question about film exposure

Hey Everybody,

A novice question here. I'm in Japan and have just developed a few rolls. It seems my meter (using a Pentax MX) may need some calibrating, as some of my shots have come out underexposed and a bit desaturated. I was shooting a couple of different stocks (including Agfa Ultra 100, which is expired, I do not know for how long) so its hard to say what the problem is due to the inconsistency in stocks I've been shooting.

But basically, I'm getting some shots that have milky blacks and I'm wondering if this is indeed caused by underexposure in the camera, or is it possibly due to the film being expired? Here are some examples, any help would be greatly appreciated.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/seanathanphotography/7485668692/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/seanathanphotography/7485669218/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/seanathanphotography/7485688914/in/photostream

Also, on a seemingly unrelated issue, I've found a loose screw that was behind the lens sitting in the shutter area. It has not come off of the lens and I opened the shutter and everything seemed to be in order behind it. Anyone have an idea of where this rouge screw could have come from?

Hi. The screw is a bit of mystery. Was it first time you used this camera ?
Then the negatives are clearly weak, but two pictures are taken against the light and most built in averaging light meters will be fooled with that. (In any case shooting against the light is difficult.) The third one, with your cricket friends looks like there were some problems with processing or the film is really too old. There is too many variables which you can not control. Is hard to blame the cameras light meter right a way, the best test will be to compare it with some modern camera. Just make sure your batteries are fresh as is hard to say how this old electronics may handle some drop in voltage. Or shoot some b&w with bracketing and then you will see, if you have to compensate.

Could easily be due to expired film, depends on how bad it is. I'd say treat yourself to a roll of new film like Portra 400, and see how that comes out.

You are developing the C-41 yourself, or at a lab? That would introduce another set of variables. Again, did you scan yourself, or have the lab do it? I have struggled a bit with both C-41 processing and scanning, and that is something I leave to the photo lab.

I agree with the comments above that the first two actually look OK, given the light and the reliance on autoexposure. The last looks good, aside from the excessive grain.

This one from your series looks good, at least to me:

They all look underexposed, that brown muddy black is a sign but to be sure I'd need to see the negs.
Using out of date film won't help either, fresh stock will give you more consistent results.
It could be your meter, metering or shutter moving too fast.
What I'd do is load the cameras with a roll of Fuji Superia 400 meter for the shadow detail then stop down 1-2 stops that should give you decent results.
If you post a shot of the negs done with a digicam–I could tell you more.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/seanathanphotography/7485669218/
Looks under by about 2 stops to me.

I think you have a few too many variables here. Try fresh film. Go out on a sunny day and shoot at f/16 and 1/(film ISO) for the shutter speed with the sun behind you. That should be a reliable 'good' exposure. How far does that differ from your meter reading?

Your first two photos (the coffee shop and the temple) are high dynamic range and difficult to meter in any case. The last one looks fairly reasonable, but there isn't a lot of shadow detail behind the people.