Posts for: revcor
Feb 12, 2022 16:22:26 #
StanMac wrote:
The spinning of the rewind crank is due to the fil... (show quote)
Interesting that's more than I understood previously about what goes on during rewinding! It was a verrry noticeably stronger resistance than I've felt with the other handful of rolls though, to the point where it felt like I was going to break either the crank handle, the film itself, or the teeth on the take up spool. I have read various cautions against forcing things against a lot of resistance (albeit generally in regards to the film advance lever) so I was hesitant to roll the dice. When the store got the film out there was a sharp crease across the very end, so it seems like it may have experienced some unexpected complication at some point during its tenure in the camera haha. I will definitely get the light seals done—I'm tempted to give it a go myself because I am pretty handy, but i would also think prudent the full inspection/assessment/CLA you mention. There's one (that I'm aware of) camera repair guy who actually does the work himself here in the Bay Area, Karl Christoffersen, he works out of Seawoood Photo in San Rafael. This is of note because I've been told most places offering repair services actually contract it out and ship your camera to some other place for it, and I'm generally much more inclined towards someone doing work locally barring any difference in quality. But this Zach's place is a business you recommend? You've had good experiences with them?
And my apologies for the slow rate of reply I promise I will read and reply to everybody who has offered any input! I'm in the middle of moving and the last few days have been incredibly hectic so I've been trying to check in on this thread as often as I can
Feb 12, 2022 15:42:04 #
KTJohnson wrote:
Your XE-7 looks pristine compared to my very well used one. On the left side, at the top is a battery-check light. Just press down on the lever, if the battery is OK this will light up.
The battery light indicated all good, I just wasn't sure if it was reliable or how low the batteries would get before it did alert me. Both batteries just measured 1.58 V so they've got a full life ahead of them!
Heh, that's what going from a store shelf to a closet shelf for the next 45 years will get ya.. I am quite fortunate to have come into this camera by chance like I did! And if all goes to plan, mine will look just like yours some day!
Is there a way to quote/reply to multiple people in one post? Or is it normal to post multiple times in a row if responding to a few posts?
Feb 12, 2022 11:14:53 #
Bayou wrote:
With a film camera of that age, do check the foam light seals that you see inside the camera when you open the back. They tend to crumble with age and can allow light leaks, and are relatively easily replaced.
Now I don't know what exactly this speckled rubberized stuff is supposed to look like, but can I assume this is not an example of its ideal peak-functioning state?
Feb 12, 2022 10:33:55 #
Just Fred wrote:
I'm with home brewer. A light leak, or perhaps some exposure to the first part of the film as you were loading the camera.
I did have an odd issue potentially traceable to the loading of the film. At the end of the roll when I rewound it, most of the roll was back into the canister, when i felt an increase in resistance near the end, and let go of the rewind crank and it spun backwards a revolution or two. I realized the leader must be caught and unable to release from the take-up spool, confirmed by advancing the film and the rewind crank turning in unison. I asked the folks at Montclair Photo if they could take the camera into their dark room and extricate the film for me, which they happily did in just a few minutes.
The XE-7 already has an odd method of securing the end of the film to the take up spool, and this roll the last 2-3mm was creased strangely, and one of the employees said that was a possible side effect of that take up spool style. Film was fine though and so I'll see how it came out in just a few hours here
Feb 12, 2022 10:22:32 #
home brewer wrote:
The first ones look like light fog; that is there is a light leak getting to the film
Interesting, this is a new concept to me. This is a different mechanism of light leak from that which results from decaying light seals? Would heat have a similar visible effect on film by any chance? I haven't let any film get hot but I definitely haven't been keeping it cold, it's been in the varying temperatures of a house so 65-75ºF.
Feb 12, 2022 10:18:55 #
SkyKing wrote:
…when was the last time the battery was changed…?
Just before putting this first roll of film through it, so about a month and a half ago. The old ones I removed had some corrosion causing them to stick to each other and the battery cover/cage (it requires two batteries, stacked) so there's some scuffing on the contacts from my cleaning that, but the batteries should have a good amount of life remaining. Since you mentioned it though I'm going to grab my voltmeter and check them.
Feb 11, 2022 01:10:41 #
Hey everyone, it seems like digital is more common for people on this site, but I really like the feel of this forum and so I thought I'd ask for some film help! I have a Minolta XE-7 that I recently "lucked" into (I mentioned recently taking an interest in photography, and a family friend pulled out her late father's old camera bag containing a Minolta XE-7 and an assortment of lenses and accessories, all of which her father had basically purchased, used a few times, and left to sit in the closet for the next 45 years). The camera appears to be in perfect working condition, but I haven't been able to get quite as consistent exposures with it as I do with my K1000 (which I bought over summer and used up until getting this one).
The only film I've used in either camera is Kodak Ultra Max 400, the cheap (but absolutely adequate for me thus far) stuff from Walgreens, with the camera set to box speed. So I'm using the XE-7 with ASA set to 400, through a Minolta Rokkor-X MD 1:1.4 50mm lens on manual mode, at various apertures, with my shutter speed set every shot according to the readout of the camera's light meter (needle points to "correct" SS, or what it would use were it set to Auto mode).
On my most recent roll, half of which I shot the morning of New Year's Day and the rest a few days later, I noticed an odd phenomenon. All but one of the photos from that morning (maybe ~8 a.m. and a bright and sunny day) look as if they were taken at 4 a.m. They're extremely dark. But the rest of the photos from a few days later all look appropriately exposed. I am very new to photography, so I am at a loss and would love to understand what exactly I'm looking at, and the mechanisms behind it:
- Is it some natural/expected behavior that I should account for with camera settings?
- An intermittent fault/quirk of the camera's light meter or some other hardware dysfunction?
- Some fluke result of the lab's developing process that affected some shots differently? For the record, I have had nothing but good experiences with the lab thus far, Montclair 1 Hour Photo in Oakland
Any insight would be appreciated! I'm also very new to Lightroom, but even messing around with the dark photos in LR I was incapable of making them appear what I'd consider acceptable.
The only film I've used in either camera is Kodak Ultra Max 400, the cheap (but absolutely adequate for me thus far) stuff from Walgreens, with the camera set to box speed. So I'm using the XE-7 with ASA set to 400, through a Minolta Rokkor-X MD 1:1.4 50mm lens on manual mode, at various apertures, with my shutter speed set every shot according to the readout of the camera's light meter (needle points to "correct" SS, or what it would use were it set to Auto mode).
On my most recent roll, half of which I shot the morning of New Year's Day and the rest a few days later, I noticed an odd phenomenon. All but one of the photos from that morning (maybe ~8 a.m. and a bright and sunny day) look as if they were taken at 4 a.m. They're extremely dark. But the rest of the photos from a few days later all look appropriately exposed. I am very new to photography, so I am at a loss and would love to understand what exactly I'm looking at, and the mechanisms behind it:
- Is it some natural/expected behavior that I should account for with camera settings?
- An intermittent fault/quirk of the camera's light meter or some other hardware dysfunction?
- Some fluke result of the lab's developing process that affected some shots differently? For the record, I have had nothing but good experiences with the lab thus far, Montclair 1 Hour Photo in Oakland
Any insight would be appreciated! I'm also very new to Lightroom, but even messing around with the dark photos in LR I was incapable of making them appear what I'd consider acceptable.
