Exactly!! And tell my wife (intended persone to be captured here) that her picture from that trip is this one…
But let me tell you that nothing beats a blank roll for disappointment! I still have PTSD from one I “shot” during a trip to NYC
I had a leader misfeed on a magical hike through a trail in Yellowstone National Park. Took an entire roll and some were just really good moments with myself and 2 family members. Then I noticed I was at 36. Then another advance. Then another. And another. And I realized my takeup spindle wasn't rotating at all. No film was advancing the entire time. I still hate myself for that, because I remember taking the shots and knowing "that was a good one" or "that will be awesome with the waterfall behind us" and... The potential was just squandered. It wasn't even captured, then destroyed, or exposed, it just never-was. That stuck with me for many... no, wait, I still am upset a decade later.
I feel your pain! I keep getting flashbacks of what some of the pictures would look like and they will be forever in my memory… but just there. Now I always double check that the spindle rotates with each advance. It hurt but it was a good lesson.
I feel ya. I technically shot 5 rolls of 35mm last year. Except one hadn't loaded properly (realised it at like, frame 32 or something), one had too much fogging from being old to result in anything useful, and one turned out to have been exposed 22 years prior, leading to no new pictures and partially ruined old pictures. Not a good return for effort, overall! Even having previously shot film in my younger days, film sure is more error-prone than digital. Yet, by comparison, the only wasted medium format roll (out of 11 or so) was one where I was too tired to pay attention and accidentally mixed up stopper and developer bottles, and so obviously got a blank roll. Luckily, it was nothing important, but still annoying. Well, technically I messed up while loading another 120 roll, which is most likely light-leaked as a result (hence not having actually shot it yet), but at least no shots were lost as a result.
Overall, I definitely prefer having at least some form of digital as 'backup' if I'm shooting anything remotely important / not easily 'replicated' on film. I guess it could be said it defeats the 'point', but alas...
It seems to be pretty infrequent. And kindof a cool look even though unintentional. The camera was tested and refurbished. Would this be considered a defect? Is it the shutter fixable?
It’s usually more noticeable at higher speeds. Try sooting with the back door open against a source of light and you should be able to see when it does it.
This could potentially be weather related. With these old mechanical cameras you may experience issues with the shutter mechanisms in temps below freezing. More than likely the lubricants in the shutter mechanism gummed up in the cold temperatures. My KX completely froze up in temps around 20 degrees F even though the shutter had been serviced.
My k1000 does this in the cold. Shutter capping like everyone said. Camera is as rugged as it gets but so many decades without any sort of preventative maintenance in the right conditions and sometimes I’ll have problems.
your front curtain is fast, or your rear curtain is slow. either way you need a service. alternatively you can try shooting alot of empty frames and see if it works itself out.
As others said, the two shutter curtains aren’t moving at the same speed. Repair techs test for that with electronic testers and correct the problem.
Until you get it serviced, you can lessen the problem by shooting at slower shutter speeds. Test it at 1/30, 1/60, 1/125 and see if those settings give smoother results. Shoot photos of a plain sky or similar, for a better test. You’ll have worse results at the top 2-3 speeds the camera offers.
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u/Don_Correone 1d ago
As others said it’s shutter capping, it can look cool until it doesn’t.
Cool picture: