What am I doing wrong with my film??

[Harry Spratt]

Hi, just recently bought a film camera and I have been experimenting around. I was just wondering what I am doing wrong which leads to sections of my developed and scanned film having black patches. Attached are a few examples, some are more extreme than the other as you can see. Also I don't know whether this matters but there were some ones which were fine in-between these ones and the first 5 of the 36 roll film had no flaws. Any help or pointers would be absolutely amazing because I have no idea!!!! Thanks in advance.

 

[480sparky]

The 5th photo is simply the first unexposed portion of the film after you've loaded it.

By the looks of rest, it leads me to wonder if the camera has a horizontal shutter that's hanging up somehow.

 

[Derrel]

Looks like a shutter malfunction to me.

 

[compur]

The top photo just looks like something is in front of the lens. Maybe your hand or a camera strap or ...?

If it's a shutter malfunction, it is a horrendous one. The other issues could be caused by improper loading of the film causing it to slip or fold.

 

[480sparky]

........I see a double exposure on one of the frames.

That would be a reflection of the building next to the car...... with it's window rolled up.

 

[webestang64]

recently bought a film camera

Make and model??

The top photo just looks like something is in front of the lens. Maybe your hand or a camera strap or ...?

That's what I'm thinking. The "shadow" (dark areas of scan/blank part of film) is very uneven. Shutter malfunction is usually a fairly straight line, vertical or horizontal depending on camera.

 

[vonnagy]

recently bought a film camera

Make and model??

The top photo just looks like something is in front of the lens. Maybe your hand or a camera strap or ...?

That's what I'm thinking. The "shadow" (dark areas of scan/blank part of film) is very uneven. Shutter malfunction is usually a fairly straight line, vertical or horizontal depending on camera.

all good responses. How are you developing the negatives? I've had instances where I incorrectly rolled the film on the spool for the dev tank. The developing chemicals are unlikely to work where the film is touching itself (instead separated by the spindle). It looks a bit like that to me. It may also explain some randomness - you may have spindled some of the film properly, but if negatives 14 and 28 where touching each other, the problem won't appear to be in successive slides and may appear random.

 

[480sparky]

Undeveloped film looks just unexposed film.

 

[jcdeboever]

Sticking shutter