Light meter issues leicamini3

Isaacgens · Apr 21, 2023

Hi there,

Went on a trip to Australia took had some pictures and some of the films came underexposed although the pictures were taken on good light my portra400 came super grainy and colors very far from what they should look like any ideas?light meter went crazy?it’s a Leica mini3 point & shoot been working super well for more than one year, could it be the x ray on flights was long journey went trough 5x rays total. Let me know if you had similar experiences

Sirius Glass · Apr 21, 2023

Isaacgens said:
Hi there,

Went on a trip to Australia took had some pictures and some of the films came underexposed although the pictures were taken on good light my portra400 came super grainy and colors very far from what they should look like any ideas?light meter went crazy?it’s a Leica mini3 point & shoot been working super well for more than one year, could it be the x ray on flights was long journey went trough 5x rays total. Let me know if you had similar experiences

Take a light reading without the sky in the field of view at ISO 400 and set the speed to 1/500 second and see if the reading is f/16. If so, the meter is correct. If not have the meter recalibrated.

Welcome to ~~APUG~~ Photrio!!

Paul Howell · Apr 21, 2023

As suggested by SG, test your meter using sunny 16, if within a stop then I think your film was toasted by the X ray. There has been extensive discussions about the new X ray machines effect on film, Kodak advises against sending film though one.

Huss · Apr 21, 2023

You boys totally miss that Isaac has a Mini3 P&S camera?

awty · Apr 21, 2023

Does the edge on the film look more dense ( fogged) than the others?
If the edge is consistent with film that came out normal then it is a metering problem, if the edge is denser then it is possibly a problem with the xray machine.
An under exposed film will look thin, less detail than a correctly exposed film.

wiltw · Apr 21, 2023

Huss said:
You boys totally miss that Isaac has a Mini3 P&S camera?

OP has little that can be done regarding diagnosis of any problem, meter function vs. shutter function vs aperture function issue...one can merely test and see if the resulting negatives have film density which is similar to another camera with known-good function...and if not providing results similar in exposure density, discontinue using the Leica Mini3!
One can point the lens at any area of uniform density, whether white or black or middle tone, and all three should result in middle density on film...that is what a meter does -- render what it sees to middle tone! If meter or shutter or aperture are not functioning properly, the result will not be 'middle tone' as captured on the film. Look at the film, not at prints, as the printing process by its nature would reduce shot-to-shot variances captured on film to the same final print density, if a single uniform tonal area is filling the frame...all properly functioning cameras should yield similar negatives, with similar density frames

wiltw · Apr 21, 2023

Film less than IS 1600 has long proven (for decades) to be not subject to damage in real X-ray machines used at airport Security.

The new machines that are being installed in airports are CT machines...these subject film to much higher doses of radiation than X-ray machines, and therefore travelers have long been cautioned by film manufacturers to not put film into 'checked baggage'. But now the CT machines are now starting to be used at gate Security, making it difficult to avoid exposure to too much radiation, since many countries have not paid any attention to travellers asking for 'hand inspection' of any items taken out of carry-on baggage!

CT scanners would fog film even outside the frame area, whereas camera malfunction would yield odd exposures inside the frame area.

Huss · Apr 22, 2023

wiltw said:
OP has little that can be done regarding diagnosis of any problem, meter function vs. shutter function vs aperture function issue...one can merely test and see if the resulting negatives have film density which is similar to another camera with known-good function...and if not providing results similar in exposure density, discontinue using the Leica Mini3!
One can point the lens at any area of uniform density, whether white or black or middle tone, and all three should result in middle density on film...that is what a meter does -- render what it sees to middle tone! If meter or shutter or aperture are not functioning properly, the result will not be 'middle tone' as captured on the film. Look at the film, not at prints, as the printing process by its nature would reduce shot-to-shot variances captured on film to the same final print density, if a single uniform tonal area is filling the frame...all properly functioning cameras should yield similar negatives, with similar density frames

I wouldn’t even bother w that. As it is a p&s that you can’t control anything, just shoot another roll at home, that will not go through multiple xray machines, and see how the pics come out.
If they are good, great. If not… get rid of this camera it is done.

wiltw · Apr 22, 2023

Huss said:
I wouldn’t even bother w that. As it is a p&s that you can’t control anything, just shoot another roll at home, that will not go through multiple xray machines, and see how the pics come out.
If they are good, great. If not… get rid of this camera it is done.

Indeed. A practiced eye might look and see 'not right'. My comparative methology would allow even a novice eye to notably tell 'these photos from Mini3 are not very close in density to this other known-good camera'

Light meter issues leicamini3

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