Foggy and underexposed pictures?

[mikaa]

Hi guys,

I have just started out w film photography after I bought a Minolta Riva Zoom 135ex from a thrift store. The camera seems to be okay but after I took it out for a spin with ISO 200 film, the results turned out immensely underexposed (though most seemed shots seemed to have sufficient light) and very foggy.

These were some of the shots that were developed (the rest were too underexposed) and you can see that the picture has some sort of "effect" that I wouldn't say bad, but just really distinct.

I have 2 questions, 1) Could the underexposure be due to my camera, with it being old and all and not working so well? 2) These foggy pictures - are they an effect of dirty lens or simply and old camera? Do you think I should attempt to clean my lens and try to get clearer shots, or do you think I should keep my pictures these way but play w a higher ISO film to reduce underexposure?

thanks!

 

[anerjee]

Actually, I like the shots! The fogginess maybe due to age of the film along with a dirty lens. I dont think these pics are very under-exposed, but it is never a bad idea to rate color negative film at half the stated iso.

 

[raytoei]

hi....i dun think it is underexposed... the reason why it looks dark is this:

You pointed at the sky. As a result, the light meter took an average reading, and decided that the (white sky + foreground) turned into average grey (12% or 18%) so foreground is dark, and sky is not blown.

To rectify this:

a. if you have Exposure locking, point to the ground/foreground and then recompose
b. or use a EV compensation button if it exists which will open up 1.5 to 2 stops typically

can't comment on the foggy lomo look either expired film, or super-dirty glass or glass with issues.

raytoei

 

[mikaa]

My film was brand new... Which is why I was confused w how my shots came out :/

Anyway there were the shots that managed to come out and were not underexposed! Out of 36 shots I think these were the only few that could be developed as the rest were too underexposed.