greg_jones3

Spring for a Maxwell screen. Google it and you will find contact information for Mr. Maxwell. Looks like your screen was "vigorously cleaned" several times. Also, check the mirror to make sure it is clean.

Well I flew through Paris Charles de Gaulle airport last year with several rolls of exposed TMY 400 120 that I had run through my Hasselblad SW/C. Upon processing, all of it was highly fogged which I attribute to the security scans at the airport. Film was transported in carry-on, not checked baggage. I suppose it is possible that a scanned image of a roll of 120 film, particularly several of them in a bag, might resemble ammunition or some other nefarious item. I will think twice before carrying film on international travel again, assuming I ever travel internationally again......

Leica M4, 90mm Elmarit-M, on Kodak TMY2

An abandoned church in South Carolina. Leica M10 w/50mm Summicron V5.

Nikon F2AS, 35mm f2.0 AIS somewhere in Scotland......

Nikon D750, 20mm f1.8

Yet I cling tenaciously to the film process....I like the alchemy and magic of it all and it allows me to use my Leica M4s, my NIkon F2's, etc. It's wonderful, when it works, of course. (I do have Nikon and Leica digital equipment as well, so I am not a complete dinosaur)

Past failures have focused on the 1L packaging failing, and then the mixed developer suddenly dropping dead. This issue was a new one (at least for me) but I thought the issues had been sorted out-and I had almost gained confidence in regular use of Xtol. I actually like and prefer the developer for my TMY and TMX films. When it works, it works beautifully. When it doesn't it is a grand disappointment. I have contacted Kodak Alaris who will likely send me replacement Xtol (I had bought 10 5L packages!). However, I will be wary and before I process important films with it and you can be sure I will test it. I'm not quite ready to abandon Xtol completely....but close. Between this issue and the imprinting of roll numbers on my negatives (remember that issue?), Kodak Alaris makes me wonder about their quality control. It's a sad thing. I have been in commercial photography starting in 1972, and Kodak was the gold standard and Kodak Rochester was referred to as the "Great Yellow Oracle." (Yellow referring to Kodak's yellow packaging color, of course.) Alas, things change sometimes not for the better.

Well, I guess I am not completely going daffy. This from Kodak Alaris about Xtol from Fall, 2019:

Well I have a confession to make. I dug the film out of the trash and looked at it again. The first batch had extremely faint images on it WITH the edge printing. The second batch of XTOL that I mixed up and used, there were no images at all and NO edge printing. My old mind plays tricks on me sometimes....in any event, thought I would confess to my error if someone comes along in the future and reads this. When mixing out of the pouches, the chemistry looked very good. But it appears to be no good, apparently affected by high heat.

I know what you mean. How does the edge printing come out distinctly, and no images? I thought the same thing and checked my Leica M4 looking to see that the shutter was working at all speeds. Not a lens cap problem. I am baffled. But I do know I don't trust the packages of Xtol i have (yeah, about a dozen of them) certainly without more precise testing. No leader development, nothing black (or gray) but the edge printing. I should retrieve the film from the bin if I still can.

I have been doing black and white photography for over 50 years, and thought I had seen it all. I mixed up a packet of 5L XTOL (with an expiration date of about a year or so from now) developer which had been inadvertently stored in a hot garage for about 3 months. The powder looked good and the mixed solution looked good. I like the results Xtol delivers. So off I went processing a roll of TMY 135-36 taken with my Leica M4. The result was a barely discernible image, no where good enough to salvage. The edge printing on the film looked normal. Hmmmm, I thought I must have screwed up something so discarded the whole batch. Second guessing myself, I wondered if somehow I put fix in first or some odd thing even though my developer solutions are kept in unique containers (old TMX developer plastic containers). After discarding the first batch, I carefully mixed another 5L package of XTOL like I have done dozens of time. I exposed a test roll of TMY 135-36 at normal box speed, with some exposures grossly overexposed as part of the test. Absolutely NO image this time, but edge markings are present. My conclusion is that storage of powdered Xtol in heat is not a good thing! While there was no evidence that the bags were breached in any way, I am assuming the 100 degree temperatures (at peak) in my garage were not kind to the chemistry. I am posting this as I found a lot of information about Xtol failure AFTER mixing into solution, but not so much about failures PRIOR to mixing (with the exception of the packaging issue early on). I sure wish I would have remembered to put that box containing LOTS of Xtol packages in a "cool, dry, place." Thankfully, I have some D-76 that has been stored properly and it worked well of course.

I suspect many folks have an enormous amount of time available thanks to the pandemic. Also, could be result of searches while not realizing they are reading a ten year old post. Who knows, and what's the harm?

Whiling away the day here is a familiar sight. Not terribly artsy but what the heck. Playing around with my Hasselblad 503CW and 120mm Makro Planar, with a touch of (gasp!) Silver efex.

I'll squeeze another image in this week, for good luck....taken with a D700 and a 35mm f2.0 AIS manual focus lens.

Nikon D700 a couple years ago, with the "lone tree" an old 105 f2.5 AI Nikkor, and the other a 300mm AF-D f4.0 lens. Both taken in Eastern Washington state in the US.

I had a Nikkor 50mm 1.8 lens that did this. If I recall correctly the front lens group was loose enough to move, as was the retaining ring (the one with Nikkor printed on it). Obviously someone had tampered with it. I simply tightened everything up and all was well. YMMV, however.

I had a 124G that I bought brand new back in the day. It was a delicate instrument to say the least. The winding mechanism was the weak spot. Had it serviced three times and finally gave up on it and moved to Hasselblad. Oh, and a Rollei 2.8 E2 for good measure.

Nikon DSLR with 80-200mm AFD and the second taken with vintage AIS lens, probably 80-200mm 4.5 "new"

Nikon DSLR with Nikkor lens.

Here are some images from a recent trip, taken with D700 and various Nikkor lenses.

Most likely just needs the diaphragm return spring replaced, not a big deal. But you need the spring....I would check out the Chicago service as per recommendation above.

Late to the party but here are some images from some time in Scotland and visiting Dunrobin Castle in Caithness, right off A9 captured with ancient equipment: D700 and 24mm 2.8 AIS, and (I think) an also ancient 80-200n 4.5 zoom

Actually my memory may not be serving me well today-I now do seem to recall that there was an empty slot for some reason. Hmmm,, everything looks anchored in place at the melted plastic nubs so need to investigate further.

I bought this lightly used lens at a decent price; the lens has the fairly common problem of manual focusing not working. I assumed someone wrenched on the A/M selector ring and broke the little plastic anchors off that hold the T tabs in position. I had fixed one of these lenses before, so no big deal or so I thought. I opened it up and one of the metal T tabs is missing altogether! It looks like it was never installed. Of course I called Nikon to see if they could sell me one of the T tabs but, alas, got the "send it in for repair" direction. I use this lens in AF most of the time anyway but want to have the manual focus-I may want to use in on one of my F2's if I happen to decide to shoot film. I could possibly fabricate something but that is trickier than it seems, I am sure. I may just have to send it in at some point for "repair" but it is such an easy fix if you actually have the part (and I have done quite a bit of camera repair). Anybody have a source for this little tab? Junk, damaged lens?