r/AnalogCommunity Feb 08 '25

Community "What Went Wrong with my Film?" - A Beginners Guide to Diagnosing Problems with Film Cameras

994 Upvotes

Every day we see posts with the same basic problems on film, hopefully this can serve as a guide to the uninitiated of what to look for when diagnosing issues with your camera and film using examples from the community.

Index

  1. Green Tint or Washed Out Scans
  2. Orange or White Marks
  3. Solid Black Marks
  4. Black Regions with Some or No Detail
  5. Lightning Marks
  6. White or Light Green Lines
  7. Thin Straight Lines
  8. X-Ray Damage / Banding Larger than Sprocket Holes
  9. Round Marks, Blobs and Splotches

1. Green Tint or Washed Out Scans

u/LaurenValley1234
u/Karma_engineerguy

Issue: Underexposure

The green tinge usually comes from the scanner trying to show detail that isn't there. Remember, it is the lab's job to give you a usable image, you can still edit your photos digitally to make them look better.

Potential Causes: Toy/Disposable camera being used in inappropriate conditions, Faulty shutter, Faulty aperture, Incorrect ISO setting, Broken light meter, Scene with dynamic range greater than your film, Expired or heat damaged film, and other less common causes.

2. Orange or White Marks

u/Competitive_Spot3218
u/ry_and_zoom

Issue: Light leaks

These marks mean that light has reached your film in an uncontrolled way. With standard colour negative film, an orange mark typically comes from behind the film and a white come comes from the front.

Portential Causes: Decayed light seals, Cracks on the camera body, Damaged shutter blades/curtains, Improper film handling, Opening the back of the camera before rewinding into the canister, Fat-rolling on medium format, Light-piping on film with a transparent base, and other less common causes.

3. Solid Black Marks

u/MountainIce69
u/Claverh
u/Sandman_Rex

Issue: Shutter capping

These marks appear because the two curtains of the camera shutter are overlapping when they should be letting light through. This is most likely to happen at faster shutter speeds (1/1000s and up).

Potential Causes: Camera in need of service, Shutter curtains out of sync.

4. Black Regions with Some or No Detail

u/Claverh
u/veritas247

Issue: Flash desync

Cause: Using a flash at a non-synced shutter speed (typically faster than 1/60s)

5. Lightning Marks

u/Fine_Sale7051
u/toggjones

Issue: Static Discharge

These marks are most common on cinema films with no remjet, such as Cinestill 800T

Potential Causes: Rewinding too fast, Automatic film advance too fast, Too much friction between the film and the felt mouth of the canister.

6. White or Light Green Lines

u/f5122
u/you_crazy_diamond_

Issue: Stress marks

These appear when the base of the film has been stretched more than its elastic limit

Potential Causes: Rewinding backwards, Winding too hard at the end of a roll, Forgetting to press the rewind release button, Stuck sprocket.

7. Thin Straight Lines

u/StudioGuyDudeMan
u/Tyerson

Issue: Scratches

These happen when your film runs against dirt or grit.

Potential Causes: Dirt on the canister lip, Dirt on the pressure plate, Dirt on rollers, Squeegee dragging dirt during processing, and other less common causes.

8. X-Ray Damage / Banding Larger than Sprocket Holes

u/Synth_Nerd2
u/MechaniqueKatt
https://www.kodak.com/global/en/service/tib/tib5201.shtml

Noticeable X-Ray damage is very rare and typically causes slight fogging of the negative or colour casts, resulting in slightly lower contrast. However, with higher ISO films as well as new stronger CT scanning machines it is still recommended to ask for a hand inspection of your film at airport security/TSA.

9. Round Marks, Blobs and Splotches

u/elcanto
u/thefar9

Issue: Chemicals not reaching the emulsion

This is most common with beginners developing their own film for the first time and not loading the reels correctly. If the film is touching itself or the walls of the developing tank the developer and fixer cannot reach it properly and will leave these marks. Once the film is removed from the tank this becomes unrepairable.

Causes: Incorrectly loaded developing reels, Wet reels.

Please let me know if I missed any other common issues. And if, after reading this, you still need to make a post asking to find out what went wrong please make sure to include a backlit image of your physical negatives. Not just scans from your lab.

EDIT: Added the most requested X-ray damage and the most common beginner developing mistake besides incomplete fixing. This post has reached the image limit but I believe it covers the most common beginner errors and encounters!


r/AnalogCommunity Apr 08 '26

DIY A database of analog cameras that can be 3D printed

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163 Upvotes

r/AnalogCommunity 20h ago

Discussion Spider man 2 roll of film from 2005

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1.8k Upvotes

I bought this camera kit just for the roll of film. I tried looking up info on it but couldn’t find anything (maybe I wasn’t looking hard enough) but wanted to document it on the internet since I couldn’t find anything anywhere else. I shot the roll for the brand new day release and kept the canister and the camera and framed everything else.


r/AnalogCommunity 10h ago

Gear Shots I’ve found something that will live in my fridge from now on!

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212 Upvotes

Just kidding, I’m planning to shoot the first roll in the alps this fall. I didn’t plan to shoot positive because it’s so hard to get but now I will at least try one roll.
How are your experiences with expiration while keeping it in the fridge? Mine has over a year left but if it’s still good after that I won’t have to worry as much.


r/AnalogCommunity 15h ago

News/Article Eastman Kodak’s new range of films see dramatic UK price drop

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346 Upvotes

The Kodak films recently relaunched in Eastman Kodak's yellow-and-black packaging are around 20% cheaper than earlier versions of the film.


r/AnalogCommunity 12h ago

Troubleshooting - Photos Kodak Vision 3 250D - Photos look like they're from a disposable camera.

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164 Upvotes

Anybody who is well versed in film development know exactly what happened here to get this look? Feels like I found them in some old photo collection or something... I took these with my Pentax 645 with Vision 3 250D 120 and they genuinely look like they're straight from a disposable camera lol. Was the film expired potentially?

I tried some slight colour grading but apart from that, the photos here are essentially how they were scanned.


r/AnalogCommunity 7h ago

Discussion I was handed the keys to the castle today!

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44 Upvotes

My late father had a job repairing transmitters in various buildings in the western NY area. My mom found this in the garage today, in the little envelope there’s a digital key, I wonder if it would actually do anything at Kodak today! Probably they’ve switched to all new security systems, but I thought you all would think this is cool!


r/AnalogCommunity 1h ago

Scanning First time DSLR scanning, are these appropriately colorgraded?

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Upvotes

Shot on a Mamiya 645 1000s, used Portra 400, scanned on a negative supply stand using a Canon R5 with the 100mm macro from Canon.

Settings were iso 100, f8, 1/5th of a second exposure time.

Converted on Negative Lab Pro v3.1

I feel they have a lot of color noise, and whilst MUCH sharper than my Epson v800 scans, not TACK sharp, I autofocused with the camera AF and then left it on manual mode after I found the sharpness to be upmost.

Do they feel like Portra 400?

https://we.tl/t-84Fq9DPg7XkqgFO7

Link to full res photos.


r/AnalogCommunity 3h ago

Discussion First film camera

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19 Upvotes

I’ve always been a fan of film photography. I was able to get this camera for $50. I think it’s good for me to learn and practice.


r/AnalogCommunity 6h ago

Scanning Kodak gold looking orange

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23 Upvotes

Hi, I got my scans back from the Lab and I don’t understand why my recent roll of Kodak gold 200 (120) is looking orange (picture on the left) while I took the picture on the right with also Kodak gold 200 with the same way of exposing (+ 1 stop) and it’s not orange


r/AnalogCommunity 9h ago

Troubleshooting - Gear Hole in shutter curtain. Is it fixable?

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39 Upvotes

To my dismay, I found a hole in the shutter of my Canon FTb only after I shot a roll of film through it and probably way too late to send it back. I bought it back in July.

Is it possible to fix a hole of this size? And if so how? Electrical tape comes to mind and I read that rubber glue might do it but I would love some advice from you guys.


r/AnalogCommunity 5h ago

Gear Shots New System Day! Zenza Bronica S2A

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14 Upvotes

I decided to “consolidate” my medium format cameras and switch to a more modular system. TBD if I sell the others 😄 After my first roll, I noticed that I missed focus on every shot. After doing some research, I found a great 120ist video detailing how to replace the foam yourself. Worked like a charm and pretty easy to do!

The camera came with the Zenzanon 50mm MC, and I added the Zenzanon 150mm MC. I love the 50mm focal length, and I’m really liking the 50/150 combination. I may end up adding the 75mm Nikko-PC eventually!


r/AnalogCommunity 10h ago

Gear Shots Finally stepped up into a TLR!

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28 Upvotes

I've been getting into analog photography over the past six months or so, mostly on an old Agfa Shur-Shot 120 box camera, and managed to find this Yashica 635 last week for a good price! Just needed a little cleaning, but beyond that everything seems to work perfectly! I've shot two rolls of Rollei Retro 400S 120 through it so far (haven't developed either yet), but it did also come with the parts for 35mm as well.

I have a wide angle lens set coming and definitely want to get a cable release--any other accessories you all might think are necessary?

Edit: Accidentally wrote '120mm' instead of '120'


r/AnalogCommunity 3h ago

Troubleshooting - Photos Weird film tint. Any ideas?

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7 Upvotes

I’m working on a series at the moment shooting on Ektar 100 but through a Red 25 Heliopan filter. The shots usually come out in this rich blood iron red with minimal post processing. See shots 1,2 and 5 for examples.

But every now and then when I process a film something very odd happens and the hue goes crazy relative to the others. You can see this effect on the negative, but it’s totally thrown me as to what’s happening. Asked the lab and they couldn’t work it out either:

What I have observed so far:
- The affected image themselves are sharp and well exposed, not fogged. But their hue is completely different to other shots taken at the same time.
- These later shots have also wiped over part of preceding exposure in some way. You can see that at the bottom of photo 3
- At least some of the image has carried past the frame, you can see the dark streaks at the bottom of the top image on the negative. Which would indicate movement or advancing the film, which is not something I did.
- These later shots were shot with a polariser over the top but the one that got wiped wasn’t. However I shoot many other shots, like the stream photo (no.5) with a CL on and no issues.
- This was the end of the roll, but have also had it mid roll before and the same colour shift happen on Kodak Portra so not this specific film .
- I also shoot B&W and never have any replicable issues with those rolls, so I doubt it’s the camera.

I shoot on a Bronica SQ-B, the affected images were on a 40mm lens, Red 25 plus CL filters, shutter down.

Any ideas what happened?


r/AnalogCommunity 7h ago

Troubleshooting - Gear New Thypoch Ksana 35/2 - way off infinity?

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10 Upvotes

r/AnalogCommunity 4h ago

Troubleshooting - Photos Canon Sureshot AF-7 & Kodak ultramax

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8 Upvotes

I feel like the quality of these photos are quite poor. Are these down to the film, camera issue or poor scans/development?

I've recently had some film developed at the same place with an older camera and same film and the quality is so much better.


r/AnalogCommunity 7h ago

DIY Camera wall art

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11 Upvotes

I had this Olympus OM-2S program sitting around that I had given up on fixing a while back due to the circuit board being trashed and had seen a video of someone taking an IPhone 3 apart and mounting it in a case and got the bright idea to do this to the Olympus. I chose not to display the electronics because A. I didn’t have enough room, and B i felt like it wouldn’t be as pleasing to look at but that’s just a personal opinion

I might do the same idea to the Lens I had gotten with it (Kiron 70-150mm F/4) and display that parallel.


r/AnalogCommunity 1d ago

Discussion Update on Ektachrome from Kodak

248 Upvotes

I phoned Kodak’s movie film support line this morning asking if and when Ektachrome would be back in stock and the representative told me that production of Ektachrome has to wait until the next batches of color negative films are finished and the machines free up. There is no intention to discontinue, they simply have to wait until the coating machines are available which should be in September. There should be stock available in late October approximately for major distributors but stock levels will likely not be fully back to normal everywhere until early next year


r/AnalogCommunity 9h ago

Discussion I’m so bored I need a new project. Any ideas?

11 Upvotes

Summer is ending and winter is coming. Vacation is over and I’m not looking forward to a bleak, concrete colored sky for the next six months. But I’m stuck here, traveling not possible.

So I do need a new photographic project. A theme, a topic, a goal.

What’s yours? What photographers should I check out? Can you help inspire me?


r/AnalogCommunity 5h ago

Darkroom If you like gambling, you should try buying expired film

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5 Upvotes

It’s 50/50, it either works or it doesn’t :)

Top: Agfa RSX II 100
Bottom: Fuji Velvia 50

Both expired “kept in a fridge”. At least the for Agfa slides I got a pack of 6 so I have 5 good ones left.


r/AnalogCommunity 1h ago

Troubleshooting - Photos What are these "stretch marks" on my film scans?

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Upvotes

I just got a bunch of scans back from my trip to Japan. I noticed that some (probably 1/4th) of the photos have this weird barcode-like strip across the image that basically looks like it was stretched. Has anyone seen this before? Was this something wrong with the film, my camera, or the lab I used? They're a little frustrating because when they're more obvious it just ruins the photo.


r/AnalogCommunity 5h ago

Troubleshooting - Photos What could cause film to come out like this?!

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2 Upvotes

Shot a roll of Kodak Gold 200 in my trusty Chinon point and shoot during a recent trip. It came back almost totally blank, this was all the lab could salvage (included pic of the negatives next to some Fuji 200 negatives from the same trip for reference).

Such a bummer because these are the only pictures I took on the trip.

Ordered the film from B&H, it wasn’t marked as expired, I flew with it but had it hand checked, no issues with the camera before or since. Can’t figure it out!

What could have caused it to come out like this?!


r/AnalogCommunity 22h ago

Scanning Free and Open-source 3D Printed Film Holder for DSLR Scanning

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89 Upvotes

Hi everyone, I would like to share with you my latest project - a 3D printed film holder for DSLR scanning. You can find the project on the GitHub

Let me explain why I made it and also manage your expectations about the whole thing.

Why I made it?

I wanted a holder that would keep the film straight and flat so that I don't have to rotate the scans in post and also to make cropping pretty much work for the whole roll. I also wanted to have the corners of my scans as sharp as the rest of the image, something that was demonstrably a challenge with other methods I tried. So I decided to sandwich the film between two pressure plates to flatten it. The tube that holds the lens also makes it that the camera is pretty much level with the film-plane and there is no ambient light ruining your scans.

How universal is it?

In theory, it is pretty universal. It is designed to be modular, you can replace the part that I designed to fit on top of CineStill CS-Lite-Brite with a different part. You can also replace the part that I designed to fit my EF compact macro lens. The files are in the project, if you have Fusion 360 or a different program that can open those files, you are all set.

The bottom pressure plate is meant to be printed for each kind of film specifically. I learned that different manufacturers produce slightly differently sized film. It is worth it to have multiple bottom pressure plates. I have one for Fomapan and one for Kodak films. Both dialed in so that the vertical fit is as snug as possible. (I seem to remember Ilford films fitting one of the plates just fine.)

How safe is it?

I have tested it on multiple rolls of different films including Fomapan Action, Kodak Portra and Gold, and Ilford films. It never scratched my film. If the film has the natural bow curve to it and you always raise the pressure plate up, it should not happen.

Expectations

I want to be clear that I am not going to be able to extend it or make changes to it at the time. I have made it and used it more than 9 months ago. I thought I would share it sooner, but I haven't shot any photos for essentially 9 months now. It is what it is. For that reason, I am only asking you to please have understanding with my situation.

I want to share something that I believe is worth of sharing, I liked building it and after getting used to it, I liked using it too. But I don't have the resources to work on it in any capacity in the near future. I would like to build a V2 that would have the slider move orthogonally to the film plane not with it so that your fingers stay out of the film's way - something that become apparent the first time I used it but somehow didn't occur to me before (funny how these things work).

That being said, I really want to be transparent - it is not in my ability to make changes to it or to modify the dimensions of the components to fit other lenses or light boxes. I am giving it away to the community because I believe in sharing. Hope I will find understanding here.

Have a great day everyone!


r/AnalogCommunity 13h ago

Troubleshooting - Gear I need some analog pro's to help identify this film 💪🏻

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15 Upvotes

Got this Canon Eos 500 secondhand and still has a roll inside on frame 1 (which means the whole roll is pulled out and it will start winding back inside each shot). When i set the camera to its ISO setting it says "1600", but it doesnt look like Fujicolor Natura 1600 to me, the cannister..

Anyone who recognizes this or might be able to identify it? Im asking because whatever it is, it is for sure expired and i dont want to overexpose it too insanely, but maybe someone before me put in the 1600 while its actually like 200 film.

I'll also be doing some more research while on the train to the city im shooting at today 👍🏻

Either way, thanks for reading and have a great day!


r/AnalogCommunity 2h ago

Troubleshooting - Photos Are these light leaks or something else?

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2 Upvotes

Shot on an RB67 (in Death Valley heat), other rolls of film from this trip didnt have these white streaks, if you can call them that, only this one roll did. Possible I loaded it badly or it got exposed to light, or maybe the way I stored it? Some of the film I used this trip was new from store and some was my cold stored stuff from 5ish years ago. Kinda bummed they came out this way, hoping it's not the camera itself and hopefully the film.