Minolta X-300 - something's gone wrong

mcfitz · Nov 27, 2019

I was using HP5, at box speed. Near the end of the roll, four of the frames show a real problem during the exposure. Before those four and after, the negatives are fine. The lens used for these is the MD Macro Rokkor X 100mm. Please see photos for the problem.

The previous image to these four and the one after them were fine. The images are posted in the sequence in which they were taken.

I'm guessing it was some sort of shutter curtain problem, but can't fathom what, given that the unexposed part is sometimes in the centre of the photo. Any ideas? It also seems strange that this cropped up then sorted itself out - at least for the rest of the roll.

Sorry, these are enormous!

Kino · Nov 27, 2019

That looks more like a processing problem rather than a shutter problem.

mcfitz · Nov 27, 2019

Kino said:
That looks more like a processing problem rather than a shutter problem.

Could you please elaborate on why you think it is a processing problem? Myself, I don't think it is but would like to hear what is behind your statement, as I'm not ruling anything out. Thank you.

Kino · Nov 27, 2019

Just a hunch, as most shutter drag issues I have seen tend to be just on one end of the frame or another, not in the middle of the frame, because a shutter doesn't tend to trip, decelerate and then get back to speed in that short of a distance.

Looks more like a developer starvation flow pattern to me, but I could be wrong.

In any case, you need to provide more information about your situation. Something like:

how long you have owned this camera,
how the film was shot,
how it was processed
if you heard or felt that the camera was performing differently than before for better possible analysis of your problem.
what is your general level of experience?

It will cut out a lot of probing and back and forth to arrive at a possible solution faster.

I keep asking for a pinned-FAQ on the most efficient way to ask for help on this site, but the suggestion is ignored.

mr rusty · Nov 27, 2019

The X300 is renowned for a shutter issue but it doesn't normally show up like that - usually just a dead shutter caused by a duff capacitor - more info here https://www.paulbeesley.com/posts/2017/12/minolta-capacitor-replacement It's an easy fix though.

MattKing · Nov 27, 2019

Can we see the negatives?
Is the writing at the edge of the film - negative numbers et al - also affected?

mcfitz · Nov 27, 2019

Kino said:
Just a hunch, as most shutter drag issues I have seen tend to be just on one end of the frame or another, not in the middle of the frame, because a shutter doesn't tend to trip, decelerate and then get back to speed in that short of a distance.

Looks more like a developer starvation flow pattern to me, but I could be wrong.

In any case, you need to provide more information about your situation. Something like:

how long you have owned this camera,

how the film was shot,

how it was processed

if you heard or felt that the camera was performing differently than before for better possible analysis of your problem.

what is your general level of experience?

It will cut out a lot of probing and back and forth to arrive at a possible solution faster.

I keep asking for a pinned-FAQ on the most efficient way to ask for help on this site, but the suggestion is ignored.

There were two reels in the tank, both HP5, from two different cameras, and only the Minolta exposed film showed this problem. The film exposed on the other camera, a Leica MP is just absolutely fine.

Hence, going backwards from your questions, without further ado my replies.

My "general level of experience" is extensive, over 25 years of film related experience incuding doing ALL my own darkrrom developing, printing and so on, as well as teaching printing workshops.
No, there was no physical indication of a camera problem.
It was processed by me in a two reel tank in XTol 1:1 along with a second roll of HP5 exposed on a totally different camera which was absolutely beautiful and all images are fine.
The film was exposed by focusing, framing, taking into account the diaphragm and shutter speed and voilà! The shutter was pressed.
The camera has been in my possesion for 10 years after a friend kindly gave me her deceased father's camera equimpent, knowing I would use it. Which I have done and up til now never had a problem, but which also indicates that there have been two users of this camera body.

Anything else I may have missed?

@matt, thank you for your question. Difficult to scan the nagatives including the rebate, but looking at them, no, the numbers in the borders are quite clear and not affected.

Kino · Nov 27, 2019

mcfitz said:
There were two reels in the tank, ..(snip)
Anything else I may have missed?

No that suffices...

I would speculate that your trailing shutter curtain is sticking. I would suggest you place the camera on "B" and examine the curtain track carefully for debris. I would also suggest you check the mirror bumper foam as a potential source of this debris.

foc · Nov 27, 2019

Can you post a photo of the neg strips affected, please.

Something like this.

joeramsay · Dec 7, 2021

Hiya! I'm currently experiencing a very similar issue with my X300, I've uploaded a few offenders. Just wondering if you ever got to the bottom of what the issue was? This is my first roll on this camera (in my fact my first roll full stop) so I'm not really able to comment on whether the camera feels any different to usual. Thanks in advance!

pbromaghin · Dec 7, 2021

Oooooh. Debris from old foam... That rings several bells for me. I have experienced this on several rolls (I don't process everything right away so a problem can go unnoticed for a while) in a couple Minoltas that I have found to definitely be needing new seals and bumpers.

joeramsay · Dec 8, 2021

Thanks for your reply! I'm completely new to film cameras, would you mind explaining how old seals would lead to this problem?

Deleted member 88956 · Dec 8, 2021

pbromaghin said:
Oooooh. Debris from old foam... That rings several bells for me. I have experienced this on several rolls (I don't process everything right away so a problem can go unnoticed for a while) in a couple Minoltas that I have found to definitely be needing new seals and bumpers.

You need to be far more specific what you mean by seals doing that or nearly anything of this sort to film. I've used film Minoltas of that generation for over 30 years, never heard of seals affecting film. like that. Some dots and spots, I can see how that could happen, but not this.

Deleted member 88956 · Dec 8, 2021

joeramsay said:
Thanks for your reply! I'm completely new to film cameras, would you mind explaining how old seals would lead to this problem?

More info needed: are frames shown successive frames on film, or completely random, or is the entire roll like this? Really need to see a scan of actual negative including perforations, just like @foc had shown back in his post from 2019

joeramsay · Dec 8, 2021

Stupidly I didn't hang onto the film - only 6 of 36 frames are ruined like this, they seem to come in pairs

gone · Dec 8, 2021

Do you have another camera that you could run a roll of film through? That way you could process the film as you did w/ the Minolta and see if the issue repeats itself. I never develop more than 1 roll of film at a time because when an issue pops up, not only will two rolls of film be ruined instead of just one, I also narrow things down to that one roll of film from that one camera. Makes troubleshooting problems much simpler.

joeramsay · Dec 8, 2021

Thanks momus, that's great advice! Wish I'd thought of that before I reloaded my camera as soon as I took the film out - I don't have another one to check against

pbromaghin · Dec 8, 2021

VTLD said:
You need to be far more specific what you mean by seals doing that or nearly anything of this sort to film. I've used film Minoltas of that generation for over 30 years, never heard of seals affecting film. like that. Some dots and spots, I can see how that could happen, but not this.

I was referring to Kino's post #8, suggesting debris was getting into the track of the trailing curtain, causing it to delay and produce the uneven and greatly over-exposed parts of the negative. I'm sorry, but I have been using using MD Mount Minoltas for only about 20 years and only have 7 of them. How foolish of me.

Kino · Dec 8, 2021

pbromaghin said:
I was referring to Kino's post #8, suggesting debris was getting into the track of the trailing curtain, causing it to delay and produce the uneven and greatly over-exposed parts of the negative. I'm sorry, but I have been using using MD Mount Minoltas for only about 20 years and only have 7 of them. How foolish of me.

Guess we are just not qualified to speculate. How tragic...

Minolta X-300 - something's gone wrong

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