Problem with the camera or lab?

[nerwin]

It's been a while since I been on here but earlier this year I happened to go to a random flea market and saw this Yashica FX-2 with the Yashica DSB 50mm 1.9 and the Yashica ML 70-200 f/4 (which kinda broken). I had $12 on me so I offered it to him, he greatly accepted it and I had absolutely zero expectations of using this camera. Thought it might be cool to have a display piece and maybe adapt the lenses on my Nikon Z6II for some fun.

The camera was disgusting, took me a couple days to clean it. The shutter return mechanism kept jamming, I took the bottom plate off and oiled everything lightly and everything works great. I checked to see if the shutter curtain was being delayed or sticking and it didn't appear to be. Everything seems to be working normal...except for the meter maybe but that's a post for another day.

Anyways I really liked how the camera operated and thought maybe it would be cool to revive this camera and shoot some film through it. So I ordered a few rolls of cheap film, Kentmere Pan 100 to give it a try. I noticed the light seals were all shot and turned into oil. Spent some time cleaning that up, ordered new seals and installed them myself.

Now I was ready to shoot. Loaded the film and went out and shot two rolls with the camera. It all seemed to advance fine, but there was a couple times I noticed the left spool rewind knob didn't always rotate when I advanced the film but it felt fine. Didn't have any issues rewinding the film either. It was all pretty smooth operation.

So I sent the film to Dale Laboratories in Hollywood, Florida for development and scanning. The price was extremely reasonable. After a few days of them receiving the film, I got an email saying my scans were ready to be downloaded and for the most part all the photos came out great except for being extremely grainy which is odd for 100 speed film but I think its related to my meter. Anyways what I am concerned about was the artifacts I saw on these pictures.

I have asked others that shoot film who I follow on Instagram and they told me there is no issue with the camera but something to do with the lab. I really am not sure, they are present in the negatives too. Its weird that the first roll had two like that and the second one had the same and they were both around the same place in the roll. Is there something wrong with the camera? Why would it only be in the middle of the roll and I can't find anything like it.

If you have any ideas, please let me know! Thanks

This one above was caused by an actual crease in the 35mm negative.

 

[Ozzie_Traveller]

G'day Nerwin

From many years of file D&P - including a few stuffups may I suggest ...

Black fuzzy edges are caused by light leakage 'somewhere'. In an old camera it might be via the rear door hinge being moved / twisted in your fingers while handling / etc .... it's a 'who knows' question

Grey bands going across the film - in 35mm it will be from sprocket holes to sprocket holes- is caused by film coming out from the plastic tracks in the developing tank spool and touching the image-side of the next layer of film in the next outer groove

A crinkle / crease across -any- film is via excessive violence in handling somewhere along the line
and
Excessive grain (in a low-ISO film) is usually caused by too much agitation of the developing tank during the first half of the developing / time process

If you start to this yourself in future ...
ps- I used lots of emulsions over the yrs but settled on Ilford FP3 125-ISO, and used it over the 100-ISO to 1600-ISO range and experimented with extending the developer times accordingly. Developer was ID-11 diluted 1:1

My technique was load film into spirals - gently pour in developer - gently rotate tank twice - leave for 1/2 minute - repeat over the first 3-minutes of developing time - leave tank alone for remainder of developing time (ie: from 5 to 15 minutes depending on ISO)

Followed by Kodak Stop-Bath then Ilford Fixer then a 30-minute wash in gently running water

Hope this helps
Phil

 

[nerwin]

I don't have too much interest in developing it myself but I just wanted to figure out if they're is a issue with the camera before I keep wasting film..so it seems that maybe my camera is fine and its just the lab causing the issues.

 

[480sparky]

An image of the negs themselves would provide a lot of info. Do the artifacts appear completely across the film or are they limited to the exposed areas?

 

[webestang64]

Not sure of the first 2 shots but the last 2 look as if the film was touching during processing. That will happen if the film is kinked when rolling onto the reel or film jammed in a roller transport machine. Bent film could be from the jam in a machine or if you reverse wound the film onto itself.
Need to see the actual film as Sparky said.

 

[nerwin]

Okay. Sorry it took a while...I was waiting on USPS to deliver my film negatives for some of the shots I shared above. I wanted to share both negatives at the same time.

So here they are.

Frame 23 also has a crease in it just like frame 16 does on the second negative. Both frames 24 and 17 have a crease as well and the negatives are bent up.

 

[480sparky]

Yeah... that's a processing error.

 

[webestang64]

Agreed. Lab messed up.

 

[nerwin]

Is it weird that it happened 2 separate times a month apart?

Could something like this still be caused by the camera?

 

[480sparky]

There is nothing the camera can do to create that issue. It is 10000% the lab's issue.

 

[nerwin]

There is nothing the camera can do to create that issue. It is 10000% the lab's issue.

Okay. I'm kind of a noob when it comes to film, with a SLR anyways..especially one from the 70s haha. But I do notice with the Yashica that I am using when advancing to the next frame, the film spool side doesn't always rotate when advancing unless I rewind the knob until it feels tight and then it will rotate when advancing so I don't know if there is something weird going on or not. I loaded up a roll yesterday and I have a bad feeling about it so I'm probably not going to be using this camera anymore. I think this whole roll will be bad. Haha.

 

[480sparky]

That's just the film unrolling itself off the spoon inside the canister. It's totally normal.

 

[dxqcanada]

Hmm, open the back of the camera and examine the mechanics.
Crank the winding lever ... observe if the pickup spool (right side) is consistantly turning.
Now put some pressure on the spool and see if it slips. If it is not always pulling the film then what will happen is the film advance sprocket will will push the film into the right chamber and the film will bind up.
Also will happen if the film is not properly secured to the pickup spool or slips out during use.

 

[webestang64]

Hmm, open the back of the camera and examine the mechanics.
Crank the winding lever ... observe if the pickup spool (right side) is consistantly turning.
Now put some pressure on the spool and see if it slips. If it is not always pulling the film then what will happen is the film advance sprocket will will push the film into the right chamber and the film will bind up.
Also will happen if the film is not properly secured to the pickup spool or slips out during use.

View attachment 268956

That would explain this shot......

But this below is the labs fault for sure.......

 

[dxqcanada]

yeah, looks like those two spots on the film were stuck together so never got proper chemistry.

I was thinking about the processors we used to use, and they all used leaders to pull the film through ... no rollers pushing the film ... so I am trying to think of a way that the processor would bunch the film ... unless there was a failure and the leader behind caught up and rammed into the film in front?
Also I am not sure if there are newer processors that use rollers to push the film (without a leader)??