Artefacts on roll films

thomas345 · 2019-07-24T20:35:49+00:00

Hallo Zusammen, heute kamen zwei Filme aus dem Labor zurück und ich wollte euch um eure Meinung dazu bitten. Beidesamt sind 120er Kodak Portra, aufgenommen...

thomas345

Hello everyone, Two rolls of film came back from the lab today and I wanted to ask for your opinion on them. Both are 120 Kodak Portra, shot with a Mamiya 645. The first one had certainly been exposed to light for 3–4 years by the time it was developed. I suspect that light got onto the film through the wrapping paper, causing the writing to appear on the film?

[attachment=3400] The second one was taken just two months ago and the vertical stripes are spread across the whole roll. Could the lab be to blame for this? [attachment=3399] Many thanks and best regards, Thomas

mattes

In the first image, the ink from the protective paper has bled into the emulsion. I’ve seen this quite often with films found in old cameras. Image no. 2 could be a lab error. I’d put my money on dirty rollers in the developing machine. Matt

TeamADOX

Hello, Re 1): Some time ago, Kodak experienced technical issues with the backing paper, which caused the printing on the backing paper to show through onto the film. Kodak has since made technical changes to prevent this from happening. It is quite possible that the film is from one of the affected batches. In general: This phenomenon has also been observed with very old and/or poorly stored films (moisture). Sometimes it also occurs with films that have been frozen and then thawed too quickly (condensation). As a precaution, it is advisable to defrost frozen films slowly, i.e. to transfer them from the freezer to the fridge for a full day before use. Re 2): Are the patterns only visible on the scan, or also on the negative (check with a magnifying glass)? ADOX - Innovation In Analogue Photography. Team ADOX www.adox.de www.facebook.com/ADOXPHOTO www.instagram.com/ADOXPHOTO www.polywarmtone.com

thomas345

Thank you very much for your help! That’s very interesting to know; it explains it all, of course... I haven’t received the negatives yet, but I’ll check them again with a magnifying glass. I also received a reply from the lab today: “Re 2: it looks as though this was also caused by the wrapping paper.” Best regards, Thomas

TeamADOX

Hello Thomas, We have looked up the official description of the changes made to Kodak’s backing paper once again: "In 2015–2016, we experienced incidents of frame numbers appearing on 120-format film negatives. We have made a series of modifications to our backing paper in order to eliminate this issue. The most recent change was to add a primer layer beneath the lacquer overcoat of the paper. The primer coat, in combination with the lacquer overcoat, adds some gloss. The paper itself is the same, and the overcoat is the same. The stiffness of the backing paper has increased slightly, which requires a bit more force to get a good initial grip on the take-up spool." ADOX – Innovation in Analogue Photography. Team ADOX www.adox.de www.facebook.com/ADOXPHOTO www.instagram.com/ADOXPHOTO www.polywarmtone.com

mattes

Back to the defects in image 2. Are the stripes running lengthways or crossways? The absence of numbers and labelling suggests they aren’t caused by the backing paper. Ask the lab which machine they used. Matthias

TeamADOX

mattes wrote : Regarding the defects in image 2 again. Are the streaks running lengthways or crossways? The absence of numbers and labelling suggests that the backing paper is not the cause. Ask the lab which machine they used. Matthias

Hello Matthias, it could still be down to the backing paper despite the lack of labelling: namely if the very thin coating on the backing paper turned out to be too thin. In that case, such artefacts can occur. It happens very rarely – even with other manufacturers – but it can happen. We have had such cases before (recently, for example, with Ilford). Often, only a negligible proportion of a production run is affected, usually less than 0.01%. And the rest of the batch is perfectly fine. ADOX – Innovation in Analogue Photography.