Black Negatives
If your negatives are black, they are over-exposed and/or fogged.
- If the black is only in the frame areas, i.e. the edges of the film are clear, then your camera is over-exposing. This might be due to a bad shutter, an oily/sticking aperture (failure to close down before exposure) or similar issue.
- If the black covers the whole film, then it has been exposed to room-light before it was processed. Processing of B&W film must be performed in complete darkness until fixing is complete.
It is normal for the first approx. 5cm of 35mm film to be black; this is the part that gets exposed to light when you load the camera. There should be a gap between this fogging and the first frame on the roll, after which the edges of the roll should be clear except for some printing identifying the film type.
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