Dear god. This whole thing had me questioning my sanity. I posted some pics here a while back, unfortunately with a throwaway account that I don’t remember the login info for. My photos were suddenly coming out hazy as all hell, but… the details were there, the highlights and shadows seemed right, but everything was washed in grey… I posted photos that looked much like the first three here. 

The general response? “pfft, underexposed!! Old film!” Well ok, fair enough! Bought some fresh film, tried again. Hmm nope. Another fresh roll, a new battery, tried again. Hmm nope. ANOTHER $20 roll of 800, shot at 400 in broad friggen daylight, another $20ish bucks on developing and scanning…OK NOW WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON HERE? 2 and a half hours organizing files of scans from the past two years. Documenting using new lenses, film labs, push/pull attempts. Every photo since 2023 in one huge folder. “Come on, talk to me…” I whispered with bags under my eyes, like a detective who’s in too deep. “Maybe it’s time to move on from that old thing,” friends suggested of the simple k1000 I’ve toted around for a decade. “Sometimes the light meters degrade…” 

Photos of road trips, birthdays, beach days… wait- fucking…beach days… it rained that day! Those shots are fine, but everything after that looks like shit? A flashback to shoving my wet camera back into the case, promising to deal with it later. My Ride It Hard, Put It Away Wet mentality finally caught up with me. Shot a roll with three different lenses and meticulous note taking.


You fuckers, stop assuming it’s always underexposed. Maybe I can be stupid in a different way. Mostly posting for anyone else getting some hazy ass shots even though you’ve never had a problem metering before. Maybe it’s maybelline, or not enough light, or a dead battery for the meter. Or… maybe it’s mold.

“Why are all my photos coming back so shitty?” A $200+, 4 month troubleshooting adventure (Or, “what a moldy lens does to your photos”) (a “Not Actually Underexposed For Once” story)