'Ghost' double-image w./ 4x5 negative

I'm not really sure that this is the best category in which to post this question,

but here goes: I'm using an old Calumet monorail. Most of the time, it seems to

work pretty well. However, sometimes (under varied conditions), I get

When I had the camera checked out at the time of purchase, I was told that it

seemed to be fine and working perfectly but that the lens showed initial signs

of separation. There don�t seem to be any bellows holes that would cause a

pinhole image, so does anybody have any ideas? I've included an example of

one of these negatives. Sometimes, shooting under identical lighting

conditions and with only minutes between exposures, some very similar

negatives will have these 'ghosts' and some won't.<div></div>

I have no idea, but I would think something that bright should appear on the ground glass. Is there a lens hood or something else you are putting in front of the camera before taking the picture?

The "ghost" image certainly looks like a pinhole image. The pinhole might be in the bellows, or less likely in some other part of the camera. One factor influencing how strong the ghost image is how long you have the darkslide out. The pinhole will be exposing as long as the darkslide is out, while the lens only exposes the film when the shutter opens. Could this explain why some negatives show the effect and others don't? If you are leaving the darkslide out for a much longer time than the shutter exposure, it would explain why a faint and hard to see pinhole can make a strong ghost image. Another possiblity is that the pinhole is in the bellows and opens or closes depending on slight changes in the position of the bellows.

 

A standard suggestion for looking for pinholes in the bellows is to use a flashlight inside the bellows with the camera in a dark room. Also check that the lens is correctly attached to the lensboard, and that the lensboard seats correctly in the camera. Particularly if your camera has interchangable bellows, the connection between the bellows and cameras should be checked.

 

With your camera, you could try removing the back and studying which parts of the camera, if they had a pinhole, could illuminate the bottom of the negative but not the top (remember that the image is inverted). Something with a circular hole is blocking the pinhole from illuminating the top part of the in-camera negative (bottom part in your attached photo). What is that circular thing? The pinhole is most likely forward of the circular object so that most of the negative is shaded, causing the circular boundary of the ghost image. (A less likely possiblity is that a circular hole is forward of the pinhole, blocking parts of the scence from illuminating the pinhole.)

 

You could also try reasoning out what front rise/fall would locate the ghost image where it is. Perhaps recreate this photo and move the lens so that the bench is located as in the ghost image -- remember this lens position -- call it "G". Now move the lens to create the non-ghost image, just as you did for the original photo. With the lens in the original taking position, the pinhole will be roughly located at position "G".

When you make two photographs in succession and one shows the ghost but the other doesn't, were you using the same lens and bellows extension each time? If so, then this is indeed a puzzle. But if not then it sure sounds like a pin hole leak in your bellows. What happens is that with the bellows extended the area with the pin hole is exposed to the light so the leak shows up as a ghost but with the bellows compressed that area isn't exposed to the light so the pin hole doesn't affect the image. I had this exact same thing happen about a year ago, I couldn't begin to figure it out until it dawned on me that all the ghost images had been made with a 300mm lens, where the bellows is extended almost to its maximum with my camera. The pin hole was in an area of the bellows that got exposed to the light only when that long lens was used.

 

If you're sure it isn't a pin hole then another possibility is light leaking in around a lens board. This seems unlikely but it's conceivable that one of your boards isn't fitting right or has some other problem and you get the ghost image only when using the lens that's attached to that particular board.

Check for a broken/floating shutter blade. Also, do the light inside the camera test- dark room and a 25 watt bulb through the back, then look for light on the front.

Hi Rafil,

I believe you have some sort of pinhole somewhere below the lens, probably

around the edge of your lensboard. Your pinhole image is fairly well centered,

so I'd look directly below the center of the lens.

I can't remember whether the old Calumet 4x5s have screws that go through

the front standard into the bellows? If so, are they all present? What kind of

lensboard are you using? Sticking a flashlight facing forward inside the

bellows with the room lights off should really help. Good luck,

Tracy

I'm in agreement with the above answers. I had this happen also, but my "ghost image" was oriented differently to the main picture than yours, but it is probably a hole in the lensboard, or a void around the mounting flange of the lens. That's what mine was. I reused a lensboard when mounting a "new" used lens, and the flange didn't completely cover the old hole. There was a very tiny void near the bottom of the flange that created a pinhole image on the film. It had me stumped at first, too. But if you do some close checking, you'll find something like this.

 

Good luck.

 

DG

Rafil,<br>I concur about the pin hole somewhere. I extend the bellows the full length of the rail, bed, or track whichever is revalant ot the camera I'm checking. Next I set a mini mag flashlight to a bright spot with fresh batteries, turn off all lights or go into the dark room. Run the flashlight inside the camera from the back along all 4 corners of the bellows the full length, then around the perimeter of the lens board then the lens. Next install the back with a film holder and remove the lens board and check the back in the same manner. A pin hole or light seal failure will be a bright white light spot while a thin or weak spot will be a dim yellowish one. Any hint of light should be repaired.<br>Charles

Common guys. I do not understand all your supernatural explanations: pinholes, testing the bellows, lens separations?

 

Ghosts are ghosts. Sometimes they are around, then one can capture their presence on film, like Rafil just did, or they are gone. No ghost in the vicinity, no image.

It is a UFO. They tend to emit a lot of light. I suggest you check

your lensboard for tightness. It happened to me once.

Thanks for all the helpful suggestions. I did the dark room tests from every

angle. Finally, looking through the back and shining the light against the front,

moving it all around the lens and the lensboard, I saw a very faint, tiny

pinhole. It seems to be somewhere around the lens/lensboard, and it is fairly

well-centered. It's so faint that I am having trouble finding it, but I should be

able to once I re-collapse the bellows and put the flashlight inside. Now I have

looked through other negatives with the ghost image and have realized that

all of the ones with ghosts were ones with VERY long exposure times. Now

the only problem is that the 1/2 second and 1 second shutter times are off, but

hey--I'll post another question about that...