Are my pictures too light damaged?

[tess_mactavish]

I took my first holga roll to Jessops to be developed and printed. Although they said it would only take 10 days, it

took them more than a month. When I picked them up, the woman who developed them told me she had decided not

to print them, as she felt they were too light damaged and it wouldn't be worth it (despite the fact that I'd paid her

already to print them), but told me she could print them if I really wanted her to. I decided not to leave my film in her

hands any longer, as it really had been just one thing after another.

 

I had a look at the negatives, and they do look fairly light damaged -- in some, you can see part if the picture, but the

rest is just blackness, and some of the shots are just completely black (a lot of those are just where I forgot to take

the lens cap off though, lol). If it's relevant, I was shooting in Cyprus in highly sunny conditions.

 

Please tell me what you think -- does it sound like my negatives are so light damaged that it wouldn't be worth

printing them, or is it just the normal, beautiful light leaks that are expected of Holga photos?

 

Thanks very much! :D

[richterjw]

It may be that you need to use a slower ISO film. I have had a couple of Holgas. One used 100 really and the other 400, even though that technically shouldn't be correct with the supposed shutter speed (1/100-ish) and aperture (f/8-11) combination. Best, JR

[rainer_t]

-- "but the rest is just blackness, and some of the shots are just completely black (a lot of those are just where I forgot to take the lens cap off though, lol)"

 

Don't forget ... it's a negative film ... black on a negative means you overexposed ... the print would be completely white ... you certainly did NOT forget to take the cap off in these cases!

 

-- "does it sound like my negatives are so light damaged that it wouldn't be worth printing them"

 

Yes.

[randall ellis]

Did you cover the red window with black tape? If not, the light coming in from the window likely caused the heavy overexposure (black negatives). I use a 400 speed film for bright conditions and a 100 speed film for lower light conditions in mine and get better results that you would think was possible for a $20 camera, so my suggestion would be to try the same choices in those conditions. I would also remove the back and apply electrical tape over the red window so that it blocks the window for the setting that you do not use (6x4.5 or 6x6). That way you can slide the window to that setting, which will prevent light from entering the window, between shots. Move the slider to expose the paper backing only when winding and then close the window back again as soon as you've advanced to the next frame.

 

- Randy

[evan_goulet]

It could have also been a really loosely wrapped roll of film that suffered from light leaks at the spool ends.

 

Also, I am guessing that Randall switched his film speeds around in his third sentence.

[randall ellis]

Heh, good spot. That's what I get for not proofreading...

 

- R

[eclecticbuzzard]

Have a contact sheet made and determine for yourself.

[tess_mactavish]

Thank you very much for all your help and answers!! Rainer T, thanks very much for pointing that out about the lens cap -- I didn't even think of that!

And Randall, I'll bare that in mind about taping. And thanks also to all the advice I received on film speeds!

 

I'll have a contact sheet made (I didn't even think of that), and see what I think.

 

Thanks so much, everyone! :)