500c film ghosting?

Not sure how best to describe this, but a new to us 500c occasionally has some weird ghosting happening 3/4 the way up the frame. It's not every photo, but the photos that it does happen on (10%?) it always seems to happen in the same area. Any ideas? Thanks.

That's just crazy! There's no double-image on the shed roof just behind the fence. Nor on the shiplap cladding directly to the left of it.

 

Are you sure the fence didn't fall down half way through the exposure?

 

Maybe someone's pranking you by tinkering with the scans?

 

Funny how these weird faults always seem to hit film cameras.

 

I wish that were the case however you can see it on the negatives as well (we are doing the scanning)

 

Funny how these weird faults always seem to hit film cameras.

 

From what I read here and elsewhere, digital has it's own myriad problems.

Is that the model with focal plane shutters or the in lens shutter?

Thats very strange.

It has the in lens leaf.

mmmm... the mystery continues.

 

but that model doesnt have a focal plane? i know some focal plane cameras let you use lens shutters if you over ride the curtains some how... pentax 67 eg.

 

i suspected focal plane curtain bounce or using a fill flash at the wrong sync speed.

 

fire the shutter off the body to be sure it is operating correctly?

put in a test roll (backer paper) and while firing the camera, no lens, see if the film moves when firing the camera?

 

something is moving while exposing.

 

same spot every time? its at the bottom of the oriented negative. something is bouncing.

 

auto return mirror?

Edited December 19, 2017 by paul ron

It seems to be in the same spot every time.

 

It has the curtain in the back, I'll have my wife hold the shutter release longer for the next roll (it's her camera) to make sure that the curtain is definitely open for the entire shutter time, the photos above were shoot at 1/500 so I figured it wouldn't be an issue. Maybe she has soft fingers which is causing something strange to happen between the curtain and the shutter. The mirror doesn't return until the film advance is cranked. Thanks for the brainstorm.

It could be a mirror-like internal reflection in the camera. Look into the base of the camera with the lens removed and the shutter fired.

 

If it were the lens you should be able to see the effect in the viewfinder, so it must be something happening during exposure - like a reflection from the mirror underside.

 

"something is moving while exposing."

- I don't think so. The effect is too localised, and not a perfect double-image. The 'ghost' image is displaced both vertically and horizontally, and only occurs in the centre part of the image, not toward the edges.

 

A reflection is my best bet.

 

"From what I read here and elsewhere, digital has it's own myriad problems."

 

- Myriad? No. And you know for certain that if something does go wrong it's within the camera; not processing, film manufacture, storage, scanning, etc.

by moving, im refering to the shutters. it seems only the top 1/4 (actually bottom) of the neg is effected. it looks like a shutter bounce. i suspect something with that curtain.

 

 

you do see it on the negatives?

 

fire the camera with the back open?

 

it has nothing to do with soft fingers or how long you hold the button in.

Yes, it's visible on the negative.

 

I took the back off and fired it a few times, I'm not sure what it would be reflecting off of. Lens shutter appeared to work properly. Everything inside looks normal and black. I can take photos of it I guess I'm not exactly sure what I am looking for. Thanks.

Does it always occur with the same film magazine, or is it with all of your magazines? Looks like the film might not be flat for the whole exposure. Are you getting the film under the side rails on both sides? If you only have the one film magazine I'd rent/borrow/buy another and see if the problem is universal.

That is definitely weird though.

JD

Only have one back, the other is 220 which we haven't tried. It's probably worth getting another A12 anyway.

 

We have the older style with the view port on the back, it only has one side rail. We're going on a trip this week so we'll just see how it goes and maybe buy another back in the new year. Thanks.

Buckled film would result in a patch of the frame that's out of focus, not double-imaged. Plus the double image obviously has the same sharp focus as the primary image.

 

Not to mention explaining how a small section of film could significantly shift in a tiny fraction of a second, and without apparently moving the surrounding area of film!

 

The area of double image also appears to change vertically, and doesn't affect the exact same area of every frame. (Compare the vertical position of double image between the two examples.)

 

The more I think about this, the more I can only put it down to a splitting of the light-path in a restricted area of the frame.

 

Only a few options spring to mind:

1) A cracked lens element.

2) Something prismatic or reflective behind the lens.

3) A pinhole in one of the shutter blades causing a low brightness after image (not convinced!).

4) That it's caused in scanning - although the OP says otherwise.

5) That our legs are being pulled by a bit of cloning work in PS.