First roll of film!

chrisrc

chrisrc

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Hi all, firstly I am a newbie to Film Photography. I picked up an Olympus OM1 with a 50mm lens, I shot a roll of expired Fuji 200 + new Fuji 400 and left both in to my local shop to be developed with surprising outcomes.

Roll 1 - EXPIRED 2012 Fuji 200: Contrast a bit of but generally not to bad for expired film, would expected worse!

expired-fuji-200.jpg


Roll 2 - NEW 2019 Fuji 400 Superia: All photos distorted like this!

new-fuji-400.jpg



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I don't think this is the camera or settings, could it simply be the fault of whoever developed the roll??

Thanks in advance for any help!
 
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chrisrc said:
I don't think this is the camera or settings, could it simply be the fault of whoever developed the roll??

Thanks in advance for any help!
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A lot of variables in play here, so it would be hard to say anything with any certainty. That said, while not impossible, I'd be surprised if the problems resulted from the development or the film. Even for your expired film, it's only a few years out of date, so I'd only expect a problem if it had been stored in very warm conditions.

I would guess that the source of the issue would most likely be the camera or user error.

How did you calculate your exposures?
 
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That second picture looks more like expired film and also looks like a light leak - that orange streak.
 
Or the film wasn't wound far enough before making the first exposure (if this is the first exposure).
 
skysh4rk said:
A lot of variables in play here, so it would be hard to say anything with any certainty. That said, while not impossible, I'd be surprised if the problems resulted from the development or the film. Even for your expired film, it's only a few years out of date, so I'd only expect a problem if it had been stored in very warm conditions.

I would guess that the source of the issue would most likely be the camera or user error.

How did you calculate your exposures?
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The OM1 has a light meter, which seems to be work... so the exposures were calculated from that.

The fact that the first (expired) roll appears OK would lead me to believe it's not a fault with the camera though?

I don't think the roll was fully wound in before opening the back but would that destroy the whole roll?
 
They look like the roll I took last week, where I accidentally opened the back before I rewound the film. Some frames had huge colour streaks (the ones closest to the film gate when I opened it) and the rest lacked contrast and looked a bit weedy.

Any chance the film door was opened?

Edit: also, was the new roll in the camera longer than the expired roll?
 
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abdoujaparov said:
They look like the roll I took last week, where I accidentally opened the back before I rewound the film. Some frames had huge colour streaks (the ones closest to the film gate when I opened it) and the rest lacked contrast and looked a bit weedy.

Any chance the film door was opened?

Edit: also, was the new roll in the camera longer than the expired roll?
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Hi Keith,

Yes, I thought the film was fully rewinded when I opened the back but there was maybe 20cm of film exposed... I didn't think it would affect the whole roll though!!
 
What battery do you have in the OM1? It is designed for an obsolete mercury battery & if you have put a battery with a different voltage in it then that would affect the meter reading & cause exposure problems. (unless it has already been recalibrated?)

Agree there does look to be signs of a light leak on the door seal. Is it sticky or gone. Light seal foams turn to goo as they age.

I recently sent my OM1 to Miles Whitehead (MJW Camera Repairs ) who gave it a CLA, replaced the foam light seals & calibrated it to work off of a 1.5v battery all for £60. I bought it broken off ebay a couple of years back with the meter around 5 stops out & only just got around to getting it sorted. I am really impressed with the work that he did on the camera & how much smoother it feels post CLA. If there are any doubts on the function of the camera I can't think of a better place to send it off to for repair.

Quite smitten with the OM1 since I started using it & think you made a good choice for a first camera.
 
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DNH said:
What battery do you have in the OM1? It is designed for an obsolete mercury battery & if you have put a battery with a different voltage in it then that would affect the meter reading & cause exposure problems. (unless it has already ben recalibrated?)

Agree there does look to be signs of a light leak.

I recently sent my OM1 to Miles Whitehead (MJW Camera Repairs ) who gave it a CLA, replaced the foam light seals & calibrated it to work off of a 1.5v battery all for £60. I bought it broken off ebay a couple of years back with the meter around 5 stops out & only just got around to getting it sorted. I am really impressed with the work that he did on the camera & how much smoother it feels post CLA. If there are any doubts on the function of the camera I can't think of a better place to send it off to for repair.

Quite smitten with the OM1 since I started using it & think you made a good choice for a first camera.
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Thanks David, it's an excellent camera. I've learned a lot so far from having to set the exposure and focus manually.

When you say "Light leak" Could this be caused by me opening the back door and exposing the end of the film??

The first roll had no light leak at all!

It's the battery that came with it, it could be one of the originals, I'm not quite sure.
 
Not by opening the door, although it would count as a massive light leak :). If you look on the hinge side there should be a felt or foam seal on the flat side. One of the photos where it was light to that side suggested leak there? That seal was totally gone on my OM1. Mine is an MD that dates from 1977ish.

The battery it should have is a PX625 1.35v battery. Now outlawed due to the mercury content. There is an alkaline V625 battery that is the same shape as the PX625 but it is 1.5V & the higher voltage will throw the meter readings out. The fix is to have a diode soldered in that drops the voltage of the battery down to the expected 1.35v range.
 
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You can use hearing aid batteries too, though you need a rubber washer to hold it in place.
 
I also think that you have a light leak from the door seal. It's an easy DIY fix to replace all the foam on a camera. John Goodman, (trades as Interslice) sells the best kits. I don't know who scanned your negatives but some of them are covered in hairs, especially that second frame. If you didn't scan them yourself, you should find someone else to process your films.
 
NickT said:
I also think that you have a light leak from the door seal. It's an easy DIY fix to replace all the foam on a camera. John Goodman, (trades as Interslice) sells the best kits. I don't know who scanned your negatives but some of them are covered in hairs, especially that second frame. If you didn't scan them yourself, you should find someone else to process your films.
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And some of them are pretty badly scratched. I wonder if they were the ones that managed to get a light-leak. It might explain why one roll is toast and the other isn't.
 
h'mm if all the shots on the first roll are ok then it would seem less likely the camera is at fault...for the second roll it, opening the back too soon would explain the light leak on many frames, but it looks like the film was stored on a hot radiator, the battery is on its way out giving under exposure (could be the subject fooling the light meter at times though) and the dev done with stale chemicals and the scanning.......all done by a five year old kid.
Easy check for underexposure is to find a good shot, then compare the neg with a poor shot...if you have good eyes or a magnifying glass the poor shot neg would look very thin compared to a good shot neg.
 
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