Hmmm... 1st roll ever but don't know what's wrong...

[gblader]

Hey guys - I came from the world of DSLRs and did pretty good. But I realized I took 3,500 photos on a 10 day trip to Europe... I felt I needed to calm down and wanted a better experience taking photos while doing so ~ especially after reducing the 3,500 to 350...

So I took the lunge and bought the Leica M3 & Summarit 1.5 despite some recommendations not to do so - especially bc of the flare. Anyway, I posted some pics - and would like some help.

The vertical/horizontal bars are my crap scanner, but the colors seem true to the prints.
1. Why is the 1st so off color?! (Do I need a filter? Stop down some more?)
2. Why is the 2nd so flarey - when I didn't even have a backlit light?
3. Why is the 3rd so perfect shot at same aperture at 1st one?

Btw the lens is in pretty immaculate condition and seems to have the original coating in tact.

Thanks in advance guys...

#1

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#2

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#3

 

[philipus]

Which scanner and what settings did you use in the software (which)?

 

[Lund]

To my eye is looks mostly like the scanning process is what messes things up. The colors seem off in a strange way that I only achieved by using the wrong white balance when scanning.

 

[Noll]

Not an expert here, but to my eye the banding might be the result of poor processing and the first two shots look underexposed. Check the negatives. Does the image barely register on the negs? Can you see faint streaks on them? This should get you closer to pinpointing the source of the problem

 

[gblader]

unfortunately it's accurate to my eye - the first pic is really really red... should I use a 80a or 80b for the light under the first one?

The scanner is a hp6310 and I used the preset for photos - but it really does look like that...

 

[gblader]

Well the streaks are not the problem - they are from my crap scanner. The prints look like the above without the banding. Also, I had them developed at a lab and they just printed them out on to photos - I'm assuming they used their pro scanner for this job and printed from there...

 

[Spicy]

what kind of lab? if you're in the US, the difference between a pro lab and going to CVS is astonishing. i had figured the drugstores that still do 1-hr photo would at least have decent machines (surely not the most up to date, but still competent), but everything i had done at walgreens and CVS was absolutely awful. i'm sure it varies considerably based on location and also the tech doing the dev/scan, so i'm sure it's not all of them that are like that.

 

[Photo_Smith]

The first picture is red because it is shot under tungsten light and underexposed, second is OK just blue and the third is what I would expect.

Your scanner is poor and I'm not sure it even has a basic film holder or film hood (film needs to be backlit by a special unit) and seems to compress tones.
To evaluate get the lab to scan them or better still by a half decent scanner like a V500 and learn to scan flat (low contrast) and adjust curves in PSCS.

 

[gblader]

I think I need a 80a filter right? I wonder why the 2nd is blue-it was using daylight-do I need an orange filter for daylight? ...film is getting more complicated than I thought^^

 

[pakeha]

3rd looks alright, 1 and 2 the possible reasons have already been listed.
What film is this?
Put another roll in the camera and get outside with no other light source,early morning /late afternoon. Then see what happens.
Dump that scanner, even an old epson v300 will do a better job.

 

[anjoca76]

I don't think a filter is going to help much. Filters won't help underexposure, which is what's causing, in part, the weird low-light colors. Are your shutter speeds accurate? Has the camera had a CLA? The scanning problems make it tough to really know where the true problem lies.

 

[shadowfox]

I think I need a 80a filter right? I wonder why the 2nd is blue-it was using daylight-do I need an orange filter for daylight? ...film is getting more complicated than I thought^^

Have you considered starting with black and white?
I found that I *really* hate messing with filters.
My true love with film is B&W.

 

[philipus]

Maybe the first one could have been helped by a filter, I don't know. But simple post-processing helps. Here's an attempt with ColorPerfect. Setting the grey point with curves/levels didn't really work. It could certainly be better than this.

The second one doesn't look flarey to me. It looks blue. Setting the gray point helped I think.

Bottom line though, try finding a better scanner and perhaps a better lab.

 

[_goodtimez]

Are you in China ?
The reason I am asking is that my sister is in Shanghai, she is using an M6 and she has had really bad results with film developping.
Maybe this is just why...
If you cannot get it right you can do a B&W film and send it to me for a test.
PM me directly if you want to do so.

 

[gblader]

Thank you all for the great responses! Im guess that the exposures were off - I've been using my iPhone(i know i know...) as a light meter. My M3 had a CLA last year by Lazzari. Also, yes, the lab was horrible... although I found a really good one in Seoul.

Thanks for that extremely kind offer goodtimes.

I will try B&W as well - since I have a developing kit at home I just got to get around to it^^

anjoc76 - would a 80a filter help with the 1st? I shot it under tungsten light

 

[magicianhisoka]

Don't beat on the iPhone meter too much. It is pretty decent for outdoor usage 🙂 in low light it is much more inaccurate

 

[ShinX414]

since i only own digital cameras/rangefinders i can't really contribue to the processing or scanning, but if you want to fix the colour cast in the first 2 pictures it then try this out in photoshop:
1. use the dropper tool to get the colour of the cast
2. insert a new layer and fill it with the selected colour
3. invert the layer with the colour
4. set your opacity to what you see fit (usually it's around 40-60%)

 

[candidcameraman]

M3 and iPhone light Meter app

M3 and iPhone light Meter app

and the lens you have... overexposure seems to be your biggest issue (aside from a bad lab)

Film is extremely forgiving, with your set up ... under expose

I have the same set up you have, I used to over exposed then I ... learned how to get better results, by bracketing - you will learn too.

What ever your meter tells you, take the shot and then take a second shot one stop down...

i.e., f/1.5 at 1/30 of a second, take the second (same image) at f/1.5 1/60 of a second... you'll be surprised

 

[baisao]

The first picture is red because it is shot under tungsten light and underexposed, second is OK just blue and the third is what I would expect..

I agree with this advice. I don't know that you can compare the first and third shots because it is not obvious, to me, if the lighting conditions were exactly the same for both photos.

Also, and I may have missed this, what film are you using? How are you metering?

Remember that for B&W you meter for the shadows you want to see as middle gray and for color meter you want to meter for the highlights. But this is just the beginning.

 

[sc_rufctr]

Sorry but... How can anyone make a proper assessment when this is the situation. "my crap scanner"?

You need to shoot a new roll and get the negatives scanned with a known working scanner.
Surely you can get decent proccessing in China! I would imagine the film market would be huge there. 😕

Apologies in advance if I have offended you.