ThomasL
To save a bit of money on film, I bought a Telesar film loader on eBay a while back. Unfortunately, it clearly scratches the emulsion. So badly, in fact, that you can see it even on a 10x15 print.
So here’s a question for everyone who rewinds their own film:
Do your film winders scratch the emulsion too?
And does anyone know a solution? (Of course, I’m also willing to try out different types of winders until I find one that leaves the emulsion alone.)
Gast
Hi Thomas,
I’ve never had any problems with a scratched emulsion! Maybe cleaning the feed mechanism will help! I’d give it a wipe with some kitchen roll and see what comes off!
If the plastic is roughened up, the only solution in my view is to bin it! :(
But with our host, you can always order a new one! If there are scratches, Mirko would have to take it back! :D
But also check whether there’s any dust on the camera’s film guide. That can cause massive scratches all over the film too!
:P
Greetings from the south
Gast
Hello,
Please check whether the light seal between the film roll compartment and the cartridge compartment is closing properly, or whether it is hanging loose and scratching the film.
Kind regards,
Rainer Teubner
MirkoBoeddecker
What sort of film was it, then?
Some films are faster (Copex in particular :(, and then Efke), whilst others are more robust (Ilford, Kodak).
Colour films are the hardest. They don’t usually get damaged by anything.
Does your machine already have guide rollers?
Are you sure it’s not the cassettes?
Regards,
Mirko
ThomasL
So, first of all, thanks for the quick replies.
It’s not down to the camera or the development process. I still use a lot of ready-made film (including Efke!).
I tried cleaning the film path straight away yesterday evening (as far as I could). After that, I ran about 30 cm of film through it, and that got scratched too.
There’s no light seal of any kind between the film roll compartment and the cartridge compartment on this camera.
I’ve bought new film cartridges, so that shouldn’t be the problem either.
The film in it is Polypan F (ok, I know it’s considered super-sensitive).
The camera has a guide roller and a couple of plastic edges that the film has to pass over. Unfortunately, the whole thing isn’t really take-apart, so I can’t really get to the edges to check or clean them.
So does anyone else have any ideas? Otherwise, the thing is going in the bin and I’ll buy a new one. But this time from somewhere I can return it to if it scratches my films.
Perhaps someone here has a tip on which machines won’t scratch even sensitive emulsions.
