35Sp Blank Negative Symptom.

[Herman Abdullah]

Hi.

It has been quite a mistery to me as ive got a blank negative during development.
It happened twice now. 😕

e.g: out of 5 roll of films , 2 has been blanked.

I remembered that i did some shots direct to spotlight..is that being an issue with 35sp..i mean can the light penetrated straight to the film?

Oly doctor please help.
:bang:
cheers.

 

[MartinP]

Unfortunately I don't know much about specific olympus compacts, but can I try to clarify the problem you saw . . .

Do you mean that particular rolls were completely blank, from one end to the other ? Or that these rolls each had a few blanks on them, where you would expect the pictures to have been properly exposed ? Were there no blank shots at all on the other three rolls ?

Possibly there was a film-feed problem with those two rolls. Perhaps the camera has a rewind crank which you can watch as you advance the film. If the film is being wound on ok, then you would expect to see the rewind crank going in the opposite direction to it's rewind "arrow" as the film comes off the cassette.

Probably if there was some sort of light-leak (the last part of your post) then the negative should be darkened in some way, probably clouded or stripey, rather than being blank. Like you say, it would need someone who knows this particular camera model to comment on how the metering-system responds to extreme lighting, but if it blanked out for an entire film then it sounds like a problem.

Good luck !

 

[Bill58]

Maybe the aperture blades are stuck closed or open due to oil on them and need servicing (CLA). Open the back and check to see if the blades are opening/ closing when you trip the shutter release at different f-stops. Higher f-stops equals smaller apertures (holes).

 

[Trius]

If there are frames blank when using the spot meter, it could indicate an issue with the meter which results in severe under-exposure. I've never heard of that, and don't know what would cause it. One test would be to visually check to see how the meter indicator in the viewfinder reacts when you depress the spot button. If it is way different (say, 6-7 stops higher EV,) then that may be the problem.

If you mean entire rolls are blank, then it's likely the film didn't catch. Unless, of course, you shot every frame in spot meter mode. In that case, the problem described above might apply.

 

[Jonathan R]

Do you mean the frames were black (overexposed), or clear?

If clear, suspect stuck shutter. Take out film, cock and fire shutter 10-20 times at each speed, especially the fast speeds. Chances are, that will fix it. Had this with both a Leica M (focal-plane shutter) and a Rollei 35 (Compur shutter) recently.

 

[julio1fer]

I hate to say this - I forget quite often to take out the lens cap. It gives beautifully blank frames.

 

[Herman Abdullah]

Thanks for the feedbacks.

I will not make any conclusion yet, because i ve got another roll in the camera now, waiting to be developed soon.

Anyway, after scrutinising the edge of those 2 blank films i believe this would probably be the cause:

'Possibly there was a film-feed problem with those two rolls. Perhaps the camera has a rewind crank which you can watch as you advance the film..'(Martin P , 2007)

Historically, 20 years ago I was deceived by the same film counter. I thought there was a film that advanced nicely in the camera by looking at the moving number..at the end i found out, there was no film, but just a moving counter..

But now, the same film counter advanced nicely, maybe..just maybe the film did not advance as it supposes to.

To test that, i wasted 2 frame just to make sure the film stick to the crank and firmly wound to the advance winder before i close the lid..

Hopefully i troubleshoot it right...