Okay then, so I did my fourth run; a single roll of 120 through an Ensign Selfix 320. The film that came out of the Selfix when I bought it was very old and rather thin and grainy, but you certainly did get recognisable (and very pleasing) shots, and so I was hoping to get something good out of it again.
The development process itself is fine by the looks of it: margins of film all clear, good contrast and so
on. So I’m happy :)…but while the development and the actual image is okay, there is pretty heavy vignetting on all shots, and also the ghostly line up the side of each negative has returned (see photo, from my very first development run where this occurred). I used the same tank. I used the same tank in the second development run also, and *didn’t* get the line, so the tank isn’t the culprit after all
So it occurred to me that the very first film I developed was also through this Selfix; checked the negatives and the line and the vignetting are there also. Gah! On the origional shots from the previous owner, you can make out the line also – somehow I missed this earlier, must’ve been the excitement of finding anything at all! – but I can’t see any vignetting on them. Mind you, there could be a swarm of locusts passing and you wouldn’t be able to see those either.
So it looks like the Selfix needs it’s seals looked at or something similar – I’m not an expert in this at all, but someone will be :)
Is there heavy vignetting on all negatives? Some cameras tend to have more vignetting when the aperture is set wide open.
And the white line could be a very tiny light leak, or rust on the parts where the films touches the camera somewhere inside the camera. But this is so obvious so why am I saying this here now :s
Comment by frzw — August 5, 2008 @ 10:04 pm
There was vignetting on all of them yes, and I used 1/100 at f32 throughout..so not so wide open I guess. Can’t remember what settings the first roll had, but it’s on those too. As for the line, yes I think it is. You can actually see a darker line, and a patch where light is reflecting on the film next to it; I reckon it’s one of the ends and side seals.
Comment by caren80 — August 5, 2008 @ 10:14 pm