and then sometimes it 'sticks' and hes made £20 or so?
 
I always send blank film, you need to be transparent with these things. No pun intended.

Oh, unless I missed it you don't say what film it was? Could it have been miss processed the wrong chems?
 
RumpFace said:
Oh, unless I missed it you don't say what film it was? Could it have been miss processed the wrong chems
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Unless it was dunked in Fixer first the wrong chemicals will nearly always produce some sort of image.
 
Black and white through E6 or C41 though will strip the emulsion leaving nothing at all including the manufacturer's data etc.
 
RumpFace said:
Black and white through E6 or C41 though will strip the emulsion leaving nothing at all including the manufacturer's data etc.
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Humbly stand corrected :beer:
 
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