Oily sky on film shots, What causes it?

[Shinden]

Hey all, I'm hoping that someone knows what's going on here and can help me. Every issue besides the bad prints I got from Walmart were something that I could fix by something other than going to a different developer/printer. I already ordered new light seals to fix the read smears from the light leak, but the sky still looks all oily and weird colors when I don't have the ground in the image. It does not happen when I have the ground in the picture, but if I take a picture looking up at the sky it get weird. attached are a couple photos with the issue that I took while at an RC airplane fly day. Yes, there are read streaks from light leaking into the back of the camera, I'm already fixing that, but the whole image just looks off and I want to know why.
Thanks in advance for any help.

Edit: I was using Fujifilm Superia X-Tra 400 in a Canon A-1

 

[480sparky]

Looks like light leaks to me.

 

[Shinden]

Looks like light leaks to me.

You think it all looks like light leak, not just the red streaks? I guess, I'm still relatively new to this, but I knew for sure the red was light leak. I just didn't see much of that happening on the 6.jpg image like it was on the 24.jpg image. Hopefully the light seal kit that I ordered will help me fix the whole thing then. That would be nice.

 

[480sparky]

Light leaks are not perfectly consistent. It depends on how long the frame stays in the area where the leak is, how much light the camera is exposed to, and and what angle.

 

[Shinden]

Light leaks are not perfectly consistent. It depends on how long the frame stays in the area where the leak is, how much light the camera is exposed to, and and what angle.

Cool. Thanks for the information. I'll look into learning more about light leak, and I'm also looking forward to replacing the light seals in my canon even more now.

Thanks for your help!

 

[mrca]

You can get pre cut light seals on line. Just clean out the old one, and moisten the glue on the nes one and place.

 

[Silversnapper]

I think you may have a problem with the lens and/or lens mount Sindon. You don't mention what lens you are using but to me it looks as though the lens isn't mounted properly and it is creating these weird effects which would be exacerbated by pointing it up towards a bright sky. Are you using a Canon FD lens and if so, is it one of the earlier breech lock ones - the ones where you fit the lens into the camera mount and then rotate a chrome ring to lock it in place? These were know to have problems and were fairly quickly superceded by a convention bayonet fitting.

My own A1 is one of these later ones and has performed faultlessly since I bought it new in either 1979 or 1980. I renewed the seals last year, not because of any light leaks but because they had gone gummy. It's a straightforward job but needs a little care not to get the crud into the camera.

 

[cgw]

Agree with the above. Light leaks are usually more defined and localized(across the frame) and always show up as(surprise!) pronounced over-exposure burn. Not seeing any of that here.

 

[Shinden]

I think you may have a problem with the lens and/or lens mount Sindon. You don't mention what lens you are using but to me it looks as though the lens isn't mounted properly and it is creating these weird effects which would be exacerbated by pointing it up towards a bright sky. Are you using a Canon FD lens and if so, is it one of the earlier breech lock ones - the ones where you fit the lens into the camera mount and then rotate a chrome ring to lock it in place? These were know to have problems and were fairly quickly superceded by a convention bayonet fitting.

My own A1 is one of these later ones and has performed faultlessly since I bought it new in either 1979 or 1980. I renewed the seals last year, not because of any light leaks but because they had gone gummy. It's a straightforward job but needs a little care not to get the crud into the camera.

Hey, thanks for the input.
1) I ordered some light seals, but their at home and I'm at college till May, so when I get back I'll install them. The original light seals are basically nonexistent, and even the pad for the mirror has basically disintegrated now. So I'm looking forward to installing them.
2) The two lenses that I was using when I was shooting at the RC airplane flyouts (where I took the shown photos) were the Canon FD 50mm f/1.8 prime and a Canon FD 70-210mm f/4 zoom lens. All of my three lenses are Bayonet Mount with the black ring and the red dot. I've never shot the camera if the lens didn't feel like it was securely locked into place either. It kind of, goes in, then smoothly twists till it clicks into place when I install the lenses.

Thanks for the suggestions, I don't know if this helps with figuring out what my issue is. I'm definitely doing the light seals, but I'm open to anything you can suggest that will help me to improve my photography.

ps, sorry for the late response, classes and exams picked up again. I've got a little bit of a break from exams until next Friday. lol, still got hw though.

 

[Silversnapper]

Having re-read your original post Shinden I realise that I missed the fact that shots were taken on ISO400 film. Unless you were shooting in full auto mode or taking care with the exposure information in the viewfinder, then including a lot of sky in the shots could result in over-exposure to a greater or lesser extent, this can play havoc when the film is scanned for printing as I know to my cost as I scan and print my own films. . I would suggest that you hone your exposure technique when shooting aviation subjects and perhaps use a better lab for processing and printing your films.

 

[Shinden]

Having re-read your original post Shinden I realise that I missed the fact that shots were taken on ISO400 film. Unless you were shooting in full auto mode or taking care with the exposure information in the viewfinder, then including a lot of sky in the shots could result in over-exposure to a greater or lesser extent, this can play havoc when the film is scanned for printing as I know to my cost as I scan and print my own films. . I would suggest that you hone your exposure technique when shooting aviation subjects and perhaps use a better lab for processing and printing your films.

Okay, that makes sense. I was using shutter speed priority and letting the camera set the aperture to what ever it though it needed, I think that some of those shots were in the f/16-22 range, which is about as far as the 50mm lens can go, but the 70-210 can choke down to f/32. I'll try to set for a slight under exposure when I'm shooting up at the sky with no ground in frame. Thanks for the suggestion.