Center Wash Out

writer: russell j.t. dyer; posted: mar 2010; revised: mar 2018; readers past month: 932

Per the recommendation of a few people, I shot a roll of film yesterday with my new (old) lens. The results are absurdly disappointing. The photos are overexposed in the center (see the photos below). At this point, I’m not sure what caused this or if there’s anything I can do to solve this problem. I’m thinking that I may have cause for a refund, but want to know if it’s a user problem or a user resolvable problem before I go to the store and test my Italian language skills.

Testing Leica Elmar 9cm f/4 LTM Lens with Canon P Camera

Lion Statue in Piazza dei Duomo

Piazza dei Duomo

Regarding returning the lens, the salesman gave me a card when I bought the lens. I didn’t pay attention to it at the time since it was very wordy and in Italian. It occurred to me just now, though, that those are the tell-tale signs of a warranty card. I dug it out and drudged through translating it. It says that they guarantee the lens to be in perfect working condition for a year, that they will either fix any problems, or maybe replace it, or reimburse me if they can’t resolve the problem — or at least it suggested that last bit in an odd, evasive, backwards way. So, I’m going to try to get a refund tomorrow.

Since it will be pay day tomorrow and I will be surrounded by fabulous equipment, I’m worried that I will leave the store with an upgrade and less money in my bank account. I’m not too excited about this possibility since it seems they’re way over priced. I thought they were only a little overpriced, but now I see that I paid double what I could have paid on-line at Ffordes out of England even with shipping. Maybe I’ll bring the girlfriend, give her my wallet with strict instructions not to let me buy anything, and to either take cash or thirty rolls of film in trade for the lens. I figure film is probably the only fairly priced item in the store.

Incidentally, my fashion sense about cameras and lenses is merely my techno-sexual nature playing a part as it does with all of my purchasing decisions. It’s part of who I am; I cannot ignore it.