Thanks to all who responded with suggestions on the light leak. Some
apparently missed the point that I did have the suspect negatives
reprinted. The second prints came back looking exactly like the first
so, even though I couldn't see the problem on the negatives, the
negatives were fogged by something.
Points I hadn't thought about were leaks in the cassette (it was very
cheap film) or fogging by the processor before development. Forces
applied to the camera by changing lenses was also an interesting
notion. There was brilliant sun all day and I was swapping lenses
periodically.
I think I'll start experimenting by simply taping up the film cannister
window. If that doesn't show any leaks I'll remove the tape and see if
the leaks return. I'll let y'all know what turns up.
ps:
To recognize a film cannister window leak in an Oly Stylus Zoom look for
a perfectly round circle to show up (intermittently) on one side of the
frame. I think it's intermittent since it depends on film cannister
movement underneath the seal... probably when it's winding. The leak
shows up as a perfectly round circle since the light comes in behind the
film pressure plate and finds its way to the film through a hole in the
pressure plate that is about 3-4mm in diameter. The image of that hole
gets imprinted on the film and shows up as a small coin size circle on a
typical small print.
Unfortunately, when I tried taping the window on my stylus only the
circle went away. There was still some general fogging meaning that the
back seal is also bad.
Chuck Norcutt
Woburn, Massachusetts
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