Diagnose a problem with my M3 please

L

Lens Flare

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Aug 7, 2015
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Hi All,

I am new to photography but after meeting an enthusiastic user, I purchased an M3 on Ebay. I have shot about 10 rolls all fine (well plenty of poor shots, but no signs of anything up with the camera). The latest roll developed by a different place came back with some weird bright points. How can I upload photos to show you?
 
Check the shutter curtains for pin holes by opening the back and removing the lens and holding the camera up to a bright light. Your description fits this issue but it seems odd that the previous rolls were ok.
 
I will give it a go. There is a strange smudge like fingerprint (stripy ridges like a fingerprint) on the negatives near the bright point. It is hard to describe without photos. Can I email you some?
 
I have uploaded two crops from the photos to the gallery. I will delete them shortly so as not to clutter the gallery.

U66537I1443865847.SEQ.1.jpg


U66537I1443865847.SEQ.0.jpg
 
I have to admit that I have never seen anything like this although I shot film for many years. To me it looks like either a problem with the film emulsion manufacture / quality assurance or the developing- almost as if the emulsion was overheated?? in the centre of the image you have posted causing it to distort. But of course that is a guess. Your description suggests it was limited to one roll I think. Is that right? Where was the distortion on the actual negative - centre? outer edge? Were all negatives on the roll affected?

Edit: I do recall one odd problem I had years ago when the film became jammed somehow and I over tightened it when winding or unwinding. The emulsion on the affected images was distorted in a similar manner. But the distortion went across the width of the negative and was different to yours in that respect which seems to be limited to the centre.
 
Are these blotches on the negatives themselves or in the scans? If the latter, could be gunk on the scanner. Also maybe gunk on the back of the lens. Same place in every frame throughout the roll? Could be some sort of contaminant as a result of sloppy development practices but if it's the exact same place on every frame it's probably the camera and something on the back of the lens is my best guess.
 
These are both the bottom left corner of the negative. It is just this roll. Only 3 frames affected from very different parts of the roll. I hope it is a processing/emulsion issue. The film cooking lever felt smooth throughout as did the rewind at the end.thanks for the advice so far.
 
Oh, three frames in different parts of the roll suggests sloppy handling in the lab to me -- someone with dirty fingers or perhaps the roll was dropped and those three frames touched.
 
That's made me feel better. Fingers crossed for the next roll. I will test lens and curtains just to be sure. How does this happen when film touches?
 
Lens Flare said:
I have uploaded two crops from the photos to the gallery. I will delete them shortly so as not to clutter the gallery.

U66537I1443865847.SEQ.1.jpg
Click to expand...

I had a similar problem on my M2 which I never got to the bottom of.
http://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/203446-light-leak-m2/#post2385290
It was bought by a forum member with full knowledge. I'll check to see if he got it sorted.
Another chap had a similar leak here:
http://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/194385-leica-m3-light-leak/

Compare your light leak with mine
http://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/203446-light-leak-m2/?p=2308293

Return it for a refund or partial refund to cover the cost of a trip to the repairer's.

Pete
 
Yeah, that really looks like someone damaged the negatives somehow, with fingers clamps or something else. I seriously doubt this is something that your camera is doing- but your lab may need evaluation.
 
You said the two you posted were on the bottom left corner, was the smudge on the bottom left corner in every affected frame? If that's the case then a light leak may be the better theory. Light leaks can look different from each other on the film depending on what the nature of the leak (i.e. depending on what interior surface of the camera/lens, if any, the light is reflecting off before it hits your film).
 
If you are new to this you should also realize that pointing your lens at the sun can burn holes in your shutter curtains. But if that were the case here you would see dark spots on your negatives (bright spots on the prints.)
 
Pioneer said:
If you are new to this you should also realize that pointing your lens at the sun can burn holes in your shutter curtains. But if that were the case here you would see dark spots on your negatives (bright spots on the prints.)
Click to expand...

I am absolutely confident it's not pinholes in the shutter. The photos he posted weren't at all consistent with pinholes (though I can definitely confirm that it can happen. It happened to me -- take care to keep your lens pointed away from the sun as you walk around).

These are something else. Flare is possible though if that's it light is not going the film directly, it's reflecting off something in the camera and I'm not sure what. It looks quite a bit like fingerprints really.
 
Ok so sorry to drag up this lightly dormant thread.

I have had the next roll of film from this body developed (been away on a non camera safe holiday so no chance to get it done sooner).

The light leak is still present. This time I used Portra and had it developed by a different lab. This time it's just the first frame that seems to be affected, but all of the photos were take in two in quick succession in two sessions.
The camera was in a fairly lightproof camera bag between these sessions. I will add a few photos to the gallery for extra info.
 
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