The F22 allows for enough DOF to capture the natural bends and curves of the films in sharp focus. The zoom of your lens, distance from subject and film flatness will determine your required aperture to achieve sharp results.

Good luck and have fun!

(Pardon me while I chortle for a moment at the thought of starting a letter by writing ‘Dear John’.) Hello from grey and wet Melbourne, in Australia: the rain is falling, the fire is warming; and in the empty minutes before I try to make my dinner I have found your post about the Nikon FM3a, and now I feel the need to say a few words. I have owned this camera for seven years; I have also owned an FM2 (a Dragon Series model) for nine years and a near-mint-condition second-hand FA for about four months. I believe that the 3a is quite possibly the best 35mm camera ever made for anyone who is truly serious about film photography (certainly, the best SLR camera), and about the art and craft of making photographs that are intended to last for hundreds of years. I do sometimes feel an urge towards the purchase of a Leica MP; quite apart from the cost, however, my reason for not doing so is the fact that a circular polariser cannot be sensibly used on a rangefinder camera. Australia is blessed with a lot of hard light, so a polarising filter is a necessity. Leaving that little point aside, however, the underlying reality is that the 3a is a genuinely brilliant camera that will only become more valuable and more highly-regarded as time goes by. In the right hands – that old obvious phrase – and with the best eye (and heart, and head) the 3a can produce an image as great and timeless as any other from the long history of photography – and my personal and professional leaning is towards documentary photography, which in my opinion is exactly what a serious camera is for. So, I do hope that you will use yours to make good pictures for a long time to come. (I hope the same for myself.)
Cast your eye over my creaky Flickr site to see some of my images (not all of which were made with the 3a, as for a long time my main body was a Minolta 9000), and find and read ‘The Ongoing Moment’ by Geoff Dyer if you have not already done so.
For the moment, dear John,

With my regards,

Christopher

It sounds to me like your camera may be focusing on the background screen rather than the negative. Because you probably don’t have the option to manually focus the camera lens, you should increase your aperture opening (manually set the aperture to F8, F5 or F4) and/or move the negative away from the monitor (to try and throw the monitor out of focus).

When moving away from the monitor it’s extra important to turn the lights off in the room and shut the window curtains to ensure that all the light received by your camera is coming from the monitor through the negative.

Thanks,

John

Yes, Please follow my link on how to invert negatives so that you get great photos once you’ve completed the copying!

Thanks in advance!