Horizontal line across all negs: agitation?

[shaweetz]

I recently got this 120 roll back from the lab, and this faint line is across all negs. See in the sky on the right, about 1/4 of the way down:



Is this a film stock issue, or a development issue? It was a test roll to prove out the camera, so I'm not too upset, and I am 98% certain it has nothing to do with the camera, which is an Isolette I folder. The film was developed at the local lab.

Apologies if obvious, but it is not like any of the common development problems I know about, nor squeegee or camera scratching.

 

[Photo_Smith]

Can you see this in the neg or print? Or is it in the scan? If I was to bet it's a run mark from the wetting agent during drying, if so try washing and apply wetting agent it may disappear...

 

[shaweetz]

I immediately noticed it running across all negs when I first looked at them with the loupe. The loupe is not required to see it. Unfortunately the example I posted has the flaw somewhat disguised by tweaking in post.

It turns out it is easier to see by looking at a smaller version:


It's a perfect soft light line running across the entire strip of negs in the same place.

 

[oftheherd]

Does it also show up in the blank spaces between negatives?

 

[shaweetz]

No, it seems to be in the film emulsion, so not like a mechanical scratch. Given that it's a light mark running through the emulsion it disappears when going through the boundaries.

 

[Photo_Smith]

Hold the film emulsion side up at an angle to the light and move it gently from side to side.
If it's a run mark you will see it; so it's unlikely to be agitation as it's a 120 film and bromide streaks occur across the film (top of spiral to bottom) yours looks to run down the film–just like a 'run' mark.

 

[Blooze]

I had that happen with some Tmax 400 120 film I developed a couple of weeks ago. Tried rinsing it again to no effect. I ended up re-fixing it with fresh fixer then rinsing again and everything ended up fine. Weird thing was is that I fixed it the first time for 5 minutes which is usually more than sufficient. I had previously done 2-3 rolls of Tri-X 35mm and 2 rolls of the Tmax 120 with it. The Tmax must really suck the life out of the fixer.