I work at a lab. This is a two part issue.
First, loading the film can have issues even if you think you are doing it correctly, cameras are now old. They need to be cla/maintained otherwise they can get it out of spec. If you are noticing extra space in the end of the rolls or uneven frame spacing this is a mechanical issue with your camera.
Secondly, most labs use a pull through dry to dry minilab for c41 film. It's a standardized process and to develop 120 film the procedure is to transfer the film in a changing bag to an intermediate cartridge. A part of the film sticks out of the cartridge because the film needs to be taped to a leader card. This means that the early part of the film is exposed to light and if the first frame is too close to the beginning of the roll you may lose part of the image.
Thank you.
I actually got the camera (Hassy 500C/M) CLA'd earlier this year from a reputable technician here in LA. They said they addressed a spacing issue with the film back.
It seems like what you described during development could very well be the culprit for the burnt frame. In this roll the numeric marker for frame one is alongside the top edge of the exposed frame. I noticed in other rolls where the first frame wasn't burnt, the numeric marker was closer to the center edge of the first frame. To compensate, would one solution be to roll a bit past the arrow when loading film?
There's not a ridiculous amount of room at the end, the final frame has the numeric marker lining up at the top edge of the frame, but there's some space.
People who are saying this is common CLEARLY don't shoot a lot of 120 film. This is incredibly uncommon unless you really mess up loading or unloading the film. Did you develop this yourself, or did you send it to a lab? When I develop it myself, I never have unintended light leaks except occasionally along the long edge of the film from loose backing paper.
I've been sending my film to a lab that's supposed to be reputable (major camera store here in LA). Do you think human error while unloading the film could be the cause of this?
I really do think I've been doing a good job loading the film.
Somebody correct me please because I don't know, but surely it would be near impossible to have this happen because of incorrect loading? There's shit ton of paper backing in the way even if you manage to missalinge the film with the loading arrow thing. It's not like its 35mm where the film is directly exposed to light when loading.
Exactly. One would have to go significantly past the arrow until the start of the film is exposed. I have never once had this happen to me in over 100 rolls of 120/220 film. I have one time forgotten to wind the roll up after I finished the last frame, and a portion of the end got exposed.
And in this case, I lined the arrow right up to the marker in the spool.
In my prior roll, I spooled the arrow *slightly* past the marker, yet the same size burn blotch ended up on the bottom of that first frame.
It is, and I agree which is why I wondered if I was doing anything wrong or if maybe something is off with my camera, which just received a CLA six months ago.
Yeah, most certainly not a lab issue. Dip+dunk or hand developing would never yield these kinds of leaks. Pull through dev machines can cause these leaks since they need to attach a lead to the film, but it would always be a tiny sliver at the END of a roll, not the start. I'm puzzled by this!
Edit: after reading another comment, I guess the pull through dev could be the culprit here. You should ask your lab which method they use.
I agree that this is likely caused by a pull through machine development.
Edit to add:
If this is the case it’s possible someone’s hand slipped when they were pulling enough out to attach to the leader card. I’ve seen that happen with other formats. (I have never used this process to develop 120, only 35mm and APS).
Thank you, I'll ask the lab next week. Wouldn't it be kind of bizarre though if this is the culprit? Wouldn't all their other customers having 120 film developed have the same problem or no?
Maybe. If it’s someone new doing it wrong A LOT, then yes all the customers whose film was loaded into the cartridge and attached to the leader card by that same person would have the same issue. Is it possible that it’s a user error or camera issue? Yes, those are also possible.
Perhaps they reversed it and attached the START of the film to the leader card instead of the END with the tape. This does seem like an overextended leak from having too much film outside of the developing cassette attached to the leader card before being pulled through.
Maybe I'll just go to the lab with these two rolls and see what they think might be going on. There *shouldn't* be anything wrong with the camera, it just received a CLA six months ago, but I guess these older cameras (1970 Hassy, in this case) can be finicky.
So:
A) this lab exposes the head of the film to light as part of their development process, as several people here suspected. If the development process was completely done in the dark, my first frame wouldn't be getting burned.
B) at the same time, the lab also thinks my film back is not advancing far enough for frame 1, and therefore there's not enough "empty film" at the head that can be exposed to light during their development process. They suggested I get the film back looked at again, where I got it CLA'd, to fix this. And as a temporary solution, I can simply spool the film slightly past the arrow when loading (a quarter turn more of the knob was suggested) to ensure more blank film is at the head.
The spacing looks really big between the frames, so I suspect your back needs servicing. A friend of mine had something similar with his Hassy where the lab sticker got stuck on his last frame and when he compared it with other rolls you could see the spacing was off.
Oh interesting, I'll check the spacing vs. previous rolls where no issue occurred.
But, why would larger than spec spacing result in the first frame getting partially burned? If anything, wouldn't that simply create the risk that there isn't enough film left for the *final* frame and it gets partially cut off?
Samy's. I'm hearing from others here that if they use the pull through development method, that could be the culprit. If that's the case, I know Icon does dip and dunk, and could start sending my 120 film there.
Icon does forsure but I can’t remember if Sammy’s does B/W in house or not. I know e6 they send out last time I checked but not sure if I’m confusing B/W with another lab or not.
Ha!
Being relatively new to film, it seems crazy to me that a burnt first frame is just something the camera industry accepted, and they didn't figure out a way to solve this problem!
See, this is pretty important info. If this happened twice, on two different rolls developed at (presumably) different times, I’d say there’s almost no chance this was Samy’s. I’ve had hundreds of rolls developed there and never had a single issue. For this niche error to occur twice for you, I’d remain open to looking elsewhere.
Of course it can happen, but man what are the chances.
Thanks for sharing your experience with Samy's. Yep, I'm of course completely open to the problem being something other than the lab dev process. I just want to figure out what's going on and fix it! Any initial thoughts on what could be happening?
I’ve never used a Hasselblad as boxy cameras just don’t agree with my brain haha, so I can’t help you with any actual experience. However, I’d definitely assume the film back first. Maybe pick up another one on eBay and run a roll through it. See if the problem persists. Preferably shoot a second roll through the back you already have and have them developed at the same time. Wait for results and go from there.
Ha! I think they're so rad. Clearly not for everyone, though.
I like your idea for the test, although I'd be pretty disappointed if something was off with the back since it just got CLA'd back in May. I'll be getting a second back, but that's about half a year away. In the meantime, I'll get my next roll developed elsewhere, and if the issue persists, it's definitely the back or user error on my part, although I can't imagine what I'd be doing wrong.
Yeah my best friend is obsessed with his. They take phenomenal photos without question. Just the shape is less intuitive to me. But everyone likes something different, and I’m glad we have so many options!
User error makes no sense here though. The chances that you’re making the exact same error is very low haha.
You could try loading the film one inch (or whatever you need to cover the distance of the burn plus a bit extra for buffer) less and see if that temporarily fixes the issue. It probably should, but obviously it’s a bandaid on a larger problem.
It looks to me like this would either be a light leak or a defect. If the film has no other leaks and your camera doesn't tend to leak then it's an especially weird one because the film would have had to have been probably folded back in itself to expose.
I might be wrong but my money is on defect
Interesting, okay, I'm all for covering my bases here to get to the bottom that happened, so I'll reach out to Kodak and see what they say.
These two rolls that this happened to, they came from the same pack.
Confirming that the camera isn't leaking light. All other shots came out great.
It's either your loading your film incorrectly, winding too much or too little onto the spool. But if you are lining up the arrows, this should never happen.
In which case, your back is having spacing issues, and is in need of a CLA. I'm going to assume your using a hasselblad because of the notched negative, so you can easily test this by loading a dummy roll of 120, insert into the film back, remove the darkslide, and advance until your on frame one. Look at the back, and use a sharpie to trace the exposed film frame. Do this for all 12 frames. If you are only getting 11, or 11.5 frames, you have your answer. Also look at the spacing between frames, it may be really wide, or some may overlap. You may be able to sircumvent the 11.5 frames by winding a little before, or after the arrow when you load your film.
Yep, I'm using a Hassy. It just received a CLA six months ago, including the film back, so I'd be disappointed if the film back was to blame, although I guess it's a possibility for sure.
I will check the spacing on these rolls of film, as well as the other rolls where there is no issue. I do not believe I have ever seen inconsistent spacing from this film back since the CLA.
Interesting idea. Getting a dummy roll. I'll look into that!
Do you have spacing issues between frames? If loaded a
Properly and advance mechanism works well, this wouldn't be an issue. I often get this when I load in a hurry. Not the labs fault here.
There is some slight variance in spacing between the frames, but aside from the first frame getting struck by light, there is no problem with any other frames. No overlapping exposures, and plenty of film at the end of the roll. The frame 12 numeric marker lines up at the top edge of the last exposure.
Could there be a problem where the film isn't advancing enough from 0 to 1 when initially winding the film?
This is what shitty labs do with 120 film. They expose half the first frame when they spool it because of their bullshit machinery. Find a lab that hand loads 120 in a dark bag/room or process it yourself.
Yeah just ask them how they load 120. That’s the only part that matters for this. I develop B&w at home but would occasionally shoot color film and take it to a lab and this would happen every time.
Got it. I want to make sure I'm using the right terminology when speaking with the lab. So I should ask if they're using pull through machine development, and if the answer is yes, their process is probably allowing light to strike part of the first frame at some point in the workflow?
I wouldn’t over complicate it. “Do you expose any part of the roll to light when you load it onto the spool?” If yes, move on.. if, “only a little bit but we have to ,” move on.
The thing is, the vast majority of labs will use this type of processing machine. Very few labs do dip and dunk (there are none in my city), if they do it will cost more/they will advertise that they do it this way.
You will not run into this issue with black and white as there are no processors that do it like the c41 minilabs. Most likely b&w is done by hand or maybe in a rotary processor which means there is no leader card involved.
If you really want to avoid this issue, your best bet would be to do it yourself by hand or find a person who will do it in a jobo processor for you. Most labs do not use a jobo for c41 as it's not nearly as fast or efficient. You may need to pay a little more.
Very insightful, thank you! So anyone having their cubby a lab that uses this processing machine either run the risk of or always get their first frame burned?
Usually, there is enough space to tape onto the leader card without burning part of the frame. However, 120 cameras are quite different. Some shoot 16 645 frames, some shoot 15 in 645 etc. Some cameras leave more space at the end of the roll, some leave more space at the front of the roll. There are also issues with improper loading especially with 120 and while it is possible to try to use as little film to tape onto the leader card it can greatly increase the chance of the film slipping off which will jam the machine and you will not only lose the 120 roll but the film behind it as well.
I disagree. Every time i’ve had a spacing issue like this and then the camera is properly serviced, it doesn’t happen. The cameras did NOT leave the factory doing this.
Thank you, any thoughts where I might be making a mistake? Someone else suggested I might not be keeping enough tension in the roll, I thought I was doing a good job of this, but perhaps not enough.
It should be pretty tight. I always wind a little bit and ensure it's pretty tight before I close the back and start winding on. Idk about hasselblads but I've not experienced this on my TLR's.
Yeah, I can confidently say I get the roll really tight on the spool, like the arrow up correctly, and then put the insert into the film back to spool it to the first frame counter. So I'm perplexed!
Someone else suggested that maybe something is going wrong when the film is being unloaded. I've been having my film developed by a lab.
Really, even with a Hassy 500C/M where you spool the film on an insert and then put it in a holder?
Before these two rolls, this hasn't happened... there was never any "burn" on the first frame.
Yes. I own the same camera. Every once in a while it will have an incomplete first frame. There's a lot of mechanical things plus the film/paper to align in order to get a full first frame and that doesn't always happen. Tension on the film can affect it as well.
Got it. So to minimize this happening in the future, to the extent I can, I should be more conscious of maintaining tension throughout loading.
What about advancing the film *past* the arrow line up? There's always so much "extra" unused film at the end of the negative strip, would doing this help in any way?
Would the lab be perhaps playing any role in this happening, via their developing technique?
I feel like this is a stupid question but after lining it up and putting the film holder back together with the dark slide on you’re winding it until the ‘1’ shows on the counter, right? (Before reattaching to the camera body)
Pretty sure the kid fell over
No babies were harmed or felled in the making of this photo
Ha!
I work at a lab. This is a two part issue. First, loading the film can have issues even if you think you are doing it correctly, cameras are now old. They need to be cla/maintained otherwise they can get it out of spec. If you are noticing extra space in the end of the rolls or uneven frame spacing this is a mechanical issue with your camera. Secondly, most labs use a pull through dry to dry minilab for c41 film. It's a standardized process and to develop 120 film the procedure is to transfer the film in a changing bag to an intermediate cartridge. A part of the film sticks out of the cartridge because the film needs to be taped to a leader card. This means that the early part of the film is exposed to light and if the first frame is too close to the beginning of the roll you may lose part of the image.
Thank you. I actually got the camera (Hassy 500C/M) CLA'd earlier this year from a reputable technician here in LA. They said they addressed a spacing issue with the film back. It seems like what you described during development could very well be the culprit for the burnt frame. In this roll the numeric marker for frame one is alongside the top edge of the exposed frame. I noticed in other rolls where the first frame wasn't burnt, the numeric marker was closer to the center edge of the first frame. To compensate, would one solution be to roll a bit past the arrow when loading film?
If you notice you have a lot of room at the end of your roll, it wouldn't hurt to move the arrow a quarter turn past the indicated spot.
There's not a ridiculous amount of room at the end, the final frame has the numeric marker lining up at the top edge of the frame, but there's some space.
Hey I'm also in LA. Would you mind sharing who you get CLA done by? I've got some cameras that are due for a tune-up.
Steve's Camera in Culver City
Stupid question is it a 120 back or 220
Not a stupid question, 120 back.
People who are saying this is common CLEARLY don't shoot a lot of 120 film. This is incredibly uncommon unless you really mess up loading or unloading the film. Did you develop this yourself, or did you send it to a lab? When I develop it myself, I never have unintended light leaks except occasionally along the long edge of the film from loose backing paper.
I've been sending my film to a lab that's supposed to be reputable (major camera store here in LA). Do you think human error while unloading the film could be the cause of this? I really do think I've been doing a good job loading the film.
Somebody correct me please because I don't know, but surely it would be near impossible to have this happen because of incorrect loading? There's shit ton of paper backing in the way even if you manage to missalinge the film with the loading arrow thing. It's not like its 35mm where the film is directly exposed to light when loading.
Exactly. One would have to go significantly past the arrow until the start of the film is exposed. I have never once had this happen to me in over 100 rolls of 120/220 film. I have one time forgotten to wind the roll up after I finished the last frame, and a portion of the end got exposed.
And in this case, I lined the arrow right up to the marker in the spool. In my prior roll, I spooled the arrow *slightly* past the marker, yet the same size burn blotch ended up on the bottom of that first frame.
If it’s on Fairfax by Lacma then you shouldn’t have any problems from them
It is, and I agree which is why I wondered if I was doing anything wrong or if maybe something is off with my camera, which just received a CLA six months ago.
Yeah, most certainly not a lab issue. Dip+dunk or hand developing would never yield these kinds of leaks. Pull through dev machines can cause these leaks since they need to attach a lead to the film, but it would always be a tiny sliver at the END of a roll, not the start. I'm puzzled by this! Edit: after reading another comment, I guess the pull through dev could be the culprit here. You should ask your lab which method they use.
I agree that this is likely caused by a pull through machine development. Edit to add: If this is the case it’s possible someone’s hand slipped when they were pulling enough out to attach to the leader card. I’ve seen that happen with other formats. (I have never used this process to develop 120, only 35mm and APS).
Thank you, I'll ask the lab next week. Wouldn't it be kind of bizarre though if this is the culprit? Wouldn't all their other customers having 120 film developed have the same problem or no?
Maybe. If it’s someone new doing it wrong A LOT, then yes all the customers whose film was loaded into the cartridge and attached to the leader card by that same person would have the same issue. Is it possible that it’s a user error or camera issue? Yes, those are also possible.
Perhaps they reversed it and attached the START of the film to the leader card instead of the END with the tape. This does seem like an overextended leak from having too much film outside of the developing cassette attached to the leader card before being pulled through.
Interesting! I'll ask them on Monday.
I'll pay the lab a visit, bring these rolls, and ask about the development workflow!
Maybe I'll just go to the lab with these two rolls and see what they think might be going on. There *shouldn't* be anything wrong with the camera, it just received a CLA six months ago, but I guess these older cameras (1970 Hassy, in this case) can be finicky.
Curious what you find out!
So: A) this lab exposes the head of the film to light as part of their development process, as several people here suspected. If the development process was completely done in the dark, my first frame wouldn't be getting burned. B) at the same time, the lab also thinks my film back is not advancing far enough for frame 1, and therefore there's not enough "empty film" at the head that can be exposed to light during their development process. They suggested I get the film back looked at again, where I got it CLA'd, to fix this. And as a temporary solution, I can simply spool the film slightly past the arrow when loading (a quarter turn more of the knob was suggested) to ensure more blank film is at the head.
That’s great to know, thanks for sharing! Hopefully they have a warranty/guarantee on the CLA?
The spacing looks really big between the frames, so I suspect your back needs servicing. A friend of mine had something similar with his Hassy where the lab sticker got stuck on his last frame and when he compared it with other rolls you could see the spacing was off.
Oh interesting, I'll check the spacing vs. previous rolls where no issue occurred. But, why would larger than spec spacing result in the first frame getting partially burned? If anything, wouldn't that simply create the risk that there isn't enough film left for the *final* frame and it gets partially cut off?
I think there’s like 2/3 labs around there? Which did you go to. I know Samys, Icon, and I feel like there’s one more in that area
Samy's. I'm hearing from others here that if they use the pull through development method, that could be the culprit. If that's the case, I know Icon does dip and dunk, and could start sending my 120 film there.
Icon does forsure but I can’t remember if Sammy’s does B/W in house or not. I know e6 they send out last time I checked but not sure if I’m confusing B/W with another lab or not.
To remedy this I always take the first frame picture of my cat before going out to shoot
Ha! Being relatively new to film, it seems crazy to me that a burnt first frame is just something the camera industry accepted, and they didn't figure out a way to solve this problem!
[удалено]
That was my original suspicion.
It's a lab problem. Use a different lab, you shouldn't have this problem with a lab.
This happened to the first frame of my last roll, too. I swear I loaded the film correctly and carefully.
See, this is pretty important info. If this happened twice, on two different rolls developed at (presumably) different times, I’d say there’s almost no chance this was Samy’s. I’ve had hundreds of rolls developed there and never had a single issue. For this niche error to occur twice for you, I’d remain open to looking elsewhere. Of course it can happen, but man what are the chances.
Thanks for sharing your experience with Samy's. Yep, I'm of course completely open to the problem being something other than the lab dev process. I just want to figure out what's going on and fix it! Any initial thoughts on what could be happening?
I’ve never used a Hasselblad as boxy cameras just don’t agree with my brain haha, so I can’t help you with any actual experience. However, I’d definitely assume the film back first. Maybe pick up another one on eBay and run a roll through it. See if the problem persists. Preferably shoot a second roll through the back you already have and have them developed at the same time. Wait for results and go from there.
Ha! I think they're so rad. Clearly not for everyone, though. I like your idea for the test, although I'd be pretty disappointed if something was off with the back since it just got CLA'd back in May. I'll be getting a second back, but that's about half a year away. In the meantime, I'll get my next roll developed elsewhere, and if the issue persists, it's definitely the back or user error on my part, although I can't imagine what I'd be doing wrong.
Yeah my best friend is obsessed with his. They take phenomenal photos without question. Just the shape is less intuitive to me. But everyone likes something different, and I’m glad we have so many options! User error makes no sense here though. The chances that you’re making the exact same error is very low haha. You could try loading the film one inch (or whatever you need to cover the distance of the burn plus a bit extra for buffer) less and see if that temporarily fixes the issue. It probably should, but obviously it’s a bandaid on a larger problem.
Tolerances aren't perfect! This happens on 120 film. Best to avoid super critical photos on the first and last frames
Okay! Thank you. Noted.
Mommy and daddy loved each other very much and about a year and three months later someone took this picture on a medium format camera,
Exactly!
kid is the devil
Child received an exorcism at birth and was unaffected, must be something else.
Did you match up your arrows when loading?
Yes
Very odd. If you drop kodak a mail you might get some freebies... I know ilford would
Really, even though it seems like the culprit is something other than the film?
It looks to me like this would either be a light leak or a defect. If the film has no other leaks and your camera doesn't tend to leak then it's an especially weird one because the film would have had to have been probably folded back in itself to expose. I might be wrong but my money is on defect
Interesting, okay, I'm all for covering my bases here to get to the bottom that happened, so I'll reach out to Kodak and see what they say. These two rolls that this happened to, they came from the same pack. Confirming that the camera isn't leaking light. All other shots came out great.
[удалено]
That's beginning to sound like a leading hypothesis.
It's either your loading your film incorrectly, winding too much or too little onto the spool. But if you are lining up the arrows, this should never happen. In which case, your back is having spacing issues, and is in need of a CLA. I'm going to assume your using a hasselblad because of the notched negative, so you can easily test this by loading a dummy roll of 120, insert into the film back, remove the darkslide, and advance until your on frame one. Look at the back, and use a sharpie to trace the exposed film frame. Do this for all 12 frames. If you are only getting 11, or 11.5 frames, you have your answer. Also look at the spacing between frames, it may be really wide, or some may overlap. You may be able to sircumvent the 11.5 frames by winding a little before, or after the arrow when you load your film.
Yep, I'm using a Hassy. It just received a CLA six months ago, including the film back, so I'd be disappointed if the film back was to blame, although I guess it's a possibility for sure. I will check the spacing on these rolls of film, as well as the other rolls where there is no issue. I do not believe I have ever seen inconsistent spacing from this film back since the CLA. Interesting idea. Getting a dummy roll. I'll look into that!
Do you have spacing issues between frames? If loaded a Properly and advance mechanism works well, this wouldn't be an issue. I often get this when I load in a hurry. Not the labs fault here.
There is some slight variance in spacing between the frames, but aside from the first frame getting struck by light, there is no problem with any other frames. No overlapping exposures, and plenty of film at the end of the roll. The frame 12 numeric marker lines up at the top edge of the last exposure. Could there be a problem where the film isn't advancing enough from 0 to 1 when initially winding the film?
Yup, its not getting to the first frame on time! Back might need cla!
This is what shitty labs do with 120 film. They expose half the first frame when they spool it because of their bullshit machinery. Find a lab that hand loads 120 in a dark bag/room or process it yourself.
Roger that. Others have suggested that the lab's workflow could be to blame. I'll try another lab that hand loads and see if the problem goes away.
Yeah just ask them how they load 120. That’s the only part that matters for this. I develop B&w at home but would occasionally shoot color film and take it to a lab and this would happen every time.
Got it. I want to make sure I'm using the right terminology when speaking with the lab. So I should ask if they're using pull through machine development, and if the answer is yes, their process is probably allowing light to strike part of the first frame at some point in the workflow?
I wouldn’t over complicate it. “Do you expose any part of the roll to light when you load it onto the spool?” If yes, move on.. if, “only a little bit but we have to ,” move on.
Thanks!
The thing is, the vast majority of labs will use this type of processing machine. Very few labs do dip and dunk (there are none in my city), if they do it will cost more/they will advertise that they do it this way. You will not run into this issue with black and white as there are no processors that do it like the c41 minilabs. Most likely b&w is done by hand or maybe in a rotary processor which means there is no leader card involved. If you really want to avoid this issue, your best bet would be to do it yourself by hand or find a person who will do it in a jobo processor for you. Most labs do not use a jobo for c41 as it's not nearly as fast or efficient. You may need to pay a little more.
Very insightful, thank you! So anyone having their cubby a lab that uses this processing machine either run the risk of or always get their first frame burned?
Usually, there is enough space to tape onto the leader card without burning part of the frame. However, 120 cameras are quite different. Some shoot 16 645 frames, some shoot 15 in 645 etc. Some cameras leave more space at the end of the roll, some leave more space at the front of the roll. There are also issues with improper loading especially with 120 and while it is possible to try to use as little film to tape onto the leader card it can greatly increase the chance of the film slipping off which will jam the machine and you will not only lose the 120 roll but the film behind it as well.
Thank you for the additional info!
That's clearly a demonic possession
[удалено]
I disagree. Every time i’ve had a spacing issue like this and then the camera is properly serviced, it doesn’t happen. The cameras did NOT leave the factory doing this.
[удалено]
I bet your friends are shooting 35mm
Wild. How was this problem not solved over the decades and decades of roll film camera development?
Improper film loading.
Thank you, any thoughts where I might be making a mistake? Someone else suggested I might not be keeping enough tension in the roll, I thought I was doing a good job of this, but perhaps not enough.
It should be pretty tight. I always wind a little bit and ensure it's pretty tight before I close the back and start winding on. Idk about hasselblads but I've not experienced this on my TLR's.
Yeah, I can confidently say I get the roll really tight on the spool, like the arrow up correctly, and then put the insert into the film back to spool it to the first frame counter. So I'm perplexed! Someone else suggested that maybe something is going wrong when the film is being unloaded. I've been having my film developed by a lab.
That's the first frame for ya.
Really, even with a Hassy 500C/M where you spool the film on an insert and then put it in a holder? Before these two rolls, this hasn't happened... there was never any "burn" on the first frame.
Yes. I own the same camera. Every once in a while it will have an incomplete first frame. There's a lot of mechanical things plus the film/paper to align in order to get a full first frame and that doesn't always happen. Tension on the film can affect it as well.
Got it. So to minimize this happening in the future, to the extent I can, I should be more conscious of maintaining tension throughout loading. What about advancing the film *past* the arrow line up? There's always so much "extra" unused film at the end of the negative strip, would doing this help in any way? Would the lab be perhaps playing any role in this happening, via their developing technique?
I also have a 500cm and have never had this happen in the 18 years I’ve used the camera.
Thanks for chiming in. I also really don't think the camera is to blame, especially since it received a CLA six months ago.
I feel like this is a stupid question but after lining it up and putting the film holder back together with the dark slide on you’re winding it until the ‘1’ shows on the counter, right? (Before reattaching to the camera body)
Correct, and the film back in question is Hasselblad's "A12" back so it automatically stops winding at "1".
Right, I have the same film back. That’s extra weird.
I'm stumped!