Help - What caused this?

[SmartWombat]

Does it only happen in portrait, and not in landscape shots?
Or when angling the camera up, but not shooting straight & level?
That would be a strong indicator of focal plane shutter problems.

[drg]

Does it only happen in portrait, and not in landscape shots?
Or when angling the camera up, but not shooting straight & level?
That would be a strong indicator of focal plane shutter problems.

Orientation of the camera shouldn't make any visible difference in how the shutter is performing unless it has already failed or is about to, like in right now. Even with a polarizer the banding shouldn't be lessened if it is a shutter sync/binding or follow problem.

I talked to a RF fan today who scowled at the mention of ACROS 100 and muttered unkind things about the film and pressure plates in many modern and vintage cameras mechanical cameras. From that source it makes me believe there is engineering at play to take into consideration keeping tension on the film to make it flat as you find in a motor wound camera but not in a manual advance. That would produce another problem however.

If a second roll of film consistently show this, then the final test is to see if the camera syncs with a flash at the appropriate setting. If there's a 'follow' problem, 'The second curtain isn't traveling at the same speed as the first' it will be highlighted when using flash.
Sometimes it is bad enough that you can see the outline if not the surface detail of the shutter itself from reflected light. If that is the case though, usually you wouldn't be getting any even closely usable exposures.

Let us know what other info you discover. I hope it is not your shutter, warranty or not.

[Grandpaw]

I am going to jump in here with you more experienced folks and give my humble opinion. I would rule out developing all together and say it will be the shutter. By this having a perfectly even band and it also only being on certain shots, to me this would rule out the developing process all together. My money is on the shutter, Jeff

[photophorous]

Out of the six shots that clearly show this problem, one of them is landscape and all of them where taken at an upward angle.

There are no shots on this roll that have a large area of continuous tone, except these six problem shots, which all have a large area of sky in them. I'm thinking the problem may exist on other shots, but just isn't noticeable.

Now I'm very eager to finish the roll in the camera. I'll get my flash out and take some shots at the flash sync speed and a few stops below. Maybe I can finish the roll tonight and develop it tomorrow.

Thanks, everyone. I'll let you know what I find.

Paul

[photophorous]

Here's one more shot. When I looked at this one closer, I noticed that the band isn't straight across, so I adjusted the levels to make it stand out more. What do you think? To me, this might indicate that it's not a shutter problem, because I would expect it to be a straight line. But, I'm not sure.

Thanks, again.

Paul

[another view]

When I looked at this one closer, I noticed that the band isn't straight across, so I adjusted the levels to make it stand out more. What do you think? To me, this might indicate that it's not a shutter problem, because I would expect it to be a straight line. But, I'm not sure.

I don't remember seeing this mentioned, so I was just about to ask if every shot on the roll looked this way, or if there was any strange marks on the leader and between the frames (the unexposed areas of the film).

I think the shot you just posted makes it a developing issue; where the film may have not been wound on the reel properly. I'm not an expert so take value of this diagnosis for how much it cost you...

[photophorous]

I don't remember seeing this mentioned, so I was just about to ask if every shot on the roll looked this way, or if there was any strange marks on the leader and between the frames (the unexposed areas of the film).

I think the shot you just posted makes it a developing issue; where the film may have not been wound on the reel properly. I'm not an expert so take value of this diagnosis for how much it cost you...

Only six shots on the roll show this, but it is not easy to see, so it's possible that the subject matter of the rest of the shots just cover it up. There are no marks on the leader or between frames.

Cost me? How did you get my credit card number?!?

I hope it's a developing issue, but I'm still afraid it's not. The more I think about it, the more I think I would have noticed if it wasn't loaded properly, especially when I unloaded it after developing. I took about 20 test shots last night to finish the roll in the camera. I plan to develop it tonight, so hopefully it will all come out good.

Paul

[reverberation]

My Personal thoughts are that it is a shutter issue. The dark areas look like a shutter blade to me. Perhaps they share a commonality; shutter speed, aperture, or camera position?

[another view]

Have you tried it again? As in same camera, new roll of film and different developing session. Has it only happened on this roll of film? Just trying to eliminate possibilities.

[photophorous]

I developed the test roll last night. No sign of a problem. I took several shots at shutter speeds ranging from 1/15 to 1/500, of my TV, and of a blank wall, with and with out a flash. Everything turned out fine. I guess this means it was either a processing issue or the shutter problem is intermittent. I'll just have to keep watching for it. Time to start another roll.

Sometime in the next few days I'll post a thread on my experience with Delta 400 pushed to 1600. It didn't blow me away, but it looked good enough that I want to try it again.

Paul