Post by Stephen on Nov 1, 2014 15:27:18 GMT -5
No, not those Halloween ghosts, but issues with particular makes of cameras that cause troubles.
It came up in a conversation with a friend who has retired from the camera repair business a couple of years ago. He saw that I was using a Saraber Finetta, the model 88, and asked of I had experienced the ghost frames they produced....
I knew that the Finetta is unusual in having a sprocketless film transport, which like the Periflex gives a gradually decreasing frame spacing as the film is wound on. This really annoyed Kodak etc, as slides could not end up centred in the slide holder when processed and mounted.
But no, he said, it is a major fault, when you press the long stroke shutter release, as it descends a faint click is heard as the film transport interlock engages.
If you then release the shutter after deciding not to take the shot, the shutter blades open up fully!!...in effect a "T" position that should not be there.
If you then go ahead and take the shot you end up with a ghostly mess of double exposure, all without realising what has happened.
It was well known enough to be listed in Kodak's blue book of camera and film faults, which used to be regularly issued in the 195/6/70's.
The book used to get mentioned a lot in the columns of Modern Photography's collectors corner. It's most famous long running fault that took years to find a cause for was the Red Mist, which plagued early colour film after the war.
The problem started with the US made Kodak 35mm cameras made in the late 1940's, when colour was just starting to take off in a big way. It was reported that in an unpredictable way frames had a red glow to them, a hazy red look that shifted the colour balance of the transparency or colour print.
It also began to affect UK made Bantam cameras a bit, but did not occur on Retinas or seemingly non Kodak models.
Kodak looked in to it closely, and tried every explanation they could think off, even checking whether the Bakelite could transmit light through it!
It was not until the mid 50's that it dawned on them what had happened, when a photoshoot for a revised US model was being done, and the girl holding the camera for the publicity shots complained that she could not remove the front of the case of the camera.......
Kodak realised the case had been the problem, it was lined with bright red plush velvet, which even when you faced away from the sun was under the lens, out of view, but able to reflect the red light into the lens......
Research showed it had been happening on lots of cameras with red case interiors, also on blue interiors in Germany, but the blue shift did not show so much.
Many other faults used to be listed, like Hassleblad's lightning, which was static distarge due to the rapid wind on, when paper backed 120 was used.
Any of you out there know of such quirks and Ghosts in the Machine?
It came up in a conversation with a friend who has retired from the camera repair business a couple of years ago. He saw that I was using a Saraber Finetta, the model 88, and asked of I had experienced the ghost frames they produced....
I knew that the Finetta is unusual in having a sprocketless film transport, which like the Periflex gives a gradually decreasing frame spacing as the film is wound on. This really annoyed Kodak etc, as slides could not end up centred in the slide holder when processed and mounted.
But no, he said, it is a major fault, when you press the long stroke shutter release, as it descends a faint click is heard as the film transport interlock engages.
If you then release the shutter after deciding not to take the shot, the shutter blades open up fully!!...in effect a "T" position that should not be there.
If you then go ahead and take the shot you end up with a ghostly mess of double exposure, all without realising what has happened.
It was well known enough to be listed in Kodak's blue book of camera and film faults, which used to be regularly issued in the 195/6/70's.
The book used to get mentioned a lot in the columns of Modern Photography's collectors corner. It's most famous long running fault that took years to find a cause for was the Red Mist, which plagued early colour film after the war.
The problem started with the US made Kodak 35mm cameras made in the late 1940's, when colour was just starting to take off in a big way. It was reported that in an unpredictable way frames had a red glow to them, a hazy red look that shifted the colour balance of the transparency or colour print.
It also began to affect UK made Bantam cameras a bit, but did not occur on Retinas or seemingly non Kodak models.
Kodak looked in to it closely, and tried every explanation they could think off, even checking whether the Bakelite could transmit light through it!
It was not until the mid 50's that it dawned on them what had happened, when a photoshoot for a revised US model was being done, and the girl holding the camera for the publicity shots complained that she could not remove the front of the case of the camera.......
Kodak realised the case had been the problem, it was lined with bright red plush velvet, which even when you faced away from the sun was under the lens, out of view, but able to reflect the red light into the lens......
Research showed it had been happening on lots of cameras with red case interiors, also on blue interiors in Germany, but the blue shift did not show so much.
Many other faults used to be listed, like Hassleblad's lightning, which was static distarge due to the rapid wind on, when paper backed 120 was used.
Any of you out there know of such quirks and Ghosts in the Machine?
