Blank Negatives...

[Haasim Mahanaim]

Using my recently purchased Yashica 200-AF I began photographing various scenes I had contructed using fruit and stuffed animals. I finished off the my roll of film by having my brother model before the camera.

I excitedly took my film off to the photo place at the mall and I spent the whole night giddy with anticipation. When I finally went to pick up my photos the photo clerk looked like she was about to give me some bad news; and she did..

She showed me my negatives and they were all blank. She said something about needing to replace my batteries; but that didn't seem to make sense because I consistently heard what sounded like the motor in my camera advancing the film.

Needless to say, I was bummed out. When I went to change the battery I naively thought it used regular alkaline batteries, but of course it required a lithium battery that costs around 30 bucks from Radio Shack.

Before I blow $30 I wanted to see if anyone has a different theory as to why my pictures didn't show up on film.

I mean, even if the batteries are weak, the shutter was openning any closing, so shouldn't I have had at least one photo shown up?

 

[markc]

The film may not have caught the sprocket correctly, so that when the camera thought it was advancing the film, it was really just sitting there. Some cameras have a safety feature to prevent this, but I'm not sure about that model. Is the entire negative blank? It doesn't sound like the battery to me.

 

[Haasim Mahanaim]

Yeah, the entire negative was blank.

And when I was rewinding the film, I think there was a difference in sound when it was finished winding the film. But I could be wrong.

Thenagain, even if the film wasn't advancing, shouldn't at least one picture had been taken?

 

[markc]

Thenagain, even if the film wasn't advancing, shouldn't at least one picture had been taken?

If it had caught on the sprocket and pulled in, yeah. But if it wasn't advancing, it wouldn't have pulled the leader in either.

Try taking a picture with the film door open and the shutter set for something long. See if it's actually letting light through from the lens.

It's an SLR, so I'm assuming you didn't leave the lens cap on.

 

[oriecat]

Was it entirely blank or can you see the writing on the edges of the film?

 

[Haasim Mahanaim]

I just got back from the pawn shop where I had originally puchased my Yashica 200-AF. I was informed that the camera was damage and in need of repair. (A sales rep was relaying this info from a technician hidden in the 'back room'. So he wasn't able to tell me what was wrong with the camera. But, I'm fairly confident it was the shutter.)

He said I could wait a week for the camera to be repaired or I could swap it for a different one. This time a Minolta Maxxum 7000 was available, but the body alone was priced at $20 more than what I paid for the Yashica kit.

The sales guy then proceeded to rummage through a shelf filled with lenses. He finally took out the only Minolta lens he could find (an AF 28-80), but it was priced at around $300CDN. After talking to his associate, he came back and asked for my receipt. I was afraid they were going to ask me to pay the difference or something, but they didn't. He wished me good luck and I went off on my bike still feeling very surprised. Did I really walk away with a $500 dollar camera after spending only $200?

It certainly looks more impressive than what I had originally purchased. But I can't believe they would give me such a great deal for the sake of good customer relations.

Anyway, after struggling (and failing) to find documentation for that Yashica camera, I'm happy to own something from a more popular brand and with easily available online documentation.

I look forward to sharing my first set of pictures with everyone.

 

[markc]

Did I really walk away with a $500 dollar camera after spending only $200?

Unfortunately, no. You probably wouldn't get $200 for the two of them if you tried to sell them together on eBay, but that sounds about right for a shop. $300 for that lens is robbery. I'd be nervous about giving them any more of your business. $200 sounds rather high for the 200-AF, even with the exchange rate.

I hope you enjoy it and it works better than the other one!