stelwyn_hynt

Hi, I've owned an AE-1 for some time now, and it's suddenly developed a rather alarming light leak problem. There is one on almost every photo, to varying degrees, in various places, but the common theme seems to be an orange stripe across the middle, blue stripe to the side. Here are examples from a roll taken recently: [click here]. Any thoughts on what this could be? Could this be a sudden fault in the mechanism? Any thoughts/advice would be appreciated :)

Hi there, I own a Canon P mounted with a Jupiter 8, and with which was coupled professionally (the camera got knocked around a bit when I bought it and it was off). I'm thinking of buying a Summitar f/2, but price-wise I'd like to know whether I'll need to take both the camera and new lens to a shop so that the rangefinder patch and focusing can be matched? Many thanks in advance for any help on the matter.

<p>Hi, I've been using my Olympus XA for a while and it has always worked fine. I'm in the middle of a roll right now and I've noticed something that's worrying me.</p> <p>When I wind the film on, the rewind knob is meant to turn as well (right?). I've noticed that is has been turning, but very little, which indicates to me that the film might not be winding "enough". I loaded the film carefully and always check that it has latched on properly etc. by winding quite a lot before even closing the back. I am roughly half-way through the roll, so at this stage the rewind knob should be turning as much as the winding wheel, but it just isn't: it's budges a bit by 2-5mm. This is something I've never paid attention to so I'm not sure whether it's normal behaviour or not. Could anyone offer insight into the situation?</p> <p>I know the usual rule is "develop and see" but I'm on holiday with this one camera and several rolls so it would be nice to know whether the pictures I am taking will potentially result in one big mess of overlapping shots...</p>

<p>Hi, I just bought an A-1 off eBay, for which the listing stated it was in full working order. I've encountered two, small issues, and would appreciate thoughts"</p> <p>1. The knob ("AT dial") for switching between aperture priority (Av) and shutter priority (Tv) is really difficult to turn. Is this a common issue? Can it be fixed by oiling, and if so, how easy would this be to do at home? There's a little bit of blue just below the dial, I'm wondering whether the metal has oxidised a little (or whatever the term is).</p> <p>2. The LED that flashes for battery check and countdown for the self-timer doesn't work. The camera itself is working fine (shutter fires, meter reading in viewfinder works, self-timer works etc.) so this is more of an inconvenience than anything else, but I'm wondering whether this is fixable i.e. if I got it CLA'd is this something they can fix? I realise the electronics are usually the hardest parts to save in these cameras.</p>

<p>Hi, I use a Canon P and it's always served me well. However, every now and then, I'll get a light leak in the lower left corner of the frame, and I'm not sure what the cause is. As I understand it, on colour negative film, light leaks from the back/light seal problems will show up orange-ish, so it's coming from somewhere else (?). It looks like it's emanating from a small source, and it only appears in a couple frames per roll. Any ideas?<br /> <img src="http://i.imgur.com/ltk3iZm.png" alt="" /></p> <p><img src="http://i.imgur.com/ZfWdSy5.png" alt="" /></p>

<p>This is mainly motivated by curiosity. The corneal reflex i.e. a blink occurs at approx 0.1 sec, and the average blink lasts 0.3 - 0.4 sec. Most everyday pictures a shot at faster exposures than those times. I've always assumed that the reason people blink when getting their picture taken is either due to either pure chance, or the sound of the mirror slap which occurs before the shutter is actually released. If this is the case, blinking should be a lot less common with rangefinders. That seems fairly logical, though please correct me if I'm wrong.<br> I'm more interested in flash: I am going to assume that in an SLR, blinking often happens because the flash switches on as/before the mirror slaps back i.e. before the picture is taken, allowing the subject time to blink. Factoring that out in the case of a rangefinder, would it be the case that the flash is "too quick" to result in a photo blink? So that excluding bad luck, we shouldn't expect much blinking with rangefinders?<br> Or is a camera flash actioned significantly faster than the mechanism that triggers the shutter, resulting in no big differences between camera type?</p>

<p>Hi,<br> I recently bought an Olympus XA and shot a roll with it. I was really silly in rewinding the film and turned the knob the wrong way round after I was finished - it was quite difficult, but it took me a while to realise something was wrong. After quite a few turns I googled it and realised that it was meant to be turned clockwise, and then rewound it successfully etc. I plan on sending the film to get developed, but I'd like to know whether there's a chance I've ruined/scratched some of the film? What happens when you turn the rewind knob the "wrong way round"? It didn't seem stuck, just difficult to push...</p>

<p>Hi,<br /> I sent some photos to a lab to get processed, printed & scanned. Both on the prints & scans, I've noticed that small patches of pink/red look like they've been unintentionally "boosted". I've attached two crops of photos to illustrate: the flowers in the first, and the bottom of the bowl of dye in the second. The films were respectively Ektar & Superia 400. <br /> I know Ektar is always quite saturated, and Superia, not being a "pro" film, might not deliver the most accurate colours, but both of these seem strange, and look like the result of a digital fault. I'm thinking about emailing the lab, but I beforehand I wanted to ask whether this is indeed the scanner's fault, or perhaps the software which they're using to colour-correct the scans, and not a possible result of the film itself.<br /> It's a bit hard to tell from the looking at the negatives themselves, and I don't have a scanner to scan them myself and see.<br /> <img src="http://i.imgur.com/9HfEzA8.png" alt="" /><br /> <img src="http://i.imgur.com/AWGMB3s.png" alt="" /></p> <p> </p>

Thanks Stephen, yes it is fully manual. Thanks for your reply, I guess I'll try a combination of those and see what happens. Unfortunately the event is tomorrow so running a test roll is not a possibility either...

It has a chart on the back of it: it's a table with film speeds and distance from subject which give aperture setting (the speed is automatically 1/60)

Ceiling is average height, probably 3 meters, walls and ceiling are wood (neither particularly light not dark)

<p>Hi, </p> <p>I have never used a flash before but a friend has asked me to take photos at an party event inside a bar at night. With no experience I realise these photos aren't going to be terribly good, but I'd like to at least try my best.</p> <p>I only own a film camera (Canon P), so the possible advantage of digital in these situations is not an option. The camera is loaded with 400-speed B&W (Tri-X), and so I will have to use a flash. I've been lent a cheap hotshoe flash that can be attached to the camera by a relatively short cable.</p> <p>Reading online, it looks like it would be advisable to not have the flash mounted onto the camera but instead to either hold it in one hand and not point the flash directly at people's faces to get some shadows, or if possible to soften the light by bouncing the flash on a wall behind me. I'm mainly concerned about the second option: if I am bounce-flashing on a wall that is at most 1 meter behind me, how many stops do I need to adjust to compensate?</p> <p>Just a general indication would be helpful, I realise this is rather vague. Also if anyone has any tips that would be greatly appreciated.</p>

<p>Hi, still relatively new to film, sorry if this question is not up to the usual standard here.</p> <p>I'm been shooting my first roll of Fuji Superia 400, without a light meter. After each shot I write down aperture/shutter speed so that I can see where I've gone wrong/right. After shooting roughly half the roll, I decided to look up an online exposure chart (<a href="http://www.fredparker.com/ultexp1.htm#Light%20Intensity%20Chart">here</a>) just to check whether I am doing alright. From what I can tell pretty much every shot I took is almost exactly one stop underexposed. Most of the shots are in daylight, subjects in open or deep shades (which I've shot as in "cloudy bright light" and "open shades" respectively...).</p> <p>I realise that "we learn from our mistakes", but this got me wondering whether, for the sake of the pictures, I should carry on metering in my head (which naturally wants to go for 800 ASA it seems), and have the film pushed, or whether I should try my best to stick to the 400 ASA from now on and process normally. </p> <p>If I do the former, how well can this inexpensive film handle a 1-stop push? Or would it be wiser to just have it processed normally? If so, how "obviously underexposed" will the first lot be? I realise this is not Portra...</p>

<p>Thanks everyone for the replies - very helpful. Thank you Arthur for the detailed description, it's great to know more about what is actually going on inside!</p> <p>I guess I'll take it to a shop and see what they say/can do. Got a full refund without return so I will try to use the money to get it fixed, but if it turns out to be expensive I'll just leave it. What a shame, it's in fantastic condition otherwise...</p>

<p>My apologies for yet another post about my faulty Canon P, but I am going mad over this otherwise beautiful camera. Many thanks to those who replied to my previous post.</p> <p>I have taken a closer look and have diagnosed the main problem: the front element of the rangefinder (the prism) is loose. I intend to take it to a repair shop in London. For my own peace of mind I'd just like to hear thoughts on this one last thing:</p> <p>Can the loose prism also be responsible for inaccurate "coupling"? I did a little experiment:</p> <p>Got the prism to be "in the right place" by gently moving the front glass with my finger. Both the rangefinder & lens agreed that an object at 1m was in focus. I then focused on something (using the rangefinder) at about 3m - yet the lens indicated that it was actually focused on 2m (reading the lens barrel).</p> <p>Could this be due to my loose prism or is this definitely <em>another</em> problem that I will also need to get fixed?</p>