Help request: R3A flaws / exposure quirks?

[bml]

I recently came back from a trip in London, and quickly had my film developed. I was disappointed to see some serious flaws on some of the negatives. Some have big streaks of overexposure down the middle, and others seem to be hazy on portions of the image... please see the attachments to see what I mean.

a.jpg, b.jpg: Those long streaks.. I don't know what is up with that, but it happened throughout several rolls of film (even after changing the batteries), and it only occurs up until about the fifth frame on the roll.

c.jpg, d.jpg, e.jpg:On this particular roll, my battery was dying without me realizing it. Several times, when I pressed the shutter release, the shutter would open but not close until a few seconds later... Only later did I stop and think to realize that my battery was dying, causing the problems. Anyway, a few frames were blown out because of the lagging shutter, and the adjacent frames seem to suffer on the sides nearest these overexposured photos. Should that really be happening?

Any ideas what the cause is here? I hope there is nothing wrong here with the camera...

 

[bmk1960]

X rayed at airport

X rayed at airport

Maybe the film was x-rayed coming through security?

 

[dreilly]

I thought x-ray machines only hurt high iso film? What film were you using?

 

[bml]

Agfa APX 400. Shouldn't have been affected. It only went through the hand luggage x-rays.

 

[clintock]

The blown out adjacent frame problem might be normal enough, but the first five or so frames with the light streaks I wonder if something is leaking light in the developer tank, but then again the streaks are sort or regular..
The shutter on the bessa being a verticle type can't really do patterns like that, I wonder just how strong the xrays on the hand luggage thing were?
I'd shoot another roll now that you're home and see if the problems are still there to rule out the xray machine.
Also check to make sure the foam around the little window in the back door is intact..
But I cant see how that would make the patterns like that..

 

[swoop]

When I go through an airport I put my film in my checked luggage inside an x-ray bag. When going going through the security screening. I have them hand check my camera.

 

[Avotius]

I want to say it looks like x ray damage too but they are awfully straight vertically. FYI 400 speed film will get damaged by x ray's, so will 100 speed film, I got negatives that can prove that. Try running off a cheap roll of film real fast and send it to a lab and see what happens there

 

[kaiyen]

Your first samples...so after the 5th frame or so, it stops happening? This means it's happening basically at loading into the camera or into the development tank. It's increased density so it's not film touching on the reel.

It's really hard to say what could've caused these. Maybe it is the loading onto the reel, but it's hard to imagine that you'd see it happen on that many rolls.

Are there rolls that came out okay, entirely? And you had a lab do these?

allan

 

[timeUnit]

Looks like a leaky film hatch or film "window" to me. I don't think it happens when you load the developer tank.

 

[Xmas]

Does the exposure continue uniformly into the rebate, if it does it is not the shutter.

If you use a chrome film then you can tell which side the leak occurs from, from the colour.

Sorry, could be the camera, is all the door foam still there?

Noel

 

[koala]

Please read this regarding film and xray.
http://www.kodak.com/global/en/service/tib/tib5201.shtml

 

[ian_w]

How about light leaking through the felt trap in the film canister? Did you load it in direct sunlight? It may be a one off, but then again you may want to turn away from the sun when you load if you don't already.

Ian

 

[bml]

Ok, here we go... yes, the film was processed at a lab.

There were six total rolls, one of which was still in the camera when I departed (with about half of the 36 exposures already shot). This too went through the x-ray, and this first roll is the only one without vertical flaws. This is the only perfect roll.

The other five rolls were shot entirely in London, and brought back through the x-ray along with the first roll.

The second roll has vertical stripes through the second and fourth negatives (and exposure #00, which is only exposed half-way because it's not a complete frame.)

Third roll: narrow vertical stripe through first frame.

Fourth roll: vertical stripe through second frame.

Fifth roll: vertical stripe right down middle of first and second frame, affecting both negatives at the edge, and stripes through negatives three and five.

Sixth roll: vertical stripe through first and third negatives.

(And almost every blown out frame affected the adjacent frames in some way, it seems.)

So there you have it. I can't open up the back because I have a roll in there right now.

(As an aside, I discovered today that I am also having battery life issues, which I will have to make a separate thread for... Grrr.)

 

[clintock]

I don't know if this applies to the R2/3A bodies, but on the T and R bodies, there is a small bit of foam near the battery compartment that must be in place to prevent light from leaking from the battery compartment and a cavity to another cavity that could get light onto the film. It's easy to check with the bottom off, but I'd not take the bottom off if film is in the camera, not in bright light anyway..
I used to have a soft release button on my r3a and put the hurt on my batteries real fast by leaving the switch on while the camera bumped around in my bag.. At least that's what I blamed it on as I removed the soft release button..

 

[bml]

Ok, I took out the roll I had in there (since it had no exposures), and the foam around the film window is intact. Everything seems fine in that respect.