Analog film photography and cameras

It still has an ND no. on it. Turn it to max and leave it there?

Hi all,

I recently purchased a 1984 Canon T70 that I really like and have enjoyed exposing the first roll a lot. I picked up the prints to find a black bar across a third or half many of the exposures. See below:

I can say with confidence that images 6 through 24 were taken at 1/1000 (perhaps one at 1/500 but certainly no lower) save image 13 which is was taken portrait (the bar looking thing at the bottom is a wall). Images 1 through 5 are 1/60 or 1/125, no bar present.

In the lower image there are three exposures, one in a cafe at 1/60 or 1/125 and two outside at 1/1000, to better illustrate the issue.

Am I right in saying the mirror is out of sync with the shutter and not retracting fast enough at high shutter speeds? If so, any idea of a fix? Would a service cure this?

Many many thanks in advance for any help/tips/advice!

Fujifilm FDB-105 sold!

Anybody on here fancy a changing box? This is a proper commercial one. It was a spare from a minilab I worked at years ago, and I have had it in storage for a while.

*(relative to the huge changing tents we used for the big paper rolls for the fujilab photo printer)

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Looks like the mirror. Take the lens off and take a look at as you fire to see if it fully retracting. Wouldn't be worth getting it serviced as they are so cheap to buy anyway.

Sorry I meant to say it's fully retracting at every speed. Which led me to thinking it was out of sync with the shutter.

And true re. servicing. An excuse to get something a bit nicer now.

Shutter capping at high speeds is pretty common. If it's been sitting unused for a while it may free itself up and the problem disappear. Try firing it off a ton of times before giving up on it.

Anyone got anything nice, fully functioning and Canon FD? Or anything interesting really that I can pair with some nice glass, not looking to break the bank.

Looks like shutter capping to me.

With the back open/lens off look through as you run through the speeds. Likely you won't be able to see it unless it's a really laggy curtain/mirror.

Run a roll against a plain wall with a tripod, test all shutter speeds in progression for the whole roll. Best to see if it's consistent across all speeds or just one.

Will do, cheers for the insight!

I have a spare AV1 I think. Need to check it works. Maybe an AE1 too, will check the shelf later.

Great shout, was thinking of doing something similar against a white sheet of paper.

Yeah, the mirror is sticking or something.

Put it in burst mode with no film and just blast the shutter for a while.
If no burst mode then just fire off a few blank shots for a couple of minutes.

Sound, will do that.

Are you developing yourself? The angles vertical lines look like agitation issues during development. Often they line up in regularity with sprockets

Really nice. Is that pushed to ISO 25,600 or something?!

@pdlouche yes, it's stand developed and the issue is exacerbated by my post processing

@Well_is_it it's incredibly overexposed and processing to get the contrast where I want it also made the grain pop out. The super grainy stuff I post sometimes is more often overexposed than pushed, and the appearance of the grain is partly a result of the digital processing to get an image from the fucked up negs. I like horrible fucked up negs.
(This time was actually an error tho...)

What dev solution/concentration/timing? Aggressive agitation will make it worse, but so long as dev time is more than 3 minutes then constant gentle rotation for first minute then rotating every 30 seconds will make the world of difference.

If your dev is over 10 mins then every minute is okay, so long as you have overfilled the tank, don't skimp out - better to spill and waste liquid than fill 500ml into a paterson and risk inadequate dev.

You know like swishing brandy in a glass? I used to do that for agitation, rotation making circles with the dev tank (but keeping the base in contact with the counter), plus the occasional tap on the counter to free up air bubbles.

really nice, been wanting to try out infrared for a while too. what are you using, any recommendations?

Thanks, this was Rollei Infrared but Rollei Retro 400s and Rollei Retro 80s are equally IR sensitive and they're a bit cheaper (and I suspect Infrared is the same film as 400s with a different label on it...)

I think those are the only films in production with real infrared sensitivity. I have some Retro 80s to try IR with as soon as I have a chance.

Spend 4 nights in the darkroom now, bit of a learning curve but getting to grips with it now.

Different paper seem to have vastly different properties so that has been tough.

If shooting film makes me selection, printing is making me look even harder at what is a good shot.

It always helps to start with a 'good' negative and practice to get a 'good' print from it, and go from there. If your exposure and sharpness were good to begin with, and the development was adequate for a printable neg, then all you need to do is experiment/learn what makes a good print.

Don't rush anything, and cut your sheets into strips for testing to get an idea of density and contrast. No point wasting a whole sheet when one can provide 5 tests to get the print right (exposure, contrast, etc).

Mixing paper stock is a road to confusion because it's hard enough to get to grips with a single one. Take frequent breaks, let your eyes adjust and check your tests in the light or you'll miss simple means of improving like seeing the whites aren't white or blacks are muddy.

You certainly don't need to deviate from an all-round paper. Something like Kentmere VC would be good.

It will become fairly intuitive in no time. Then it's easier to focus on the artistic decisions (dodging, burning and a bit on contrast). It's awesome to be involved to that level.

I started with the Kentmere VC and got a few good prints. Moved onto Ilford RC multigrade and that seems to give lower contrast and exposure for the same values: comparing with the Kentmere.

Used to use Ilford paper in the school lab and found it to be pretty malleable but all the contrast adjustments came from filters...