Possible development issue?

[jrose125]

Hey gang,

Tonight I developed my very first roll of film and I ran into a slight issue: The roll has only about 8 usable images, the rest of the roll is blank.

Could this be an issue with the development or is there an issue with my camera?

Images:

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Camera issue. Looks like you have a bunch of frames exposed on top of each other near the bottom of the film in your picture. You camera's film advance is not working right.

 

[John Bragg]

Looks at first sight like an issue with the camera. Faulty film transport maybe ? I would say that film is fully developed as witnessed by the black leader. Frame spacing also looks uneven. What camera is it ?

 

[jrose125]

Looks at first sight like an issue with the camera. Faulty film transport maybe ? I would say that film is fully developed as witnessed by the black leader. Frame spacing also looks uneven. What camera is it ?

It's my M3... I bought it back in December and the seller said it had been CLA'd the previous year by Youxin Ye...

 

[lynnb]

Agree with Chris that film transport seems an issue with those last overlapping frames. The blank frames elsewhere indicate the film was being transported but not exposed (the frame numbers along the edge of the film and the random properly exposed frames show it's not a film development problem). Possible reasons for non-exposure would be lens cap on, or a malfunctioning shutter.

Did the seller provide a receipt/proof of CLA by Youxin?

 

[John Bragg]

Sad to say that it is not working right. Is this your first film with it ? I would test film transport with a junk film before proceeding any further.

 

[lynnb]

I had a similar experience with my IIIc of random blank frames or groups of blank frames, also a few rolls completely blank (but in all cases the frame numbers were visible along the edges and the leader was exposed) - turned out to be quite a lot of film fragments stuck in the shutter assembly.

Identical to what you're showing here.

 

[Ronald M]

Always keep the film taunt and check the rewind to be sure it turns as you advance the film.

 

[jrose125]

Hey guys, I've got some fantastic news:

I burned the rest of the roll that I had in the M3 (about 8 frames left) and developed it. Heres the results:

Everything is evenly spaced 😀

My guess is that I made in error in loading the film!

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Hey guys, I've got some fantastic news:

I burned the rest of the roll that I had in the M3 (about 8 frames left) and developed it. Heres the results:

Everything is evenly spaced 😀

My guess is that I made in error in loading the film!

That's good that it was just a loading problem. Old Leicas are kind of a pain to load compared to more modern 35mm cameras. Once you get used to it, you won't won't have any more problems.

 

[jrose125]

That's good that it was just a loading problem. Old Leicas are kind of a pain to load compared to more modern 35mm cameras. Once you get used to it, you won't won't have any more problems.

Yeah they are a little different. Hopefully I'm on my way to perfecting the art of loading an M3 😀