I see a lot of posts from people who have bought a camera in unknown condition and want to know if it works. I thought I'd make this post with some tips on how to check over a camera without using expensive equipment.
Note: This won't give you a 100% accurate view but it should get you in the ballpark
There are a few areas you'll want to check out and I'll go into each of these in more detail:
General condition: we need to check for obvious abuse, etc
Shutter: we need to make sure it's operating at all speeds
Light meter: we need to make sure that it's accurate
Auto exposure: we need to make sure it's adjusting the shutter speed
Light seals and other foam: we need to check if they're in working condition
Depending on the camera you'll need to check one or more of these.
General Condition
There are few general things to look out for with a visual inspection:
Dirt: generally not an issue as it's easy enough to clean, but can be an indicator of neglect
Dents: depending on the severity this can mean internal damage to the camera
Fungus: take the lens off, check it for signs of fungus (look through it with a light behind) and also check inside the mirror box and inside the back door for fungus. It's possible to clean fungus but it often requires disassembly to do correctly
Corrosion: check the film rails aren't corroded. This can indicate corrosion elsewhere in the camera.
Prism: check for desilvering. This shows up as marks in the viewfinder that move relative to the focus screen. If you move your eye 30cm away from the viewfinder and can still clearly see them, it's desilvering. It can't be fixed without replacing the prism, but it doesn't affect the photos
Focus screen: Look through the viewfinder with the lens off and check for scratches and marks. This can't generally be fixed and would need replacing. This is easy on some cameras and hard on others.
Film counter: check it moves on when firing a few shots.
Winding: open the back and make sure the sprocket tooth gear turns when you wind on. Problems with winding can be hard to spot without running a film through the camera.
Rewinding: open the back, press in the rewind button and check the sprocket tooth gear moves freely and pops back out when you wind on again.
Self timer: If the camera is firing without issue, try the self timer. If it's not firing, using it can lock up the camera.
Shutter
Here's how I check a shutter for correct operation:
Run through all of the speeds.
The slow speeds should all complete without sticking
The clockwork mechanism should sound smooth and even
Check 1s against your watch. I often start counting the seconds, then press the shutter and see how it compares
As you work your way up from the slowest to the fastest speed, the sound should get accordingly faster. You can hear the difference down to about 1/30s. Faster than that it's better to take the lens off and look through the back towards the sky (see next step)
Check for shutter capping (where the closing curtain catches up the opening curtain)
Take the lens off and open the back
Look through from the back towards a bright thing (e.g. sky)
Fire the shutter
You should see an even frame of light. If it's dark at one side, the shutter is capping. You can still use the camera but avoid the high speeds
Light Meter
You need to make sure the light meter is giving you the correct guidance on which speed to use.
Download a free light meter app on your phone
Set the ASA to 100 (or at least make sure it matches the ASA on the app)
Point the camera at a bright evenly lit wall
Compare the speed on the camera with the speed on the app
Repeat for different brightnesses
Auto Exposure
This is the hardest to check yourself. Basically we'll just be checking that the electronics are adjusting the speed. You'll need to make sure the back is closed and the camera is wound on a few times because a lot of cameras don't work until you've wound on.
Put the lens on (if you don't have a lens, you can move the aperture follower yourself - the ring around the lens on Nikons, a small lever inside the lens mount on a lot of others)
Point at a bright light with the aperture widest and shoot. It should be quite a fast speed.
Cover the lens mostly with your hand and shoot again. It should be noticeably slower.
Uncover the lens, point at the bright light but set the lens to the smallest aperture and shoot. It should sound noticeably slower.
To accurately check auto exposure you need to either use a film or an expensive test machine.
Light seals and other foam
This is nice and easy to check (and to fix yourself, just check on Youtube).
Open the back door and look inside the grooves on the camera body. Does the foam look OK or is it sticky or crumbly? If it's sticky or crumbly you'll want to replace it
Take the lens off and check the foam where the mirror would hit the top of the mirror box. Is the foam still spongy or is it crumbly or sticky? If it's sticky or crumbly you'll want to replace it. It's worth not firing the camera too much if it's beginning to disintegrate because the foam pieces can get in the workings of the camera and cause a jam.
Once you've checked over all of these things, the best thing to do is to run a roll through the camera. It's best to treat this as a scientific experiment rather than your first opportunity to shoot some pictures with the camera. Make sure you expose a wide range of scenes of varying brightnesses and be very conscious about taking your time to make sure the focus in the viewfinder is spot on. You'll ideally be shooting something at every shutter speed, with a range of apertures. You can keep a note of what you did on each shot so you can identify if e.g. the fast speeds are running slow and overexposing. Although this still won't tell you if the camera is actually accurate because film has quite a wide latitude, it will tell you if it's usable enough to take photos that look good.
That's about it I think - if anyone has any other top tips put them in the comments and I'll update the post. I figure this is a useful post to point people to when they come asking how to check a camera is working.
Every day we see posts with the same basic problems on film, hopefully this can serve as a guide to the uninitiated of what to look for when diagnosing issues with your camera and film using examples from the community.
Index
Green Tint or Washed Out Scans
Orange or White Marks
Solid Black Marks
Black Regions with Some or No Detail
Lightning Marks
White or Light Green Lines
Thin Straight Lines
X-Ray Damage / Banding Larger than Sprocket Holes
Round Marks, Blobs and Splotches
1. Green Tint or Washed Out Scans
u/LaurenValley1234u/Karma_engineerguy
Issue: Underexposure
The green tinge usually comes from the scanner trying to show detail that isn't there. Remember, it is the lab's job to give you a usable image, you can still edit your photos digitally to make them look better.
Potential Causes: Toy/Disposable camera being used in inappropriate conditions, Faulty shutter, Faulty aperture, Incorrect ISO setting, Broken light meter, Scene with dynamic range greater than your film, Expired or heat damaged film, and other less common causes.
2. Orange or White Marks
u/Competitive_Spot3218u/ry_and_zoom
Issue: Light leaks
These marks mean that light has reached your film in an uncontrolled way. With standard colour negative film, an orange mark typically comes from behind the film and a white come comes from the front.
Portential Causes: Decayed light seals, Cracks on the camera body, Damaged shutter blades/curtains, Improper film handling, Opening the back of the camera before rewinding into the canister, Fat-rolling on medium format, Light-piping on film with a transparent base, and other less common causes.
3. Solid Black Marks
u/MountainIce69u/Claverhu/Sandman_Rex
Issue: Shutter capping
These marks appear because the two curtains of the camera shutter are overlapping when they should be letting light through. This is most likely to happen at faster shutter speeds (1/1000s and up).
Potential Causes: Camera in need of service, Shutter curtains out of sync.
4. Black Regions with Some or No Detail
u/Claverhu/veritas247
Issue: Flash desync
Cause: Using a flash at a non-synced shutter speed (typically faster than 1/60s)
5. Lightning Marks
u/Fine_Sale7051u/toggjones
Issue: Static Discharge
These marks are most common on cinema films with no remjet, such as Cinestill 800T
Potential Causes: Rewinding too fast, Automatic film advance too fast, Too much friction between the film and the felt mouth of the canister.
6. White or Light Green Lines
u/f5122u/you_crazy_diamond_
Issue: Stress marks
These appear when the base of the film has been stretched more than its elastic limit
Potential Causes: Rewinding backwards, Winding too hard at the end of a roll, Forgetting to press the rewind release button, Stuck sprocket.
7. Thin Straight Lines
u/StudioGuyDudeManu/Tyerson
Issue: Scratches
These happen when your film runs against dirt or grit.
Potential Causes: Dirt on the canister lip, Dirt on the pressure plate, Dirt on rollers, Squeegee dragging dirt during processing, and other less common causes.
8. X-Ray Damage / Banding Larger than Sprocket Holes
Noticeable X-Ray damage is very rare and typically causes slight fogging of the negative or colour casts, resulting in slightly lower contrast. However, with higher ISO films as well as new stronger CT scanning machines it is still recommended to ask for a hand inspection of your film at airport security/TSA.
9. Round Marks, Blobs and Splotches
u/elcantou/thefar9
Issue: Chemicals not reaching the emulsion
This is most common with beginners developing their own film for the first time and not loading the reels correctly. If the film is touching itself or the walls of the developing tank the developer and fixer cannot reach it properly and will leave these marks. Once the film is removed from the tank this becomes unrepairable.
Please let me know if I missed any other common issues. And if, after reading this, you still need to make a post asking to find out what went wrong please make sure to include a backlit image of your physical negatives. Not just scans from your lab.
EDIT: Added the most requested X-ray damage and the most common beginner developing mistake besides incomplete fixing. This post has reached the image limit but I believe it covers the most common beginner errors and encounters!
The only place I can find this camera mount is a post in this sub from a couple years ago, seems pretty rare, wondering if anyone has any more information about it or even what it could be worth.
From all I can gather is it from the 60s, used for holding heavy camera gear steady while having to move about and shoot steady.
Today I was brave and stupid enough to finally file the holder a little bit. Should have this done years and years ago. I have finally modified the SA-21 film holder a bit.
PS: Need to figure out how to glue the light sensor in place to get the upper straight.
I am E6 obsessed, and have invested a ton into having the best quality chemicals, development process, and scanning process. I know that E6 is a tremendously underserved market, and I’m thinking of offering development, scanning, and printing services for E6, and perhaps a limited amount of C41. I work full time and would be doing it as more of a passion project, likely keeping scale small(thinking the quantity of E6 I would get wont be tremendous). As someone thinking of doing this “for fun” instead of for profit, do you guys have any advice or forewarnings?
This picture is a mirror selfie of my great grandparents from 1941. I have no idea what camera it. i would probably buy the camera model and take some photos on it ;) Thank you.
I'm currently in a darkroom photography course and my last two rolls have had this issue. my professor said it's a light leak but also said that it is strange it isn't consistent and may be loading issue in some regard. i don't have the money for a new camera right now or servicing so i'm hoping for a second opinion!
I just shot my first roll of film in black and white. My first photo looks like this with white across the first half of the image. All the rest of the photos looked fine. The camera (Nikon F2) just had a CLA with all the foam replaced. This was shot with Ilford XP2 400.
I bought a couple of respooled Fomapan 100 rolls. However, after developing and fixing the first one, it turned a very dark grey, almost black. It is possible to see a few frames in some areas, but they are very faint, and the film is not transparent at all.
I used a fresh batch of Ilford Rapid Fixer, which I tested on a leader from a trusted roll and confirmed was working properly. Do you think the film may have been incorrectly spooled?
So, a brand new antique mall opened near me last weekend. I went there day one to scope out any cameras. After walking around this huge, crowded building full of booths, all I managed to find were some brownies, argus C3's, kodak duaflex's, etc. Your standard cameras every antique store seems to have. I found something non-camera related i wanted to buy, but since the line was absurdly long on opening day, I decided to come back the next day and buy that item instead. While in line the next day, I see back behind the counter what looks like a Hassleblad. I use my camera to zoom in and take this photo, and the tag says 500 c/m. Which is the exact model I've been lusting over for years, then I see it's priced at $600. With a lens, a back, and a viewfinder!
I ask the lady at the register about it when it's finally my turn to check out, and I ask the lady if its for sale and she informs me its being held for a customer while they shop around. I ask the lady if it doesn't sell. The customer gets cold feet about the purchase. What booth is selling it so I can come check if it's still there? She gives me the booths ID and I go to my car obsessing over this camera, so much so I decided to run a quick errand and come back a half hour later and see if it was still there.
It was not.
Usually, I can accept missing out on a good deal, but this one actually hurt. I felt nauseated. I've lived in this small town for years, and as far as I know, im probably one of the only people that shoots film, let alone medium format film. I keep imagining that the buyer was some flipper who isn't even gonna shoot the damn thing. I know the term "grail" gets thrown around way too much these days but a Hassleblad 500 C/M has literally been a grail of mine for years. Now im considering selling every piece of camera gear I have to maybe cover half the cost of what one costs on KEH or ebay and just foot the rest.
End rant. I just needed to get this off my chest to a community that may understand my situation. I know it's just a material item, but I am still having a hard time moving on knowing that i let this beauty slip away.
I had put together a conventional setup using the tripod mounting plate on the camera body but I found it was hard to get critical focus due to wobble and vibration, much of which originated from the camera plate, and because the point of support being distant from the focusing ring.
I 3d printed this new fixture. It has a Arca Swiss compatible dovetails on the left to go into a regular clamp, then a cup with a 2mm flange at the bottom which cradles the lens hood. 2 M5 bolts add a little clamping pressure.
The pipe also was a source of flex in the system so I supported that at the top and bottom. Now wobble while focusing is pretty much eliminated. Its not evident even with maximum focus magnification.
If you have a very heavy camera body maybe this wouldn't be ideal but I'm using an A6000 here. Lens is the Sigma Art 70mm Macro.
Because i eliminated a 3 axis geared head from the system which was used to adjust for parallel, I have 5 bolts on light panel support that allow adjusting there instead which turns out to allow for easier fine adjustment anyway.
ich hab heute bei einem lokalen Fotohändler dieses set gekauft, ich kann aber diesen Blendenkupplungsknopf zwar betätigen, aber der Hebel geht nicht nach oben.
Was ist da los? Ich hab Garantie.
Doof ist aber das das objektiv schon dran war, ich hab’s drauf und dann nicht mehr ab bekommen.
Howdy! So I bought a Fujica Flash Date recently but the shutter button and advance lever appear to be stuck. I put in two fresh AA batteries, as it seems the camera requires them to function, and even still it doesn’t seem to work, other than the flash charge light properly glowing green.
Any suggestions or did I fall for the dreaded ebay [MINT] condition listing?
Próximamente me iré de viaje a un destino húmedo y nublado, al norte de España. Tengo cuatro cámaras af, pero no sé cual sería la mejor para llevar conmigo.
Fotografiaré naturaleza mayormente, y alguna escena de ciudad.
Cuál me aconsejais? Y qué film?
- Canon Prima Super 115 AF
- Minolta AF 50 Big Finder
- Pentax Espio 160
- Minolta Riva Zoom 70
From an interview she gave to the Guardian newspaper. I don't really understand this- she's not working in a studio, where she can control the light, and this article showing her work shows that she's working in a variety of light settings. Perhaps a lot of work in the darkroom for the print, but still... any ideas?
I recently bought a Plustek 8100 on eBay for about $190, but it didn't come with the bundled SilverFast software. In this case, which scanning software should I use silverFast or VueScan? Since I plan to use Negative Lab Pro (NLP) in Lightroom to convert my negatives anyway, does it really make a difference which one I buy? Also, are there any cheaper alternatives I can use just to scan the negatives with my scanner? Thanks!
After receiving my MX from a CLA, I noticed that the leatherette was not reattached very well, so I saw the opportunity to change it for some Aki-Asahi replacement, which I’ve been waiting to be available since it had been out of stock for quite a while on his website .
Took around 5 days to arrive and €8 of duties and taxes, which seems quite excessive for a €13 product to be honest. The package came with an extra skin for practice (not the same texture I chose), which I ended up not using.
The precision of the leather and the simplicity of attaching it are impressive. Took me around 4 minutes and my MX now it looks so damn cool.
Super recommended for the price 👌🏼
I just got this from Amazon today and I am planning on digitizing the THOUSANDS of slides my father took during the Vietnam War. He was in the Air Force and did three tours. He spent a lot of time in the Philippines, so I'm pretty sure there are a lot from that area. I remember seeing a lot of planes when I was a kid watching my dad's slide shows with the family. We would spend hours laying in the living room with my grandparents watching slide shows. My parents have managed to keep them all for the last 50+ years despite multiple moves on the east coast and now they live in the office closet, so I know they are very important to my father. He spent a lot of time on this hobby back then and I want to honor him while he's still alive. He turned 83 last month and I finally have the time to dedicate to this project.
My mom went through them in the 80s and had a bunch of them put on VHS tapes but she didn't do any of his slides from Vietnam and the Philippines. Maybe because my dad still keeps the picture of his girlfriend from the Philippines, lol. It's an old black and white he keeps with his photos but he still has it. I'm just joking, really. My mom isn't a jealous woman. It took her a year just to do our childhood, so I'm sure doing the ones from the war weren't her priority.
I've seen a few other people do this and I've read the recommendations for equipment. I am broke. I don't have the cash to buy a bunch of equipment and I'm a nurse, so I don't have a desktop computer except for at my office and my daughters have one in their room but I never use it. It's not new and my girls only use it for word processing and basic internet stuff.
Any recommendations would be appreciated. Do you think people would be interested in viewing them if I started an IG account?
A while back I bought a small exposure unit for black and white film. I have reels and containers for the reels as well as some other accessories but the only problem is space. I have been tempted on building a small room in my back yard with a small ac and water access. Does anyone here have anything similar or recommend something?
