[pure-silver] Re: Film processing problem
- From: "K W Hart" <kwhart1@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 16 Sep 2012 22:33:11 -0400
----- Original Message -----
From: Michael Healy
To: pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Sunday, September 16, 2012 9:43 PM
Subject: [pure-silver] Film processing problem
One of my students is getting problem results that have me pretty
confounded.
She's a new student. Got her first roll processed by the lab (a real one,
not a Wal-Mart). They use dip & dunk, and (I think) replenisher T-max. She
did the second one herself yesterday in HC-110 (E). Both are 35mm. One was
FP4, the other HP5.
Both rolls show these periodic black strips from edge to edge. The light
leak type. Most are just inside one edge of the image, and I think every one
is on the same side of the image. These have soft edges, not hard lines.
Each is the same width, about 1/4 inch. The first roll had a bunch of them -
a roll of 24 shots with about 6-7 of these black bars. The second roll had
only one, I think. Given different films and processing, it doesn't sound
like a processing or loading problem. I'm inclined to think it must be the
camera. She says she did not open the back except to load and unload. She
was thinking it might have to do with changing lenses (she was using two
interchangeably). That didn't make sense to me, though - especially because
she did deliberately change the lenses a couple of times on the 2nd roll,
trying to replicate the problem.
I've had my share of light leaks but I don't ever recall seeing anything
like this. Well, actually I did, on my ancient 8x10, which doesn't always
press hard enough to seal the loading side after I pull out the darkslide.
The effect on hers is similar, though more defined and contained, like a
crack of light instead of a seeping leak. I've googled for this, but all I
get are the 85 blogsters lecturing me on the 5 things we learned to
recognize in Photo 101 back in The Day. So I'm really perplexed. Anyone have
experience of what I've described?
Mike Healy
-----------------------------------------------
On a couple of my Kiev 88 (Russian copy of the Hassy 500) film backs, I
sometimes get light leaks. But only if the film has sat at one frame for a
period of time (hours to days). The light leak is before and after the
frame; ie: if frame 5 is at the film plane, a light leak affects frames 4
and 6. If I load the film back and use the entire roll during a session
(maybe 30 minutes or less), no problem. This only occurs if the film is left
for several days in room light, or several hours in sunlight.
Eposure is cumulative. If she has a very small light leak in the camera, it
may be sufficiently small that it causes no ill effect when the film is used
over a short period of time. On the other hand, if she leaves the camera for
several hours (or days), there may be a sufficient amount of light getting
in to cause the problem. You say that her first roll had several. Perhaps
she could go over that roll and try to recall her actions. If, for example,
there was a light leak on frame six and 12; did she put the camera down for
a time after shooting frame 5 and 11, or frame 7 and 13? If the second roll
had only one, did she stop shooting for a period of time within a frame or
two of the affected frame?
As a work-around, does she have a "never-ready" case for the camera? With my
Canon FX's, the case covers the entire back and bottom of the camera so that
a bad seal would not be a problem- assuming I used the never-ready case!
The lens changing idea doesn't cut the mustard for me either. If the shutter
curtains were not fully closing, the edges of the light leak would be sharp
since the shutter is almost in contact with the film.
Good luck!
Ken Hart
kwhart1@xxxxxxxxxxxx
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