Massive Vignetting...Please Explain

[dazedgonebye]

Gran View Camera
Super Angulon 75mm f5.6

f22 (I'm pretty sure)

What the heck is going on here? All the images I took ended up like this.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3344/3516652357_cc658d9f1f_b.jpg

Could it be the shutter?

[dazedgonebye]

Except of course...it's all white?
This must be some sort of huge light leak?

[Richard Wall]

I would think that a massive light leak would have fogged the entire surface of the film not just the edges. I would develop an unexposed sheet to see if this is happening in the camera or maybe the film was damaged before exposure. How are you developing the film? I can't think of much else that would make a circular pattern like that on the film without affecting the center portion of the sheet at the same time. It looks to me like there was something round that shielded the center of the sheet and prevented that area from being exposed while a strong light source exposed the film from one side, but you would have know if that had happened.

You may also want to check your bellows, but I would be surprised if that was it.

Richard




Gran View Camera
Super Angulon 75mm f5.6

f22 (I'm pretty sure)

What the heck is going on here? All the images I took ended up like this.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3344/3516652357_cc658d9f1f_b.jpg

Could it be the shutter?

[dazedgonebye]

....or, it could be the piece of aluminum I've got the lens mounted to and forgot to paint black.
I open the shutter, light reflects off of the aluminum and the center part of the image is shadowed from the extra light by the rear element.

Easy enough to check.

[Mark Sawyer]

It's not vignetting; that leaves the outside area black in the print, not white. Is the negative like that? (If it is, and the problem is in the camera, I would imagine you would have noticed it on the ground glass while focusing.)

Two possibilities:

1.) It's happening in the enlarging stage because you have too short a lens on the enlarger. (This is what it looks like)

2. The negatives were exposed to light outside the camera, with the center circle somehow masked off.

[Bjorn Nilsson]

It seems like you have to "track back" to the start. I.e. while being VERY careful not to have any possible light disturbing the test, start with developing one sheet of film directly from the box of unexposed films. Then one which you have loaded into a DD cassette... etc. all the way until you've located the problem.
From the scan, it looks like you've placed a 4" can or something on top of the film and then just happened to (Oops!!!) switch on the lights in the darkroom.
Anyhow, it's very unlikely to be a camera problem, as it would otherwise be very visable on the GG. Given the collected thoughts from Richard, Mark and me I recon you will find that (probably) very obvious fault. (Don't worry, we've all been there and done all kind of crazy things. :) )

//Björn

[Turner Reich]

I like the image as is, you'd want to find the mistake of course but save this image because it's interesting.

[percepts]

Since that looks like the negative view, I'd say you have a shutter problem which has not fully opened. You also seem to have a light leak in one corner either from a dodgy film holder or not locating the film holder properly in the camera.
If it is a positive we are looking at then I haven't a clue what the problem is.

If that was a flash shot it could be that the sync has fired too early before the shutter has opened fully. Either way you need to get your shutter looked at.

[Mike Tobias]

To me, it looks like a leaky lensboard around the lens. I'd say that you have a slim area letting light in around the edge of the hole where the lens is mounted, hence casting the central "shadow" where you can still see the image because the protruding element blocked the leak. Then again, the other explanations also merit some examination.

Mike

[csant]

Bjorn's '4" can' still sounds like the most plausible reason - the less defined "shadow" towards the right side is kind of a give-away. If it were a light leak in the camera or the holder (or even the negative box) the circle would not be so clearly defined. I'd really like to hear what the negative actually looks - that might help ruling out some issues.

[Bjorn Nilsson]

Been thinking a bit about this.
Try to recapitulate what you did and how you did every step from loading the film, through exposure etc. until they were developed.
We don't mind if you "jot it down" into an answer here, so that we can help you pinpoint the problem.
One thing, as you say that every negative looks the same. Are they exactly the same? Did you at any point, e.g. while unloading the cassettes, stack them up before loading them into whatever you use for developing? Etc...

//Björn

[Bill_1856]

Need to know if that is the negative or the positive which you're showing.

[dazedgonebye]

I should have made this clear...sorry.

What I've posted is a scan of the negative. I have no wet darkroom, so this is not an enlarging problem.

I'm pretty sure what I'm seeing is a result of my cobbled together lens mount. The camera has a copal 1 hole and the lens is copal 0. I made an aluminum donut to reduce the size of the hole.
Anywhere I touched something seems the most logical place for there to be a problem, so that's where I'll try to fix it first.

The good news is, the part in the center looks pretty good (this one from another negative).
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3347/3516841859_a30eeeb4b3_o.jpg

[Paul Kierstead]

Hmm, Graffiti in B&W is surprisingly appealing. Nice shot.

[venchka]

Where's GPS? The sky didn't fall as predicted.

I think you've got a nice camera.