Camera or development problem?

logan2z said:

I have to give them kudos for spending the time to fully investigate and perform some reprocessing of the film,

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Thanks for the update and I agree with you that the lab did try their best to solve the problem and weren't afraid to admit any mistakes.

I have often said before, that a lab can be best judged by how they handle a problem and this one appears to be very professional.

mshchem said:

Well I gave up on mailing film away when Kodak quit the pre-paid processing mailer (2 1st class stamps to mail away, Kodak used your own return address as the label)
Buy a couple Paterson tanks, and the world's easiest, longest lived, film developer, Rodinal. A little bottle of Ilford rapid fix and a wee bottle of LFN wetting agent. I love developing film.

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I've had all of the stuff to home develop my film for a long time, but never really relished doing it as I'd rather spend my limited free time out with my camera or in the darkroom making prints. But I've grown tired of dealing with lab-related issues so I'm biting the bullet and starting to develop at home. I'm going to develop my first roll of 35mm film later today.

foc said:

I have often said before, that a lab can be best judged by how they handle a problem and this one appears to be very professional.

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They are very professional, the lab's general manager handled this himself and communicated regularly with me throughout.

I forgot to mention, one thing the lab suggested as a possible cause for these issues is the backing paper sticking to the film. I store film in the refrigerator before I use it, allow it to properly warm up before loading it into the camera, and keep it in a cool dry place after exposure/before development. I'm in Northern California so it's a very low humidity environment. Does this sound like a possibility? I know that Kodak has had issues with 120 backing papers in the past but I thought that had long been resolved. I've shot many rolls of 120 Tri-X without issues but I guess it's possible that I got a bad batch? Just guessing here...

How old was the TRi-X? Did the film have the new, almost plastic looking backing paper?

MattKing said:

How old was the TRi-X? Did the film have the new, almost plastic looking backing paper?

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Not old, I purchased it from B&H recently. Yes, it has the plasticky looking backing paper.