The light leak or the lab boiled the film?

Arvay

Arvay

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I had a roll of Fuji NPL through my Agfa Isolette III last weekend and got the following:

3525623847_e4ce165ec5_o.jpg


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These images ary quite fine. Nice color rendition^ detalization and all that stuff.
But I had some absolutely different pictures omn the same film:

3525624109_f44bcbb573_o.jpg


3525628467_8ddbe98798_o.jpg


3526431732_9062c0f2ea_o.jpg


We can see some stains and other blemishes.

I do not know whether this is old glass performance (that could be strange taking into consideration good images) or labs f***k up? Or fuji's?
How do you think, gentlemen?
 
Check your bellows and check for internal reflections. You will need a powerful torch. Isolette bellows all leak sooner or later.
 
Windscale said:
Check your bellows and check for internal reflections. You will need a powerful torch. Isolette bellows all leak sooner or later.
Click to expand...

Looks like you are right...
Is it possible to do some repairings myself or I should look for the specialist?
I'm not sure I will be able to find one here and the cam will turn to golden ingot if I send it somewhere to the States
Pity, I loved it
 
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Arvay said:
Looks like you are right...
Is it possible to do some repairings myself or I should look for the specialist?
I'm not sure I will be able to find one here and the cam will turn to golden ingot if I send it somewhere to the States
Pity, I loved it
Click to expand...

With the well deserved reputation Agfa has for leaky bellows it is all too easy to jump to the conclusion that anything that goes wrong can be attributed to this problem. I don't believe those are light leaks, unless you have a perfectly square hole in the bellows with felt fabric light seal material on the edges (you can see the fuzz from the felt). That looks like it could be either bad (really bad) film or (far more likely) a lab mistake. My advice would be to run another roll of another kind of film through it, have it developed somewhere else and see if the problem disappears. I bet it does.

Edit: That said, the top of your bellows has a loose bit of fiber hanging down. It can be seen in the lower right edge of every photo. I hesitate to mention this but there is a possibility (a very small one) that you might have a loose rear lens element too.
 
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Windscale said:
Arvay,

Ask Fallisphoto nicely and he may fix it for you. His knowledge of folders is almost second to none.
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Thanks, but there may be nothing to fix. I suspect the problems are due to sloppy lab work. I can find a donor camera (or buy a new bellows) and change the old bellows out but, as much as I hate talking myself out of work, I'd hate to see him send the camera all the way to the USA from Moscow if it turns out only to need a loose thread clipped. Changing out the bellows, if it needs it (might have already been done), is pretty simple and easy to do yourself too, with an Isolette -- although it can be a lot more difficult with other folders.
 
Thanks for the readiness to help, but the post expences nowadays will two-three times exceed the price of the cam 🙂

It's probably easier to buy some bellows somwhere and to change them myself.
Could you please advise where it's possible to find Agfa Isolette III bellows?
 
Arvay said:
Thanks for the readiness to help, but the post expences nowadays will two-three times exceed the price of the cam 🙂

It's probably easier to buy some bellows somwhere and to change them myself.
Could you please advise where it's possible to find Agfa Isolette III bellows?
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Where you are, it is probably going to be least expensive to get a good condition Kodak 66 and harvest the bellows from that. The Kodak 66 was a horrible plastic camera, just one step up from a Holga. It isn't as good as a Photak Foldex. Almost all of them were sold in Europe. It only had one good feature: The bellows were very robust, were very well made, and, well, that was pretty much the only good part of the camera. The 66 bellows will also fit an Isolette perfectly. They were the last bellows cameras Kodak made; as bad as they were, they generally didn't get much use, so the bellows are usually in pristine condition. They are also pretty easy to get out intact. Having a bellows made will probably cost around $80. A Kodak 66 usually costs around $20. Which sounds better to you?

Edit: BTW, this is a Kodak 66:
Kodak_66_by_FallisPhoto.jpg


As you can see, take out four screws, cut through the glue, and it's out.
 
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Thanks for advice FallisPhoto!
Viewing some 66s on ebay.
Unfortunately here in Russia even this cam is a rare one.
Maybe Iskra's bellows will fit?
 
they probably would, but there would have to be a cheaper russian folding 6x6 camera option than that.....is there an Ebay for Russia Arvay? if there is can you post the link so that i can look at whats on there ..googles not bringing me any results that i can see
 
Arvay said:
Thanks for advice FallisPhoto!
Viewing some 66s on ebay.
Unfortunately here in Russia even this cam is a rare one.
Maybe Iskra's bellows will fit?
Click to expand...

The Iskra bellows will probably fit, but Iskras are not cheap. If you get one of those, I'd look for one that is in pretty bad shape, but with good bellows. Maybe you can find a wrecked East German Zeiss Nettar? The bellows from those will fit.

I did find two Kodak 66s for sale on ebay, if it helps. http://cgi.ebay.com/kodak-66_W0QQit...D2VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em122

http://cgi.ebay.com/KODAK-66-model-...D2VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em122
 
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Arvay said:
Thanks for advice FallisPhoto!
Viewing some 66s on ebay.
Unfortunately here in Russia even this cam is a rare one.
Maybe Iskra's bellows will fit?
Click to expand...

If you can find the leatherette and some shutter curtain material, there is another "last ditch" option: http://www.rolandandcaroline.co.uk/Making_Bellows_for_Isolette.pdf

Shutter curtain material (inner liner) can be bought from Akai Asahi: http://aki-asahi.com/store/html/curtains/shutter-curtain.php or Micro Tools: http://www.micro-tools.com/store/item_detail.aspx?ItemCode=SCM3

Sheet leatherette (outer cover) can be bought at cameraleather: http://www.cameraleather.com/ and real leather can be bought at Columbia Organ Leathers (extra thin or XXXthin): http://www.columbiaorgan.com/col/skins.htm#CPL Clock
 
With the exception of the white flare on the photo of the flags which I haven't seen before, the other degraded shots look very similar to a Fuji film I just ran through a newly acquired Rolleiflex. After a bit of a panic I ran a roll of FP4+ through with perfect results. Between me and the lab we concluded (a) Fuji film is good (b) this Fuji film was two years out of date, had been given to me and probably had been stored near heat (c) either I or the lab hadn't been quite careful enough loading or unloading the film and allowed the roll to get a little slack. So I had a combination of old, damaged film stock and light leaks - not from the camera, but from maintaining tightness in handling of the roll.
 
Not exactly I'm trying to keep the price down but I do not want to turn my Agfa into Arca.
Investments should be rational.

There is no Russian e-bay, we have a domestic Molotok (Hammer) but there are no such cams as even Kodak 66. Iskra or Moskva are frequent there. Price differs.

Micro-tools is a great place but they do not ship to Russia/ I noticed it after I picked up leatherette and tools and tried to check out. Pity as they have tools that are not being sold here.

Roland adn Caroline did a great job and I saved the instruction for the future but having no materials its helpless 🙁

Anyway, thanks for these great knowledge bases.
I'll keep on going with "K66 decision" as it seems the most reasonable in my situation.
 
Leigh Youdale said:
With the exception of the white flare on the photo of the flags which I haven't seen before, the other degraded shots look very similar to a Fuji film I just ran through a newly acquired Rolleiflex...
Click to expand...


http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidrn/426600090/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikewebkist/299101562/

These are two examples I've found while looking for the answers for my case.
Second one guy says that it's a kind of flare. This can mean we are victims of uncoated lenses flares probably 😱
 
Leigh Youdale said:
Maybe some member is USA or Europe could locate a 66 for you and remove the bellows to mail to you? Or even the whole camera.
Click to expand...

I'm keeping my eye on the one on ebay. It will cost me circa USD 20 with post if the price is not going to rise. I consider it acceptable. 🙂
 
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