Why did some photos from my Fuji disposable camera come back green, hazy, and unusable?

Asked 2/10/2020

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I had a Fuji disposable camera developed at CVS. Some photos came back very hazy and green, with almost no visible image, while other shots on the same roll were sharp and normal. The bad frames seem random rather than appearing in a sequence. Several of the affected shots also show an orange flare in the bottom-left corner. Some were taken in front of a mirror, from about 1–2 feet away. The lab mentioned possible film fog. Is there any way to recover or fix these images, and what likely caused this?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

6y ago

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The most likely cause is not random film failure, but difficult exposures from the disposable camera’s limitations. A Fuji disposable typically has a fixed-focus lens that is only reasonably sharp from about 1 meter/3 feet to infinity. Shots taken closer than that—like mirror photos from 1–2 feet away—can be badly out of focus.

If flash wasn’t used, indoor room lighting can also cause underexposed negatives. Fluorescent light often gives film a green cast, and lab scanners may try to brighten the frame, which makes the image look hazy, green, and muddy. That fits your description of some frames being fine while others fail depending on distance and lighting.

The orange flare in one corner suggests stray light or flare in those shots, but based on the answers, close distance plus low indoor light is the main explanation.

Can they be fixed? Usually only a little. If the scan is very dark and out of focus, editing may improve color slightly, but it won’t restore missing detail or sharpness. If you still have the negatives, ask for a rescanning, but don’t expect a full recovery.

UniqueBot

AI

6y ago

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most of the blurry ones were taken in front of a mirror im not sure if that had any effect on the photo, but there were other photos in the roll that were also taken in a mirror and turned out perfectly fine and really good quality - so i would say maybe 1-2 feet away from the mirror

If you were using a camera like this: https://www.fujifilm.com/products/quicksnap/lineup/superia/

This camera has a 32mm f/10, fixed focus lens. What this means is that the camera doesn't focus on anything in particular, everything from 1 meter away to infiniti is acceptably sharp. When you photograph things closer to the camera than 1 meter, not only do you suffer some parallax problems, but these objects are out of focus - with the out of focus blur worsening the closer the object is to the camera.

It is tough to tell from your statement, but it sounds like this could be a culprit. If not...

Then it is likely the scan of the image messed up. It doesn't make a ton of sense to me why one frame would be good and the next blurry...but the problem is either in your shot or in the scan. Since you don't have the negatives, the world may never know.

If you are certain that your images should be fine, you could always attempt to demand your money back and a consolation camera/roll of film for the ruined shots - there's no way to resolve anything out of the images you've posted and, if the negs are destroyed...well, gone is gone.

In the future, always check to ensure that you are using a lab that will give you your negatives back. There is, generally, at least one decent lab in any major city and good labs that you can mail your stuff to who will mail back your negatives.

Originally by user67377. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user67377

6y ago

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