Left side of negative is out of focus on my Widelux F7

[Sirius Glass]

The left side of negative is out of focus on my Widelux F7. Any suggestions? I am sending it of to KEH to CLA and release the foam seals because the seals feel sticky. With KEH's new repair pricing I might as will get the CLA and ask them to address the focusing problem.

The fingers holding the camera do show up well considering, I think.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Could the foam block on the right side of the lens [looking at the back of the camera with the back off] allow the film to move away from the proper position? The image does spread there; look at the top edge, it does it on the bottom too.

 

[Mark Crabtree]

I don't know about the foam, but I thought right away that the film wasn't sitting correctly. I don't see how this could be lens or rotation related unless something was really screwed up.

 

[Ian C]

The film is obviously slightly out of position at the ends (not in register with the film rails). Lack of normal tension in the film strip might explain this. That would allow the film to belly out from convex surface of film positioning rails near the retaining rollers just outside of the ends of the frame. This makes sense because that is where the film makes a sudden transition from the large concave radius (of the emulsion side) to the much smaller convex radius as it is forced under the rollers.

I think that the film rewind knob likely needs more resistance to ensure that the film has normal tension.

A technician might be able to adjust the camera to restore normal resistance to the movement of the film so that the film strip has the proper tension to keep it in register with the convex guide rails. I base my comments on the open-back illustration here.

http://manualcamera.info/widelux.htm

 

[Sirius Glass]

Thank you for the recommendation about the rewind knob and the URL.

 

[Ian C]

I found the following:

“The Widelux has no rectangular opening over which to stretch the film. It has no pressure plate. Rather, the film must be threaded across a cylindrical surface, and it’s held tightly against this surface by a couple of pressure rollers.”

http://www.ultrasomething.com/photography/2011/05/a-long-look-at-a-widelux-2/

Without a pressure plate of some sort, only film tension can keep the film in contact with the partial-circle form of the film rails.

Here’s a shot from another Widelux with the same problem.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dinodanise/1365961178/

 

[Sirius Glass]

The camera came with a plastic rewind knob from some other camera. It stands too high, but it makes rewinding easier. The knob gives "butt ugly" a bad name, so I just ordered a replacement knob that is taller than the original knob from evilBay. I will see if the new knob adds some resistance to the film bulging, but I will still send it to get the seals replaced before they start gumming up the film.

 

[EASmithV]

I recognize that photo of great falls
You spend a lot of time in NOVA?

 

[Sirius Glass]

I live in California but work in Virginia, so I spend a lot of time in Virginia. I am hoping to change jobs and spend more time in Maryland.

 

[jon koss]

I am reading the posts on film position as suggestions that the film has moved further away from the lens due to lack of pressure on the backside of the film. But this in theory should create an artificial 'macro effect' in which objects close to the camera inexplicably come into sharp focus. I don't see such an effect. Could it be that the film is overtensioned and is therefore collapsing in towards the lens at the ends of the frame? This could create a situation in which nothing except things beyond infinity are in focus - in other words, nothing is in focus, just as we see here.

Is there a lot of resistance when you advance the film? If the feed spool is not happily feeding, then this can pull the film off the intended path and towards the lens.

Are you seeing the effect on every shot in the roll, or just the last shots? Sometimes overtensioning can affect only the last shots on a roll if the spools are not seated properly. Try loading and advancing the film to the same frame number that is giving you a problem, then go into a dark room (heck, even a brightly lit room would work!) and then open the camera back. Use your fingers (or eyes if the lights are on) to check and see if the film has been pulled in towards the lens at the end of the film gate. Not sure how many frames there are on a Widelux!

Just two cents worth of Socratic musing. Feel free to debunk!

J

... I will see if the new knob adds some resistance to the film bulging...

 

[Sirius Glass]

There is no pressure plate. Every frame has the bulge where the film move back from the frame rails. I will shoot another roll this weekend and tighten the film the rewind knob, which I just replaced with the correct one, when I advance the film and just before I take the next picture, as suggested by Ian C in post #4.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Ah ha! Loading the second roll I see that I may have put the film between the foam gate and the second roller rather than under the second roller. The thicken plots!!

 

[Mark Crabtree]

I haven't used one for a long time (and used a variety of others since), but wondered if it might be something like that. They are not all that intuitive to load.

 

[Ian C]

If you fail to thread the film under the second roller, then there’s nothing to keep the film against the film rails at the right end of the frame. That would leave the image badly defocused at the left side of the photo—which is exactly what happened.

So far as I can see by looking at the photo of the open back shown (link in post #4) the felt bar (or whatever material it is) shown on the F7 is a light barrier to prevent any stray light from the lens from fogging the exposed film on the take-up spool.

 

[Sirius Glass]

So far as I can see by looking at the photo of the open back shown (link in post #4) the felt bar (or whatever material it is) shown on the F7 is a light barrier to prevent any stray light from the lens from fogging the exposed film on the take-up spool.

That is what I figured. Is that foam pad, the only foam pad in the camera? If so I will have to buy some foam and figure out what type of glue to use on it.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I think that I fixed the problem. Also several years ago, my brother sent several rolls of frozen film to me REI Opticolor 200 135-24 Color Print film, process before 7/94. Do the photos that I took today look ok? I had to rush to get it processed before the film became out of date!

 

[Denis P.]

I've had a similar problem on my first roll with (then new to me) Horizon 202.
Turns out I did not spool the film under one of the rollers - which just might be your problem, as you said....

 

[ausphoto]

Hi
It's they way you threaded it and missed the correct slot
See here for a how-to:
http://csusap.csu.edu.au/~dspennem/.../Cameratopia_Widelux/Cameratopia_Widelux.html

 

[Sirius Glass]

Hi
It's they way you threaded it and missed the correct slot
See here for a how-to:
http://csusap.csu.edu.au/~dspennem/photography/cameratopia/Cameratopia_Widelux/Cameratopia_Widelux.html

Thank you! That is the most useful WideLux website that I have seen and it has more information in one place than anything else!!

 

[ausphoto]

You're very welcome. I'll be adding to it very soon with a detailed typology, walk arounds of the various models as well as a history (all in process)