My first film shots! ...and an alarming problem

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silverJON

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Jonathan
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After years of shooting digital, I decided to resurrect the Canon A-1 that belonged to my dad, along with three Vivitar Series One lenses I have with it:
24-48mm f3.8
35-85mm f2.8
and the legendary 70-210mm f3.5 (first version, Kiron made).

It's been a fantastic experience, starting with a roll of Fujicolor film that had been in there for at least 8 years (and I think it was expired then!) that gave me some nice shots. After that I put through some Ilford HP5+ followed by some Kodak Ultramax 400.

I'd really really like some C&C on the set please :) Please be gentle, as it's my first dabbling with film, and the photos are exactly as shot (no PP)!

...but I'd also like some kind soul to diagnose my camera problem!

There's some odd darkening happening in some shots. It's like a light leak, but DARK not LIGHT. The top left corner is darkened, like a vignette, but then there's a tapered streak on the right hand side too. It's happened in several shots, from different rolls and different processes, and I think it only happens either at fast shutter speeds or slow apertures. Here is the problem:

4891851475_55a543af0f.jpg

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22022399@N05/4891851475/in/set-72157624601162821/

Here it is again on a different film:

4892404226_af9ed6d175.jpg

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22022399@N05/4892404226/in/set-72157624601162821/

Notice the white banding too. Now have a look at this, which is from the first film and the banding is even worse:

4892459592_9d7868087c.jpg

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22022399@N05/4892459592/in/set-72157624601162821/


Finally, there's one shot with a different kind of banding:
4891863723_bdaacfd2d7.jpg

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22022399@N05/4891863723/in/set-72157624601162821/

Does anyone know what's going on?

Thanks in advance!

Jonathan
 
well the last one looks like a light leak ,,,,,dont know about the dark ones though,,,,and the banding on the lantern looks like some kind of roller marking ,,,maybe when being developed,?
 
The ones with the dark corners look like you have had one of those scalloped wide angle lens hoods on which has not been on correctly so giving the vignetting (been there done that as well)

The light ones are a bit odd and look like roller marks as donutagain suggested.

Are all the light seals in the camera ok?
Like when you open it there is not sticky gooey mess.

Where did you got them developed?

Had a quick look at your flickr site and there are lot of pictures on there that look ok.
 
Hmm. The A1 has a cloth curtain shutter, no? Is it smooth, no creases? does it flick across the film mask properly? Are you sure? Are the two leading edges parallell and perpendicular?

As for the other marks, rollers def, most likely from the developing as the image is distorted not just scratched - so I am thinking the emulsion must have been soft at the time.

Last one's a light leak though.
 
Ambermile said:
Hmm. The A1 has a cloth curtain shutter, no? Is it smooth, no creases? does it flick across the film mask properly? Are you sure? Are the two leading edges parallell and perpendicular?

As for the other marks, rollers def, most likely from the developing as the image is distorted not just scratched - so I am thinking the emulsion must have been soft at the time.

Last one's a light leak though.
Click to expand...

A1 does have a cloth shutter, I'd definitely hazard a guess at a dragging second shutter curtain for the dark corners - if its not moving across the film smoothly it could well be causing the banding too...:shake:

Still - makes a change from Canon Cough :shrug:
 
It's a long time since I worked with film - but some of that banding looks like poor agitation during development - could that be the cause?
 
ujjwaldey8165 said:
Whats a Canon cough,Mark?
Click to expand...
It's a horrible coughing noise that is a regular fault with the A-series (a-1, AE-1, AE-1Prog) cameras, caused by a dodgy mirror damper assembly. Sounds like the camera's got a furball it's trying to cough up when you release the shutter. Eventually, it gets so bad that the mirror retracts too slowly, and it stuffs up metering, and eventually seizes solid and locks the camera up. Can be sorted by the application of a tiny drop of thin machine oil to the offending part, but unfortunately the offending part is buried deep in the camera and therefore a almost complete disassembly is needed to effect the repair.
 
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There's no hood - this is a long lens (Vivitar S1 70-210) with just a skylight filter. There are some black flecks of crap on some of the middle elements but I don't see how they could be visible on the image at that distance from the focal planes. (picture of those coming as soon as I get home).

I've also inspected the shutter, which is snappy, accurate and clean. (video of that coming too!)

The seals all look fine, nothing gooey.

I had it processed at Ouse Valley Processing in Bedford who seemed to know what they're doing. They're a pro lab that mostly now does big prints and assembles photobooks and the like. The colour roll went through their C41 machine and they did the Ilford by hand, but they exhibit the same artifacts.

Still at a total loss about the dark marks!
 
***Does anyone know what's going on?

Thanks in advance!

Jonathan ***

erm well didn't the lab have an opinion? Did you complain?
 
excalibur2 said:
erm well didn't the lab have an opinion? Did you complain?
Click to expand...

They said that there was a problem with my camera that they couldn't identify without looking at it. Certainly the problems occurred both with my colour (C41) roll and my HP5+, and they process them differently, so I couldn't blame them.
 
silverJON said:
and here is a short video of the shutter opening and closing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ur4S47guCs
Click to expand...

I'm still inclined toward a shutter problem.

If, as you say, it seems to exhibit itself at fast speeds, then the video just confirms that it's working fine at slow speeds - which correlates with your photos.

The timing of the second curtain becomes more critical as you wind up toward 1/1000. The A-1 is electronically controlled, but there may still be a mechanical issue.
 
Musicman said:
I'm still inclined toward a shutter problem.

If, as you say, it seems to exhibit itself at fast speeds, then the video just confirms that it's working fine at slow speeds - which correlates with your photos.

The timing of the second curtain becomes more critical as you wind up toward 1/1000. The A-1 is electronically controlled, but there may still be a mechanical issue.
Click to expand...

Which also ties in with my theory ^^^ up there - at high shutter speeds, tiny variation of shutter movement speed will allow lighter/darker striations on the film.
 
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