One shutter speed on my MX (1/250) seems to be wildly off. I first
noticed seemingly random overexposures this summer. I suspected
everything but the shutter-my metering, miscalculated filter factors,
bad luck. The most recent roll I developed had two badly overexposed
frames-both shot at 1/250th. Reviewing the older rolls I realized
that all of the problem frames were made at that same speed. I
grabbed the camera and dry fired the shutter at various speeds-based
on an eyeball estimate, it looks as if 1/250th is closer to 1/50 (or
even 1/25). And it's not consistent. Proof sheets show slight
variation in the overexposure. All the other speeds seem to be fine.
Any ideas what might have gone wrong and how fixable it might be?
This is a recent problem. I know that 1/250 has functioned perfectly
for years. If it matters, this shutter has the older sequence of
speeds, including 1/5, 1/10, 1/25, 1/50, 1/100, 1/250, 1/500.
I now have more experience than I wanted printing badly overexposed
Delta 400 and TMY. I've actually been surprised how well these films
have held up, given their finicky reputations. The main impact
(other than increased density and long printing times) is that the
negatives are rather flat and require grades 3.5-4 in printing. That
accentuates the grain, of course, more notably in the Delta.
Thanks, Ben. --- Rollei List
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