Strange marks on film

[imush]

I developed two different films Tri-X and APX100, both a slightly expired, but I never had a problem before.

Tri-X was developed in Xtol+Rodinal mix, APX in Rodinal 1:50. Admittedly, Rodinal is very old, but I never had any problems with it before.


Both have strange stripes in the scans,


Tri-X:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/imush/18660176283/in/photostream/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/imush/19274770792/in/photostream/




APX100:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/imush/19093336350/in/photostream/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/imush/18660402623/in/photostream/


Is it the developer? agitation? some xray exposure?

The only thing in common between these two rolls were the bottle of Rodinal and perhaps sloppy storage conditions. I do not remember taking through any xray machine. They were certainly never in checked baggage.

 

[Greyscale]

Can you see the same artifacts when you look at the negs? This may be an issue with the scans.

 

[starless]

Looks like something to do with the scanning or the scanning software.
Banding?

 

[nikon_sam]

Always look at the negs first...

 

[imush]

Interesting. What would go wrong with the scanning (Vuescan + Nikon LS-5000ED) to cause this effect?

no, I cannot see it myself yet, but the marks are small enough not to be visible on 35mm film. Next week I will try to actually print from these negs and see.

The medium format film developed the same day came out just fine.

 

[starless]

Try scanning a portion of the problematic area in Super Fine mode.
This will show if it is indeed banding.

 

[Dwig]

If your scanner will allow it, try to rotate the film slightly and rescan. If the lines are present but at a slightly different angle then it is definitely a scanner issue.

 

[Greyscale]

It is some kind of interference pattern, or moire, I think. Scanning at a different angle may help, or change the scan resolution.

 

[imush]

I tried to clean the scanner's mirror, and it seems a bit better but still some such pattern is visible upon sharpening.

I will try to wet print some of these next week. That should show conclusively if there is something wrong with the film.

This is Nikon roll scanner, so the film cannot be turned.

 

[kanzlr]

you're not using infrared clean, are you? 🙂

 

[imush]

Upd:
1. The negatives are fine, I wet printed several without any problem.
2. kanzlr: No, infrared exposure is removed.

Do you think that dust in the scanner mirror/sensor can cause this? Simple mirror cleaning did not help. The scanner is always covered and should not have accumulated a lot of dust. Should I still send the scanner for service? will Nikon or someone else still do it?

or maybe this is just a software problem... I will try to play with vuescan again first.

 

[sevo]

2. kanzlr: No, infrared exposure is removed.

Don't bet on it. The Nikon Scan software has an ugly tendency to jump back to past settings whenever you do something it interprets as a mode change.

 

[film nut]

The first thing I would do is try some good film and fresh developer. If the developer is old, it's just going to get older and less usable.

Mike