[theAryanTwang]

hey folks,

Those of you who are into photography & such I have a question. This weekend I was at the Detroit Grand Prix and took along my dad's old minolta 35mm SLR camera to catch the action.

Some of the photos have this big white vertical bar in them that I can't seem to explain. I almost looks like an area of the film was totally overexposed... but I can't seem to understand why just some of the photos are like this. I don't have the photos with me right now, but I've just mocked up a digital photo below to illustrate what some of the photos looked like. I don't know if it's something I did or if it was the film...

Does anyone have any ideas...? let me know if there is any other info I can provide that might help explain this.

Thanks

[skippy the wonder dog]

Looks like you've got a light leak, i.e. you have an improperly sealed camera back and you had light getting in and exposing the film in camera.

The clincher on this is that you get the vertical bar on the same roll of film, on successive frames, in the same position. Alternatively, if the light was getting at the film on the takeup spool, you might have the bar in different positions but you would (depending how fast you burned the roll) have it more intense on some frames than others.

It doesn't have to be consistent to be a light leak.

[trevor]

Looks like you've got a light leak, i.e. you have an improperly sealed camera back and you had light getting in and exposing the film in camera.

The clincher on this is that you get the vertical bar on the same roll of film, on successive frames, in the same position. Alternatively, if the light was getting at the film on the takeup spool, you might have the bar in different positions but you would (depending how fast you burned the roll) have it more intense on some frames than others.

It doesn't have to be consistent to be a light leak.

+1
Skippy is right on with his thoughts.

[theAryanTwang]

Yeah on one of the rolls I can see it start out very subtle and then gets progressively worse. Weird that it only really affected about 7-8 photos... but maybe like you said - I think I took a few pictures in quick succession so those weren't affected. By the looks of it the rear closure might not be sealing as well as it seems.

Thanks for the advice

[Zenith]

Looks like you've got a light leak, i.e. you have an improperly sealed camera back and you had light getting in and exposing the film in camera.

The clincher on this is that you get the vertical bar on the same roll of film, on successive frames, in the same position. Alternatively, if the light was getting at the film on the takeup spool, you might have the bar in different positions but you would (depending how fast you burned the roll) have it more intense on some frames than others.

It doesn't have to be consistent to be a light leak.

Yep, that sounds like the most likely explanation. I've never seen such a "neat" (for want of a better word) light leak though. Usually you get a whole load of red streaks and things, and they usually go right up to the edge of the frame. It might be worth having a thorough check of the joins in the casing and on the film door. If the film door's not closing properly, you may be able to bodge it with some black ducht tape or something.

It's a real shame, as that would have been a killer shot. :thumb:

[tth_fan]

It's a real shame, as that would have been a killer shot. :thumb:

I don't think that's a real shot...isn't it just an example? Cause if it's not, it's good.

[theAryanTwang]

lol, yeah that's an example... here's a few that i took, i don't kid myself by saying i'm any kind of photography talent

as you'll see, the real photos are actually very similar to my example - the leak is somewhat "neat" as you put it

[skippy the wonder dog]

That's a light leak for sure. Notice on the second shot how you have a faint vertical pink line about 2/3 across the frame? Or on the last frame.

You get white where the light was intense enough to fully expose the film, and red or orange where it wasn't.

[Zenith]

Yep, a text book light leak. However...

...That is beautiful! (The car and the photo 8))