The worst negatives to ever come out of my camera

[yessammassey]

I have a Nikon FE2. Just shot a roll of expired fuji X-TRA 400 and had it developed at the drugstore after getting the camera back from the shop. I had to get the reflex mirror replaced after the old one came unstuck and broke.

The negatives are the worst quality I've ever seen out of all the film I've shot/developed. A basic scan is included. You can see for yourself what's wrong with it, but the two issues that seem the most obvious to me are the hazy horizontal lines running throughout most of the central image, along with the bands of underexposure at the top and bottom of the frame.

I think it's one of two possible culprits here. Either it's the lab's chemicals & processing, or it's my shutter.

The shutter (it's the infamous Nikon vertical titanium type) has less than perfect contact between two of the blades on the second curtain... it's not apparent from quick visual inspection, but flip the mirror up and shine a bright LED inside the mirror box in a dark room and you can just make out a slight glow emanating from in between the two blades. I didn't think too much of it, because I've been shooting B&W with this camera/shutter and haven't noticed this happening before. But the horizontal alignment of the stains make me wonder about it.

I guess the underexposure on the top and bottom could be the result of the shutter curtain release timings being off, too?

The other possibility is that it's a combination of factors from the lab and the fact that the film was purchased for $1, and was described as 'expired' (I don't know for how long).

Color film experts! Does this look like anything you've seen before from ruined, expired film? Or would you be more likely to suspect a mechanical issue.

Maybe it's hard to tell from the scan, but the horizontal aberrations extend into the frame edges.

 

[Theo Sulphate]

Back in the day, when drugstores and other places processed maybe 50-100 rolls per day, they'd replenish the chemicals, clean the rollers, and would produce a reasonable print.

Today, I see at Walgreens that they will go days without processing a single roll of film. I once asked and they said they maybe process a few rolls per week. As you can imagine, they don't bother replenishing or replacing the chemicals and I know they don't clean the machine. I would get crap on my negatives and they looked like they had severe reticulation.

Needless to say, I don't take my film there anymore. I suspect they'll take the machine out (a Fuji Frontier) soon.

 

[jimjm]

Based on your example here, I'd suspect the expired film and/or bad processing to be the culprit. Especially on the processing if the artifacts extend outside the frame edges. Any light leaks from the shutter would show up as bright areas on your image, not dark.

I haven't heard of many complaints about the vertical-travel metal shutters on the FE/FM series and the Nikkormat models. I've got about a half-dozen (FE, FE2, FM, ELW, FT2, FTN) and none have had any shutter problems, so I think this was a pretty solid shutter design.

Starting out with questionable expired film is never a good idea if you're troubleshooting possible camera problems. Use fresh film (B/W or color) and use a reputable lab, if you don't process the film yourself. Most drugstores these days don't process much film, and the staff often have no knowledge about film processing, other than what they have been instructed. If you don't have a local camera shop that can process for you, there are online resources as well where you can send the film.

 

[TheRook]

If all the negatives appear just like this, I'd say someone forcefully yanked the film through the processor at some stage. Maybe the machine jammed up during processing.

 

[Athiril]

How does the negative actually look? Is it overly dense?

 

[yessammassey]

How does the negative actually look? Is it overly dense?

It looks it has stripes or ripples running along horizontally throughout the roll, as you can see in the scan. I'd say that overall, they look a little dense. Except toward the top and bottom, where density is lower. This is continuous thought the roll.

 

[MattKing]

X-ray damage?

 

[yessammassey]

Could be. I did purchase the film out of a bin for $1.99. Not the best bet for shooting a test roll to make sure your shutter is working. But stuff from that same bin has been ok before. I usually just expect expired film to be grainy and a little slower than box rating. This roll was a different brand than usual. I suppose it very well could have been x-rayed. Although I thought that e.g. the average TSA luggage scanner wouldn't ruin film from just a couple of pass-thoughs.

 

[MattKing]

Although I thought that e.g. the average TSA luggage scanner wouldn't ruin film from just a couple of pass-thoughs.

Correct. But the higher power scanners used for checked baggage and the scanners used for inspections of commercial shipments can damage film.