I need help!

[ChrisN]

I'm getting scratches along the my negatives. They're not on the emulsion side - they are on the shiny side. I've been ultra-careful handling the negs; I develop my own, and I have not touched the neg at all except for the edges - I don't squeegee. After drying, the negs are cut into lengths of six negs and placed into plastic "alpha negative preservers". The film is bulk-loaded; the casettes are about three or four re-uses old. And I've gotten similar scratches on rolls from different cameras.

Have a look at the attachment. I've exagerated the contrast to show the scratches. You can see that they are not perfectly straight and parallel, which I would expect them to be if the scratching was from dust in the cassettes or the camera. And they're not the same from one set of six negs to the next.

All I can think of is that I must be scratching the negs as I slide them into the plastic strips - they don't always go in perfectly smoothly so that would account for the non-parallel lines. And the shiny side is arched up and presses harder against the sleeve.

What do you think? Has anyone else had problems with the plastic neg sleeves? What sort do you recommend?

 

[petesaunders@bl]

Ouch! Not really sure. You have followed a logical thought process. I will say I am suspicious of those plastic sleeves. Some are designed in quite hard plastic and you are often expected to load left handed. Bulk loading of course gives an extra opportunity for scratches to occur. I am sure you have tried to clean all relevant light traps. If you make digital prints at least you can clone the scratches out in PS.

 

[Socke]

Can't find the name of the sleeves I use, they are A4 sized for use in binders and are open on the long side 2 by 7 by 6 frames. My problem is that the negs easyly fall out of the sleeves.

 

[colyn]

This may be a long shot but I mention it because it happened to me once.
Are you opening the light trap in the bulk loader completely? If not the film can rub on it and cause scratches.
One other thing I should mention.. I saw it once on a friends camera. The roller mounted on the door of some cameras that helps guide the film as it is wound onto the take-up spool could have damage if your cameras have this item.

 

[RayPA]

LOTs of scratches! And wavy ones too. I doubt it's the sleeves, and would suspect the bulk loader, or camera. Maybe you should shoot a test roll of color and have your one-hour lab process the film, but request that they don't cut and sleeve the film. That's what I do. I get mine "dev only, uncut, sleeved," in the long un-cut sleeve. You need to start eliminating some variables.

🙂

 

[troym]

What kind of bulk loader are you using? If it's the Watson/Alden type, then I would suspect that the light trap isn't completely open--that's the only thing I know of that will cause such widespread and noticeable scratches.

To eliminate the bulk loader as a a suspect, I second the suggestion of shooting a roll of non-bulk loaded film and having it processed by a careful photo lab.

 

[jano]

Yeah, it's either the bulk loader or your sleeves. I use the printfile sleeves, and after putting negs in once and removing them once, I'm covered with scratches. I have the watson bulk loader, and I've noticed the majority of my film gets scratched. I've decided to forgoe the bulk loader and simply manually load the film. Takes some practice, yuck!

Also.. what kinf of film? Some of the b&w films scratch mor eeasily (especially the eastern euro stuff).

 

[ChrisN]

Hi - thanks for the responses and suggestions. Film is HP5+. Loader is the rectangular black one - Bobinquick? - so no light trrap to open. Do these loaders have problems? I've also got a Watson-style loader I can try. I'm down to the last few rolls I got from that bulk roll, too, so I don't know if that indicates something.

I had a close look at the leader I discarded after developing - no scratches! I'm pretty sure it's the sleeves. I've bought a roll of non-bulk loaded film to try - I'll process that and scan it immediately after it dries and before it gets sleeved. As Ray said I need to eliminate some variables. And Troy - what's a "careful photo lab"? Isn't that an oxymoron?

 

[troym]

And Troy - what's a "careful photo lab"? Isn't that an oxymoron?

It's the same as an "honest pawnbroker" or pastel green redness. I meditate on those imponderables when I need to calm my nerves.

Since the leader isn't scratched, your hunch about the negative sleeves seems like a promising one for finding the culprit.

I stopped using the standard Printfile sleeves, because after a couple printing sessions the sleeves would start accumulating dust and bits of grime, which would rub against the negatives. I worried about scratching the negatives, but never had anything as severe as you're experiencing.

I switched to "Film-Lok" sleeves by Savage. They are more like pockets than sleeves. Instead of sliding your negatives into the sleeve from the edge of the page, you place them into openings running across the width of the page.

I get them at B&H, but here's a link to a Freestyle Photo page showing the Film-Lok sleeves.

http://www.freestylephoto.biz/sc_prod.php?cat_id=2308&pid=1952

 

[ddutchison]

Hi - thanks for the responses and suggestions. Film is HP5+. Loader is the rectangular black one - Bobinquick? - so no light trrap to open....

I've not seen that particular film loader, but if it doesn't have a light-trap which opens, then it probably has fabric light traps - just like cassettes (I've seen a lot of bulk loaders that use this system). You might want to have a look, If that's the case, it's only a matter of time before some dust gets embedded and starts scratching your film.

Hope you find the problem.

 

[ChrisN]

Thanks DD. The loader looks like this one: Click here

The light trap is not mechanical - it looks like felt or something similar, so that could be contaminated with dust. I'll check it carefully before I load another bulk roll into it.

BTW - I love your avatar - who is the character represented? (I think I know, but I'm not certain.)

 

[ddutchison]

...
BTW - I love your avatar - who is the character represented? (I think I know, but I'm not certain.)

Does seem to be enjoying himself, doesn't he?

He's off of the cover of a 1927 Leica sales brochure - I think Leica prefers to portray a more sophisticated image of its users these days. I found him on a web page with a review of Erwin Puts Leica historic documents CD