Development Issue B+W: Lighter along frame edges inside frame

[snusmumriken]

If this is the cause, ... why is it not widely known?

If it is the cause, it may not have hit the news because a lot of people would simply crop away the image margins. The FG viewfinder only shows about 92% of what the film records, to allow for the overlap of transparency mounts. (Some film SLRs were even less inclusive; and please don't start the guys going on RF viewfinders...!) So in many cases the margins would not be a critical loss, creatively-speaking.

 

[Nikanon]

If it is the cause, it may not have hit the news because a lot of people would simply crop away the image margins. The FG viewfinder only shows about 92% of what the film records, to allow for the overlap of transparency mounts. (Some film SLRs were even less inclusive; and please don't start the guys going on RF viewfinders...!) So in many cases the margins would not be a critical loss, creatively-speaking.

I’m shocked that there isn’t any kind of article or otherwise on this decades later. It does seem to be less apparent on higher ISOs , but still there. Regardless of the view being not quite what is recorded, you’d think one of the millions of people would eventually encounter this and it would’ve gone up the chain

 

[MattKing]

Your individual camera may be missing the blacking that would be normal.

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

Get some flat black enamel, or even a black Sharpie (comes off with alcohol), and see what happens. Take a few test shots of the sky and maybe a naked lightbulb against a black surface (our outside at night).

Might also want to try standard 5 inversions/30 seconds agitation. I've never figured out the appeal of minimal agitation except that it lets you watch Better Call Saul while the film develops.

 

[gone]

Excuse me, but "Sir" is for old men and none of us is them.

Not where I'm from, and you're going to get a lot of push back if it's not said. It's a sign of respect, and 100% a cultural thing, it just depends on the culture where one lives.

 

[gone]

Is that blacking normal Matt? I have several cameras here, and they all have shiny film guides.

 

[MattKing]

Is that blacking normal Matt? I have several cameras here, and they all have shiny film guides.

The problem isn't with the film guides behind the shutter. I think it is a problem with the vertical shiny strip inside the mirror box, in front of the shutter - the area I illustrated in my earlier post.

 

[Nikanon]

Get some flat black enamel, or even a black Sharpie (comes off with alcohol), and see what happens. Take a few test shots of the sky and maybe a naked lightbulb against a black surface (our outside at night).

Might also want to try standard 5 inversions/30 seconds agitation. I've never figured out the appeal of minimal agitation except that it lets you watch Better Call Saul while the film develops.

I reduced my agitation because it lowers contrast by reducing the density of the highlights. Years ago a did a test with a densitometer to see the difference in highlights based on agitation which doesnt replenish or give as much activity to the developer, but still enough to keep it fresh and i was satisfied with one inversion every 30 seconds

 

[Nikanon]

The problem isn't with the film guides behind the shutter. I think it is a problem with the vertical shiny strip inside the mirror box, in front of the shutter - the area I illustrated in my earlier post.

Is it normally blacked in all FGs? What are the chances mine just didn't have it out of the hundreds of thousands?

 

[MattKing]

Is it normally blacked in all FGs? What are the chances mine just didn't have it out of the hundreds of thousands?

Don't know about all FGs, or in fact any FGs - I never owned or sold any of that model - but you shouldn't discount the possibility that the current status of that part of the camera is different from how it initially came from the factory.

 

[ic-racer]

Irregularities along the edges of the image frame are to be expected and the viewfinder every camera I use* crops the spoiled area out of view as the Nikon FG. does.

*Except F6

 

[xkaes]

Obviously a reflection issue. I've had the same thing happen with some Saunders paper easels where the sides holding the paper down reflected extra light onto the paper -- and did the same thing to the print.

I have a hard time "digesting" how Nikon would make cameras with this obvious problem. Bad QC? Some black matte paint should solve the problem.

 

[Nikanon]

Obviously a reflection issue. I've had the same thing happen with some Saunders paper easels where the sides holding the paper down reflected extra light onto the paper -- and did the same thing to the print.

I have a hard time "digesting" how Nikon would make cameras with this obvious problem. Bad QC? Some black matte paint should solve the problem.

Thats sort of what i'm getting at. This camera has never been worked on, so nothing replaced, but clearly there is a mask internally that is not blacked out at all and very reflective. Bad!

 

[pentaxuser]

We really require all other owners of this camera to check the part that matt mentions to see if they have the same reflective edge, don't we?

If this reflective edge is the problem and all of this particular camera left the Nikon production line with this edge then many 1000s or indeed all of this kind of camera would cause this problem.

Difficult to believe that Nikon built this problem into its camera and if it did so inadvertently why this would not have received a lot of bad publicity. So it suggests that maybe your camera has acquired the reflective edge that appears to have caused the issue, hence my opening line above.

Alternatively an experienced Nikon service engineer, should you know of one, might be able to help diagnostically.

pentaxuser

 

[Sirius Glass]

We really require all other owners of this camera to check the part that matt mentions to see if they have the same reflective edge, don't we?

If this reflective edge is the problem and all of this particular camera left the Nikon production line with this edge then many 1000s or indeed all of this kind of camera would cause this problem.

Difficult to believe that Nikon built this problem into its camera and if it did so inadvertently why this would not have received a lot of bad publicity. So it suggests that maybe your camera has acquired the reflective edge that appears to have caused the issue, hence my opening line above.

Alternatively an experienced Nikon service engineer, should you know of one, might be able to help diagnostically.

pentaxuser

What?!? Did I hear the impending threat of a CLA or tune up in the wind?

 

[xkaes]

We really require all other owners of this camera to check the part that matt mentions to see if they have the same reflective edge, don't we?

If this reflective edge is the problem and all of this particular camera left the Nikon production line with this edge then many 1000s or indeed all of this kind of camera would cause this problem.

pentaxuser

Hopefully some FG user will chime in. It's entirely possible that this particular specimen missed a small step in the manufacturing line. Stranger things have happened -- just ask any coin collector.

I got a new Seagull camera a while ago. Absolutely new, in the box. Works great except for the second shutter curtain always getting stuck when it tries to close. I bet something is off by .01mm.

 

[Nikanon]

What?!? Did I hear the impending threat of a CLA or tune up in the wind?

I doubt the FG is worth a CLA at under $100 for a body, probably better investments to be made