First roll of film back...

[vegard_norway]

Hello all.

Got my first roll of film back today.

It was the first roll I have ever shoot with a SLR, the old Pentax Spotmatic.

How it look?
Hmmm...Not so good:confused:.

The photos are good, but a bit blurry....In focus, but not clear. Like I was shooting true a thin withe paper.
Why?
The film was a 400, the day was bright sunny day in winter Norway.

When I was shooting, the light meter was all wrong, had to shoot with the ISO set to A, witch I know now is all wrong. Why I had to? Guess it was the battery, it was not of the right V and size.
Or?

But, all in all I am happy.
HAve ordered a new battery of the right size and the camera is loaded with new film.

 

[waynecrider]

I'm sure you might have done this already but did you by any chance take a good look thru your lens when off the camera. There might be a chance that the optics have oil on them or maybe there's alot of scratches on the front element. Was the sun on the front element? I shot an old scratched up Leica lens on my M3 once at the shore and got the same look you describe.

 

[vegard_norway]

Hello and thank you for the reply.
Oh, to me it looks ok....But, I will take a better look and also have someone else to look at it.
Yes, the sun was on the front element.

 

[Hatchetman]

Batteries for those are very easy to find. Anything that is 1.5 volt and fits will work. Don't struggle trying to find the 1.35 volt one.

There could be a problem with the processing. did you get prints or are these scans?

 

[vegard_norway]

Hello.
I did get prints.
Batterie, maybe it was wrong, not sure. But, the new one is on its way.
So, hope next roll will be a bit better.

 

[Toffle]

The key point is you came away happy. You will solve whatever problem this is. The Spotmatic is a great camera. Load another roll and find the settings that work for you... and if you can purposely re-create your initial results, you'll hopefully know how to avoid them.
Keep shooting.
Cheers,
Tom

 

[Hatchetman]

Could be the film was underexposed and the printer tried to correct it the best it could.

 

[vegard_norway]

Thank you.

Yes, I am happy.
These is something I will keep trying, and one day.....YES, I got it

 

[emjo]

"through a thin wite paper". The oil on the lens has been covered already, you would find that by visual inspection. Another possibility is that cold weather could solidify some fog on the lens. It would disappear when you brought the camera inside again.

(Vegard, det är lätt att det blir lite imma på linsen. Jag har fått det då jag skyddat kameran innanför jackan, dumt nog...)

 

[vegard_norway]

Emjo,

Thanks for the reply. Yes, maybe it was fog on the lens. Hmm, yeah, I did keep the camera under my jacket. It was cold that day, -15C and bright sunlight.

 

[PentaxBronica]

Can you borrow another SLR (ideally one which is known to be accurate) and compare the light meter readings between it and the Spotmatic? That should at least show whether the meter is telling you the truth.

 

[EASmithV]

Try using the sunny 16 rule, eliminates the light meter error

 

[vegard_norway]

Thanks for the tip. Will se if I can borrow a camera. Also, the sunny 16 rule will be tested and used.