ME Super problems

[brendonmeyer]

I'm trying to diagnose something that's been happening to my pictures. Just trying to figure out if it's

something inside the camera doing it or if it's Walgreen's doing something to the film as they process it. I

can't tell if it's something smudging the film as it's being rewound or if it's something actually damaging the

film. It's definitely not on the lens because it happens with different lenses. Anyone seen anything like this

before?<div></div>

[brendonmeyer]

Another pic, the "damage" isn't always uniform.<div></div>

[brendonmeyer]

Zoom/crop from another pic.<div></div>

[jgredline]

Brenden, did u scan the negatives, or was it put on a cd rom?

[brendonmeyer]

These are scans I did of the prints, but I can see the damage on the negatives.

[brendonmeyer]

Well scanning the negative you really can't see it very well for some reason, but I took my camcorder and held it up to the light and you can see it pretty clearly. Looks sort of like something scratching the film or something.<div></div>

[jgredline]

I had a similar problem, infact very similar with my K1OOO and it turned out to be the machine that CVS used to process my film. I do not know much about how the film cameras are made, but it seems to me, there is no place for that to happen in the body.

[brendonmeyer]

<p>Yeah that's what I'm suspecting. I would think if it was the camera the entire roll would be like that, since

the whole roll would have to pass through whatever's causing it. What really sucks is the first time I noticed it

was from pictures from a family reunion, and I was the only one really taking photos. Got a few good ones but the

main group portraits were ruined.

 

<p>Haven't been pleased with Walgreen's as it is. Had some pics done where it looks like their printer was

running out of ink or something, so I took the negatives to Wolf's and see if they could give me better prints. I

guess the gal thought she was doing me a favor by trying to color correct or something but either way they came

out even worse. All I wanted was whatever was on the film only without the print marks. <a

href="http://picasaweb.google.com/brendon.l.meyer/WalgreensVWolf#">Here's the comparisons</a>. The Walgreen's

were fairly accurate color wise, the moon was nice and orange that night.

[michael_kuhne]

In my area, I have had good luck with Kodak Perfect Touch service through K-Mart.

[ed_yuen]

Hello:

 

I'm going to take a shot in the dark and say that it's their developing machine, but not being there in person it would be hard to say. Since most of the machinery uses some sort of roller transport system to move the film through the various chemical baths I going to say that one or more of the transport rollers has either been damaged or has something caught/wrapped around somewhere. Are these marks occurring throughout the entire roll of film, randomly along the negs or at the beginning or end? Is it consistent in the same position along the entire length of the negs?

 

Regardless, I'd have a few words with your developer and have them check their machine for damage or loose parts inside their machine. I wouldn't be surprised if there was something caught in the works.

 

Ed

[miserere_mei]

Further to Ed's comment, I would suggest you get your money back or some credit towards future development once they've fixed the machine.

[mel_unruh]

Shoot a test roll. Go to a different lab, preferrably a pro lab and have some machine prints made. If you get the marks here, then you have a problem in camera. Otherwise problem is with current mini lab.

 

Mel

[brendonmeyer]

Thanks everyone. I'm definitely going to go get some money back. But there's a good couple of months in between taking some of my rolls in, and I'm amazed that no one else has had this problem and mentioned it to them so they'd fix it. I know I'm not the only one getting film developed there.

 

As for the uniformity it varies, like this one lasted about 1 and a half frames of the negative, some can go 2 or 3 frames.

 

Well hopefully x-mas will be bringing a dslr (or at least hints have been dropped for me not to buy anything just yet) so I won't have to worry about it much longer. Of course at last count I've had about 35 rolls or so developed and I figure it's about $10 a roll ($7 for the processing, $2-3 for the film itself) so that's over half way to a good camera as it is. But...I've been learning so it's not exactly throwing money away. Just means with my keeper ratio so low those keepers are awfully expensive.

 

Well thanks again, going to head back up there a little later and raise a ruckus.

[michael_kuhne]

You will probably find a DSLR of great value for your needs. There are some great deals now on the K200D packaged with the very nice little kit lens, from the major mail order stores like B&H and Adorama. Remarkably well-built model at the price, with numerous advanced features. There are still a few left over K100D Super on some shelves, last time I looked- at Tristate camera. That is a very nice entry level model too.

 

That being said, film is still a preferred way to go for me when I need to order multiple sets of prints. Less costly, especially if your service offers initial sets of 5x7's.

[michael_kuhne]

Oh, and you are right- the percentage of keepers is a BIG factor!! If I do not expect a very high keeper percentage, going digital wins.

[michael_kuhne]

I forgot to mention the new extra-small model, the K2000. It is designed specifically as a bottom entry camera, and more compact body. But there are some sacrifices. Up to now, all Pentax compact models have had a top LCD panel, instead of the back panel having to serve double duty, and, unlike the other brands, the Pentax lower priced cameras have all offered a full feature set, including mirror lockup and depth of field preview both on screen, and in the viewfinder. The K2000 has promise to be a good camera, but the top LCD is gone to make it yet smaller, and just looking, I do not see the control for DOF preview, which is normally located as part of the on/off switch! I have not yet checked further to see what else may be lost.

[jack_fisher1]

I saw this problem one time before. When discussing with the process guy at the store, (a quality processing shop), and examining the negatives, he said it looks like stress marks. This only happened in my daughter's camera. My films were OK. It so happens that she is left handed, and was rewinding the film with a backward twirl (counter clockwise on the rewind crank). When I showed her the clockwise arrow, she learned to rewind correctly, and the problem was solved. Barring that in your case, I would try a test roll at another lab, as suggested above. ...looks like stress marks to me.

[brendonmeyer]

Well I took about 26 pictures back and got a refund of just over $8. Guy behind the counter gave me 2 rolls of film, too, so that's not too bad. Still going to try some other labs. Wal-Mart has done pretty well the couple of times I've taken them there, tho I wasn't always thrilled with the color, but that could always be on my end. Or actually my camera's end as now and again it seems to have a mind of its own when it comes to shutter speed. Like when it's on auto even tho the meter says 1s or 2s it'll still jump down to 4s when I actually snap the shutter.

 

@ Jack, that's certainly possible. But the only real problem I've ever encountered with the winding action was one time when I was rewinding it it seemed to get hung up towards the end, but if I recall correctly there were no bad images from that roll.

 

And I just went through the forums searching "k10d k200d" as I figured there were would be good comparison threads on it. Definitely would be satisfied with the k200d. I did find a k10d with the 18-55 kit for a very reasonable price, but I doubt it will still be there when the time comes. Sure would be nice, tho.<div></div>