Why do my photos look like this?

[Bolal]

Hello! I just got some film back from the lab, and I am less than happy with the results. The photos are not sharp, the colours are off and there is severe vignetting around the edges. They look like they were taken with a much cheaper, older camera than the Canon AE-1 with an f1.4 lens that I am using. The photos were all shot on Ektar @100. Here are some examples:

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What do you think might be the reason for this? Is it the camera, the lens, the lab (chemicals, scanner etc.)?

It is also worth mentioning that the film passed through a single 'film safe' airport scanner, though I have read this shouldn't impact any film above iso 800.

I also tend to have an issue with blown out highlights in my images. Any advice on this would also be appreciated!

Thanks for helping out!

 

[MattKing]

Do you have the negatives and can we see a close-up photo of them?
Many of the problems we see originate in the scanning stage.

 

[Bolal]

Do you have the negatives and can we see a close-up photo of them?

Unfortunately I don't have them yet. The lab sent me these scans digitally. You think it might be more of a scanning issue then?

 

[Photo Engineer]

Did you have a lens shade on the camera, or did you use a digital camera lens on the analog camera. Both can cause vignetting under some circumstances.

PE

 

[E. von Hoegh]

What camera are you using?

 

[MattKing]

You really need the negatives to be able to tell.
And by the way:
1) welcome to Photrio; and
2) It is unnecessary to post the same query in multiple sub-fora. Posting it once will cause it to come to the attention of nearly everyone. No worry though - the moderators will most likely combine the thread into a single one. I'll draw their attention to the multiple threads.

With respect to these problem scans, have you had good quality results from the camera and lens before? Is the film "fresh" film (not past its develop before date)?
Hope we can help you and that you enjoy your time here on Photrio.

 

[jgoody]

I would certainly look to see if the negs look properly exposed. As to the vignetting I would wonder about the lens shade, if any, and the possibility of an errant finger blocking part of the lens.

 

[Bolal]

Thank you for the warm welcome! As you can tell, still learning. I used a Canon AE-1 with an analog f1.4 lens that came with the camera.The film is fresh and I did not use a lens shade. I have had excellent results in the past, although blown out highlights seem to be a recurring theme with every film I use. I always use the same lab. Might it be that I got a particularly bad round of chemicals this time? I'll try to get the negs as soon as I can.

 

[E. von Hoegh]

What camera are you using?

Ooops nevermind.

 

[MattKing]

Might it be that I got a particularly bad round of chemicals this time?

It doesn't look like a chemical problem. And labs that have "bad rounds of chemicals" should be avoided.

 

[jgoody]

To better understand the blown out highlights issue try bracketing your exposure on the same scene for a test - and keep track of what you did. So for example +2 stops, +1 stop, normal, minus 1 stop, minus 2 stops, minus 3 stops. And then see the effect on both the shadows and the highlights. And of course be aware of what you are metering.

 

[Les Sarile]

Hello! I just got some film back from the lab, and I am less than happy with the results. The photos are not sharp, the colours are off and there is severe vignetting around the edges. . . . The photos were all shot on Ektar @100. . . .
I also tend to have an issue with blown out highlights in my images. Any advice on this would also be appreciated!

It seems that all minilab (Agfa, Fuji and Noritsu) fully automatic scans result in blown out highlights. For instance, below I used Kodak Ektar 100 and the results below show what the results from a Noritsu and my own Coolscan.

Colors can also be very far off as shown below from the same frame of Kodak Gold 100 scanned from a Noritsu compared to my own Coolscan.

I don't recall ever seeing sharpness or vignetting issues from minilab scanners - Agfa, Fuji or Noritsu. Which one do they use?

Looking at your scan EXIF, it lists Noritsu scanner so the examples I posted above are applicable.

 

[Eric Rose]

I think you might have a sticky shutter curtain.

 

[E. von Hoegh]

I think you might have a sticky shutter curtain.

I thought of that too, but it doesn't explain the vignetting.

 

[faberryman]

If you have gotten good results from this camera/lens before, that points to a lab issue. What lab you are using? Have you expressed your concerns to the lab, and, if so, what did they say?

 

[Les Sarile]

If you have gotten good results from this camera/lens before, that points to a lab issue. What lab you are using? Have you expressed you concerns to the lab, and, if so, what did they say?

Unfortunately, all minilabs that charge about $10 to scan a whole roll use fully automatic scan processes and run by folks who just know enough to insert the film and push the button. There will be no resolution there.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Look for a lab that will return the negatives to you. Do not us a lab that only returns scans but not the negatives.

 

[shutterfinger]

Once you get the negatives look at them carefully for the bands and vignetting. If they are present on the film its a camera problem. Scanners will pickup very subtle differences that will be hard to see by eye. If you don't have a good loupe use your 50mm lens in reverse to view the negatives with.
The bands are usually caused by an erratic shutter, the vignetting caused by a sticky aperture.
Blown highlight can be caused by metering technique or camera shutter/aperture problems.

 

[Chan Tran]

Thank you for the warm welcome! As you can tell, still learning. I used a Canon AE-1 with an analog f1.4 lens that came with the camera.The film is fresh and I did not use a lens shade. I have had excellent results in the past, although blown out highlights seem to be a recurring theme with every film I use. I always use the same lab. Might it be that I got a particularly bad round of chemicals this time? I'll try to get the negs as soon as I can.

Since you use negative film, blown out highlight is most likely because of the lab scan. It takes a lot of overexposure to blow out highlight with color negative film.

 

[OlyMan]

Problem is we're all playing guesswork without seeing the actual negatives, it's hard to advise anything concrete.

 

[Bolal]

Hello!
Thanks for all the replies. Here are the negatives as promised, in order of the original photos:
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And here's another set for good measure:
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[Huss]

Looking at those negatives it looks like you have a shutter issue with your camera.

 

[amellice]

i don't see any obvious vignetting in the negs. were they shot wide open? may that explain why they r not sharp? if no, they most probably it's the scanning. BTW what's this weird texture in the neg photos?

 

[Huss]

i don't see any obvious vignetting in the negs. were they shot wide open? may that explain why they r not sharp? if no, they most probably it's the scanning. BTW what's this weird texture in the neg photos?

You don't see the obvious vertical banding in the negs? That is a shutter issue.

 

[amellice]

You don't see the obvious vertical banding in the negs? That is a shutter issue.

that I see it's very obvious, I thought it's a texture behind the negs. I don't see vignetting though