First pics iiif - help i.d.-ing artifacts

[8ZLGHDN]

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Developed first test roll this morning of my  first Leica, a iiif RD with Elmar 50/3.5 (no hood)

As usual, the thrill of seeing the first negs was pretty sweet. Spacing could not have been better. Didn’t quite get 36 exp from the roll. Perhaps the way the film wound around the spool had something to do with it. I couldn’t advance after 31/32, and just rewound. The developed strip shows I “should have” been able to take a few more photos. But that’s not the reason for this post.

If you look at the scans, I’ve circled the areas that show… something. But, not every photo has it. Most don’t, actually. I’ve included one that doesn’t have it at all, for comparison.

Film used is Kentmore 100, and I cut it properly to load. (Yikes. That was a first)

I didn’t take notes of shutter speeds and apertures, but made sure I photographed in a variety of normal SS/f combinations.

I checked the negs and it’s definitely there, and not introduced in the (DSLR) scanning  process. It doesn’t look overly bad, but I am curious as to what your thoughts might be.

Thanks.

 

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[Kl@usW.]

Hello 8ZLGHDN,

First of all, congratulations on your new camera!

About the scratches: If I understand correctly, you didn’t cut the whole film yourself but only trimmed the leader? Then my first step would be to take a close look at the film — specifically to check whether the scratches are on the emulsion side or the base side. This already gives some clues about the source.

Here’s a simple approach to help identify the cause:

Sacrifice a test roll: Take a fresh film and expose it to uniform subjects (e.g. a white wall or the sky), so that any scratches will clearly show up.

After shooting, do not rewind the film back into the canister. Instead, open the camera  carefully in darkness (e.g. in a dark bag) and remove the film as a roll. Develop. 

Now compare:

**If you find scratches again — and they match the first roll exactly — then the issue is most likely the camera.

**If there are no scratches, or they look different, then the problem probably lies **with the canister or how the film was handled during loading.

This process will help you narrow down whether the problem comes from the camera or the film itself.

Good luck troubleshooting — and most of all, enjoy your new camera!

[8ZLGHDN]

Thanks, useful tip.

And yes, it was a “factory” roll. I only trimmed the leader.

Edited May 24 by 8ZLGHDN

[jerzy]

very unusual for scratches, looks to me very much as pinholes in curtain, intensity depends on background, on how long was the time between exposures, if lens was covered, etc. In order to check curtain for pinholes body cover has to be taken off. 

[8ZLGHDN]

@jerzy, I am wondering about it as well.

I am familiar with the concern of the lens burning holes in the curtain and for the brief time I’ve owned/used it, I made sure the lens was covered right after taking pictures, even if moments apart.

The roll was in the camera for max 12 days.

Wouldn’t bright subjects however increase the chance of pinholes being visible? More light = more leaks? Or is it darker subjects, though less light = leaks more visible?

[jerzy]

no, not burned holes, they would make rounded spots. Common problem with IIIf is porous curtain material, with the time rubber is geeting harder, Sometimes you may see that curtain is wrinkled, this is already almost sure that there are holes. I would say that the problem is in opening curtain, left side, down if you look at curtain after removing the lens, shutter spanned. When you remove lens cap there is enough light to produce bright dots and they are better visible when background is dark, (like on the fence).
This is an extreme case below, very often wrinkles are less noticable

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From my experience I suspect curtain, but I  may be wrong

[8ZLGHDN]

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Ah, I see. I’ll check tomorrow, thank you.

[8ZLGHDN]

(1 of 3)

After finding a YouTube video of a person “splitting” an iiif with self timer to get at the curtain from both sides, I figured, I can do that. So I did.

Then, the bright LED from my phone revealed a pinhole, which to my untrained eye seemed right where I saw the artifacts in the scans. Other than that, the curtains are in good shape, I think.

 

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Edited May 26 by 8ZLGHDN

[8ZLGHDN]

(2 of 3)

I read that some people have had success with fabric paint, and I picked up a little bottle of matte black, that I tested on a piece of cloth to see a] how well it would cover and b] if it would stay flexible after drying. A few dabs with a tiny brush on the pinhole area, let it dry, and check again. The offending pinhole was almost completely gone. Nice!

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Edited May 26 by 8ZLGHDN

[8ZLGHDN]

(3 of 3)

Upon checking after drying in a pitch black space, and illumination coming only from behind the curtain I noticed that the stitches might, just might also leak light ever so slightly.

Mmm… I decided to paint over those areas as well, just one thinner layer.

And after drying, the curtains were darker than dark, blacker than black. A black hole would be jealous.

I ran the shutter several times, slow speeds and fast speeds, and the touched up curtains were doing their job.

Putting it all back together was not bad either, and here’s hoping this fix will last a while. Time will tell.

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[8ZLGHDN]

Update

After developing the first film after the above fix, I can say the fabric paint did indeed do what I hoped it would do. The attached photos don't show any sign of the "artifacts" I saw before the curtains were treated.

So far... phew!

(The first photo is with the Elmar 50/3.5 I got with with the camera. The last three were tests not only for the curtain, but also for an Elmar 9cm f4 (also with matching finder) I just received in the mail. I think that character-wise, it matches the 50/3.5 very nicely)

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[david strachan]

Glad repairs worked, all best.

...

[gbealnz]

Always nice to have an outcome like this, with advice from others as well. 

Now shoot heaps of film, and post in the I like Film thread.