bad batch of xp2? c41 black and white shortcomings?

[grapejohnson]

over the course of 6 months or so, i've purchased 3 or 4 rolls of xp2 from adorama. all of them had scratches on the emulsion when i took them out of the minilab (i work for rite aid, and i've processed this on two different machines, same results) resulting in blue blotches on the scans. it seems to happen mostly on the first few exposures. it's not the minilab, and not due to any of my cameras, as this is never an issue with other films i use. i thought this might just be a bad batch i keep getting from adorama, but i remember having seen this on some kodak bw400cn i've processed before, too. are the emulsion layers thinner on this kind of film, or do i just have really bad luck?

 

[Godfrey]

over the course of 6 months or so, i've purchased 3 or 4 rolls of xp2 from adorama. all of them had scratches on the emulsion when i took them out of the minilab (i work for rite aid, and i've processed this on two different machines, same results) resulting in blue blotches on the scans. it seems to happen mostly on the first few exposures. it's not the minilab, and not due to any of my cameras, as this is never an issue with other films i use. i thought this might just be a bad batch i keep getting from adorama, but i remember having seen this on some kodak bw400cn i've processed before, too. are the emulsion layers thinner on this kind of film, or do i just have really bad luck?

I can only see the problem on the second of the two images you posted, but a "blue splotch" like that is something that can only be a processing machine/handling error. These films do not have color dye layers, so anything not grayscale has to be a dye stain coming from something tainted or dirty in the processing machine.

Getting C41 processed in a clean machine has turned into quite a chore of late. Only the camera shop 14 miles away really does a clean job for me, all the Walgreens or other quick labs' machines embed dirt and or scratches in my film. I haven't seen staining like this, however.

Most of the time I don't worry about it as it's so easy to spot the scans in Lightroom, but it can be annoying.

 

[Pablito]

The chances of a "bad batch" of film are miniscule.

If it is happening at the beginning of the roll, that is a sign that there is some mechanical explanation.

 

[grapejohnson]

if I feel the film, there are physical scratches. but like I said, I handle all of my own film and have never seen it in any of my other rolls I do on a regular basis