Blur developed photos

Hi all,

 

I recently developed a roll of film shot with a Konica Auto S that I bought off eBay and the results were very disappointing. Only 17 of the 36 shots showed up and all of the shots are blurry. I'm not sure if the shutter speed was too slow or something's up with the focusing mechanism of the camera. Could anyone kindly advise?

 

If I remember correctly, the shutter speed should be 1/60s for all of the shots. Focus-wise, through the finder, the 2 superimposed images don't line up exactly. The image from one side is always higher than the other, so I did my best to focus by lining up the 2 images horizontally and ignoring the vertical difference.

 

I'm really bummed out by the wasted roll of film :/

 

 

 

 

That looks like OOF to me and not motion blur. With that said, it's interesting to me that NOTHING in the photos is in focus. If the RF were somewhat off, I'd expect to see SOMETHING in focus-especially in the photo of the hallway where there's a lot behind the subjects, or in some of your others where there's a decent amount in front. When I say nothing is in focus, it looks like there's nothing even close.

 

Were it my camera, I'd be inclined to lock the shutter open(not sure if you have a bulb setting or not on that camera-I'm not overly familiar with it) and put a piece ground glass over the film plane. I'd then look at the GG and see if I could bring anything into focus on it.

 

I'd also do a couple of checks on it. For one thing, I'd go outside and pick an object you can see clearly that should be far enough away for it to be at infinity. A couple of hundred feet should work for a 50mm(or 47mm) lens on a 35mm camera. Look through the rangefinder and see if it indicates correct focus for that distance. If it doesn't, your rangefinder is definitely off. Also, if you can, repeat the ground glass test and see if the image is in focus.

 

Second, I'd be tempted to burn another roll of film and try zone focusing it. Don't rely on the rangefinder, but instead eyeball the distances and set those on the lens focusing ring. I'm not sure if the camera gives you the option to set the aperture, but if it does stop it down some. If not, go outside on a sunny day, set the shutter speed to 1/125 or 1/250, and you should get a decently small aperture. If you want to get picky, you could even get out a tape measure, measure your distances, and see if the RF agrees with them. If it doesn't, I'd still go with the marked setting on the lens over the RF.

The camera is front focussing. That is; the plane of focus is in front of the subject. This can be seen in the power sockets in the lower right corner of the last image, and in the pattern on the bed cover.

 

The wide aperture (f/1.8?) and slow shutter speed used isn't helping. The depth-of-field is very shallow and needs exact focus, which obviously hasn't been achieved. There's evidence of camera shake too.

 

However the main problem seems to be the rangefinder of the camera. A double-image RF should align in both axes. If it can't be brought into alignment, then it's faulty and needs adjustment/repair. A RF as far out as this appears to be has either been severely knocked, one of the prisms has come loose, or someone has been fiddling with the alignment screws.

 

A rangefinder can be checked by shining a laser pointer through the eyepiece. The laser should be split into two beams from the front windows of the RF. Where the beams converge should be where the camera focuses. And you should check the infinity focus on the moon or a distant tree or similar.

Edited April 20, 2017 by rodeo_joe|1

Agree with RJ. Something is very wrong with your rangefinder.

if superimposed images don't align, the RF syste is just off. take a few pictures at infinity focus to confirm it. i guess it shouldn't be so hard ot fix though

With a rangefinder, one should always check, at least when it hasn't been used for a while (or just bought) that the distance seems reasonable compared to the focus ring distances. Don't get confused with feet and meters, though.

 

Also, it is easy to test for infinity with a reasonably far away object.

 

Otherwise, estimate the distance and set the focus ring as appropriate.