Troubleshooting A-1 and overexposure

I started developing Ilford hp5+ in Ilfotec DD-x, and wasn't getting very good results. In fact, they appeared muddy and somewhat overdeveloped or overexposed. I couldn't tell which. I wanted to eliminate the cause of being a faulty shutter on the Canon A-1, a camera that was CLA'ed just a couple of short years ago. So, I ran a test between that camera and an AE-1 shooting them both with hp5+ at the same settings: 1/15 second exposure time and f/5.6 aperture. Both shot at box speed, then developed on the same reel in the same developer. As it turns out I couldn't tell much difference between the two strips, but the A-1 might have been slightly more exposed. Not more than a fraction of a stop from what I can tell. In any event, here are the results. My conclusion is that DD-x doesn't develop hp5+ very well. Not the way I develop, anyway.

Faulty equipment

I'm somewhat at a crossroads in my film photography right now. No, I'm not having an existential crisis about what film to shoot, what format, Ilford vs. Kodak...nothing like that. I've had several cameras develop problems which have impacted my shooting abilities lately.

My AV-1 was overexposing by at least a couple of stops before I changed out the batteries. The sky is completely blown out here, of course, but you can at least see how Kentmere 400 deals with overexposure. Every frame in this roll was affected, several much worse than this one.  Souped in d-76 1:1.

To date, here are the camera issues I'm dealing with:

• Canon A-1 with a sticky shutter and infamous 'Canon squeal'.  I'm told that this is actually fixable, and I just might put out the funds necessary to get this done.
• Canon Elan 7, at one time my flagship film camera body, has a broken door shutter. Up until a couple of years ago this was easily fixable by ordering a $12 USD part.  Everywhere I'm looking that part is showing "NLA".  
• My Canon AV-1 was overexposing every single frame, and I thought something was wrong with it. A quick battery replacement solved that problem. 
• My Mamiya C330 continues to display vertical lines on either side of the frame, sometimes randomly, effectively turning it into a 645 when I crop.  I still am very interested in a regular 645 SLR/Rangefinder at some point.

Same camera, same film after changing out the battery. Note to self: Always check AE settings against what feels reasonable at the time. When in doubt, check with a DSLR or light meter. Saling House in historic Weston, Oregon.

As luck would have it, I just picked up a Canon Rebel 2000 in pristine condition, and for a very reasonable price. That will boost my EOS shooting, but I'm still not sure what to do when that film door comes apart...

Kentmere 400 in d-76 1:1, shot in a Canon AV-1 with a fresh battery.

So, I'm down to a single functions Canon FD and two EOS film cameras to shoot with. A Mamiya TLR if I want to put up with its quirks. And a Zero Image pinhole for those times I'm feeling all pinholey.

Kentmere 400 in d-76 1:1, shot in a Canon AV-1 with a fresh battery.

My priorities right now are to get my A-1 working again if possible, and replace it if not. Both are about the same cost when purchased from a reputable dealer (I don't do eBay). I'm really hoping that a door latch for the Elan 7 can be found. At this point, I'd be happy if I could get somebody to 3D print something. We're on the cusp of winter, and I'd like to shoot up some higher speed, bulk rolled films I have in the freezer.

Troubleshooting Mamiya C330: Part 2

I previously described my efforts to troubleshoot some vertical lines showing up on the negatives taken from my C330. Suspecting problems with the reel, I shot a second roll of Tri-x, all frames of the same scene. When I loaded the film for developing this time, I reversed the direction of the roll so that it loaded frame #1 first.  You can see the results here:

Frame #1, loaded onto reel first.

Frame #12, loaded onto reel last.

This time, there was no difference in the frames; the vertical lines showed up equally in both.  Back to the drawing board, although I still suspect reel issues. The next time I load onto the reel, I'm actually going to do so upside down and see if that makes a difference. If it does, I will have solved my problem. If not, then it really is back to the drawing board.

Which brings me to my last point: Even though I've narrowed it down to a developing issue, there's still the nagging feeling that's not it. I don't get this problem with my Zero Image pinhole, although it's been several weeks since I've used that camera. In Part 3 I'll show the results from upside-down reel loading and discuss some next steps from there.

Troubleshooting Mamiya C330: Part 1

A couple of years ago, a problem began showing up on the negatives from my C330. A vertical line (and sometimes two) would appear at the edge of the frame, inside the exposed area.  You can clearly see the issue in this image (look immediately to the left of the words "Ilford 100 Delta"):

I sent a test roll out for developing to see if the problem originated from the camera or the actual developing process.  Those negatives came back just fine, so the problem must be in my processing. Still, though, this problem never crept up when using my Zero Image pinhole, so that really had me confused.

I kept trying to work out the problem, but couldn't locate the source, so my C330 sat on the shelf for awhile, only being used occasionally until now.  Thing is, this is a really nice camera that takes otherwise exceptionally sharp images, so recently I began trying to troubleshoot again.

Zeb took a look and showed his folks at Blue Moon Camera and Machine. They reinforced the idea that this is indeed a processing issue, and that they had seen the problem themselves occasionally with Paterson reels. Other suggestions from the internet involved inversion method and the amount of tightness on the reels.  Armed with all of that knowledge, I ran a roll of Tri-x through it again, but this time made an important discovery: The lines showed up in the first few frames of the roll, but not the last. They were somewhat visible in the middle.  If what I'm seeing is correct, that means that, for this roll anyway, the end loaded first didn't have the problem, and the end loaded last displayed those lines.

First frame on this roll, last one loaded on the reel.

Last frame on this roll, first one loaded on the reel

Now, I can further narrow down what is actually happening.  Two scenarios come to mind.  In one, there is something rubbing the emulsion off toward the outer edge of the reel. While this makes sense, I've tried using different reels (four, in all) without seeing much of a change.  The second scenario, which seems more likely, is that fixer isn't getting all the way to the outer edge of the reel and is being blocked up. The second one is a simple test: Go grab those frames, re-fix for a few minutes, and see how they come out.  I'll try both of these out and report back in Part 2 of this series.