Why my photo always came in blank and so blurry? Anyone please help

ambar1510 · Sep 1, 2020

Hello guys,

im a newbie in analog photo. I bougt Ricoh 500 gx and I used Kodak Vision 3. I have pretty good photos in my first roll. But in my second and third rolls, the result is so bad. Theres no picture captured at all, just shadows and smoke. Im pretty desperate. Note: I always shoot photo with sunny 16 rule.

Here i attach the photos from my second and third roll. Any feedback or comment will be very very appreciated. Thank you guys.

Regards,
ambar

wiltw · Sep 1, 2020

Sunny 16 only works out in BRIGHT SUN.
Move into shaded area, and the recommend exposure becomes 1/ISO f/4, or -4EV dimmer light. The Sunny 16 rule is not always appropriate!

AgX · Sep 1, 2020

I see instead a shutter issue.

ambar1510 · Sep 1, 2020

wiltw said:
Sunny 16 only works out in BRIGHT SUN.
Move into shaded area, and the recommend exposure becomes 1/ISO f/4, or -4EV dimmer light. The Sunny 16 rule is not always appropriate!

Dear Wiltw, thank you for your feedback. But, there some shoot in my fourth roll that i didnt use sunny 16 rule and still no clear photo. Here i attach my fourth roll result, i just received the devscan result.

ambar1510 · Sep 1, 2020

AgX said:
I see instead a shutter issue.

Dear Agx, thank you. do you mean it is because of hardware problem?

bdial · Sep 1, 2020

Looks like to me, most of the photos have quite a lot of motion blur, which would be caused by the shutter staying open for far longer than you intend. It looks like some frames may be overlapping, which isn’t a shutter issue, but might be related.
If the camera will fire the shutter with the back open, you can check the general operation. Fire the shutter at all its speeds, and see how it responds.
For the photos made in daylight, what shutter speed settings did you use?

foc · Sep 1, 2020

Are you using the sunny 16 rule because you have no battery in the camera?

If you can give a few more details, please, it might help.

Was it sunny bright day, cloudy or over cast, dull wet day, etc ?
What were the camera's settings, (we know sunny 16 for the aperture), and more importantly what shutter speed had you the camera set at? (eg: 500, 250, 125 )

From what I have seen in your posting of the images, I agree with AgX that is looks like a shutter issue.

pentaxuser · Sep 1, 2020

If previous rolls were OK in terms of exposure and sharpness then clearly something has happened to the shutter mechanism since it was last used. I can think of nothing else that explains what we are seeing

pentaxuser

jvo · Sep 1, 2020

sunny 16 is a rule, and a title, for a series of guidelines for a range of different lighting situations.

i've usually had a light meter so never really had to read/study the light with one. As such, i would say it a a skill that i've relied on in a pinch and it worked out, but is not a "muscle" i feel really confident using - after 40 yrs of photography. if it's a skill you've gained, or are improving in - great, have at it.

having said that, i agree there is a shutter issue. maybe compounded by a difficult lighting situations with a sunny 16 learning curve?

welcome to photrio - this is a journey and a process you will enjoy!

Ces1um · Sep 1, 2020

I think that camera of yours has seen better days. Maybe take it in for service or try a different film camera and see if your results improve.

Paul Howell · Sep 1, 2020

Your camera has a leaf shutter, not uncommon for leaf shutters to get sticky, best way is to leave the camera back open, set the shutter to 1 second and fire the shutter. You should be able to see if the shutter opens for about a second, does the shutter completely close or stays open too long, then work your way up to /1500. You should be sense if the camera is staying open longer than it should.

AgX · Sep 1, 2020

But how can that banding be explained, especially with the shutter being of the leaf type?

Paul Howell · Sep 1, 2020

Good question, I assume that it has a leaf shutter, the manual says electronic flash syn at all speeds, then again the manual does not list the specs. I checked the manual the lowest shutter speed is /18th , so on blub hold the shutter open and and look through the back to see what is going on.

foc · Sep 1, 2020

AgX said:
But how can that banding be explained, especially with the shutter being of the leaf type?

If the film was scanned by a lab, the "banding" could be caused by frame mis- alinement in the scanner. Because the film has no definite space between the frames, the scanner does not aline each frame correctly. (just a guess).

It would be ideal if the OP could give more information.

pentaxuser · Sep 1, 2020

foc said:
I
It would be ideal if the OP could give more information.

Indeed and when I think about it that is true of almost every thread that revolves around the question: "What's gone wrong here?"

The floor is yours OP. Tell us more. Answering my questions might help

pentaxuser

ambar1510 · Sep 7, 2020

Hello guys, thanks bunch for the feedback.

Update per today, I already used 3 rolls of Kodak Vision 3 and 1 roll kodak colorplus 200, all 4 rolls came in similar type of photo. all photos, I shot outdoor and indoor from morning till evening. I have no battery in my ricoh, thus i used manual.

I tried clicking the shutter with the back open and the shutter worked normal.

I remember now, after my first roll, i clicked and played with multi exposure button and self timer button. May it be related to multi exposure? Because my first roll were fine.

darkosaric · Sep 7, 2020

Do you have some other camera? If not - do you want other camera? I can send you Nikon F75, with some cheap, but ok Nikkor lens - for the cost of shipping only.
Nikon F75 will work like a charm, and you will have more control over the whole process.

removed account4 · Sep 7, 2020

hi ambar

I hate to have you sink more $$ into your camera than you might want, but you might consider taking it to a repair person to have it overhauled, and make sure the shutter is working and the film advance is working as they are supposed to. your camera ( I saw its manual ) looks very nice, have you studied the manual ? maybe you have it on aperture priority by mistake, ( and its sticky ) and since you do not have the battery installed the electronic eye doesn't work and it releases the shutter at the default ( SLOW ) shutter speed it is set to go at. its like when your "check engine light" flashes in your car and the car goes in "limp engine mode" and won't go over 35kph. the multi exposure button is so you can make double exposures it allows you to cock the shutter without advancing the film, and it might be sticky .. and that might have something to do with the overlaps, or it could just be a advance and shutter issue or a scanning issue...

darkosaric said:
Do you have some other camera? If not - do you want other camera? I can send you Nikon F75, with some cheap, but ok Nikkor lens - for the cost of shipping only.
Nikon F75 will work like a charm, and you will have more control over the whole process.

man, I love this place

welcome to photrio
John

ambar1510 · Sep 8, 2020

darkosaric said:
Do you have some other camera? If not - do you want other camera? I can send you Nikon F75, with some cheap, but ok Nikkor lens - for the cost of shipping only.
Nikon F75 will work like a charm, and you will have more control over the whole process.

Hi darkosaric, thank you so much man. I really appreciate the offer. I still have point n shoot pentax zoom 70x.

ambar1510 · Sep 8, 2020

jnantz said:
hi ambar

I hate to have you sink more $$ into your camera than you might want, but you might consider taking it to a repair person to have it overhauled, and make sure the shutter is working and the film advance is working as they are supposed to. your camera ( I saw its manual ) looks very nice, have you studied the manual ? maybe you have it on aperture priority by mistake, ( and its sticky ) and since you do not have the battery installed the electronic eye doesn't work and it releases the shutter at the default ( SLOW ) shutter speed it is set to go at. its like when your "check engine light" flashes in your car and the car goes in "limp engine mode" and won't go over 35kph. the multi exposure button is so you can make double exposures it allows you to cock the shutter without advancing the film, and it might be sticky .. and that might have something to do with the overlaps, or it could just be a advance and shutter issue or a scanning issue...

man, I love this place

welcome to photrio
John

Hi jnantz, yeah its pretty good looking camera. Thanks for the feedback, i think im gonna send it to the repair shop. I will update this thread, if the repairman find the problem of my ricoh.

darkosaric · Sep 8, 2020

ambar1510 said:
pentax zoom 70x.

Pentax made good P&S cameras. In my experience sharpest point and shoot cameras that are in normal price range are Pentax Espio, I have tried and owned many, many different P&S (for sure over 100), from cheapest bottom, to Minilux, T2 and Hexar.
Pentax Espio is giving you best bang for the buck .

Peltigera · Sep 8, 2020

I don't think this is a camera problem. I think that you are setting the shutter speed far too low. I would stick to 1/60 or faster (preferably faster).

pentaxuser · Sep 8, 2020

Peltigera said:
I don't think this is a camera problem. I think that you are setting the shutter speed far too low. I would stick to 1/60 or faster (preferably faster).

A novel theory but one we can discount or not pretty easily

OP what were your shutter speeds? Were any below 1/60th and in what scenes involving movement and what kind of movement and light conditions?

Thanks

pentaxuser

ambar1510 · Sep 8, 2020

dear guys, i set shutter speeds same as my film ASA. I usually shot in daylight.

Two23 · Sep 8, 2020

ambar1510 said:
Hello guys, thanks bunch for the feedback.

Update per today, I already used 3 rolls of Kodak Vision 3 and 1 roll kodak colorplus 200, all 4 rolls came in similar type of photo. all photos, I shot outdoor and indoor from morning till evening. I have no battery in my ricoh, thus i used manual.

I tried clicking the shutter with the back open and the shutter worked normal.

I remember now, after my first roll, i clicked and played with multi exposure button and self timer button. May it be related to multi exposure? Because my first roll were fine.

Multiexposure means the film doesn't advance and it will take the next photo on top of the last one.

Kent in SD

Why my photo always came in blank and so blurry? Anyone please help

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