Expired Portra 800... Bad film or bad lab???

TheTrailTog · Oct 20, 2007

First off, let me start by saying this is the first roll of color film I have shot since I was about 12 (15 years ago)

So I picked an expired pack of Portra 800 that expired 5/02 and after searching for a place to process 120 film, found a shop about an hour from me. I took a roll in to try them out and when I got home to take a look at it, there was a streak going down the whole length of the roll. The streak wasn't quite uniform, almost like a "run" from chemical or water run-off. My question is this because of improper storage or from it being expired or is this something from the lab screwing up or...? Here's a couple shots from the roll...

Jadedoto · Oct 20, 2007

I'd guess the lab. I've had problems liek this before- causing me to say "screw it" and devv it all myself.

Have you noticed this on other rolls before this one? It could be a light leak somewhere. My XE7 went for a few weeks before I noticed a leak.

The film being expired (though that really isn't too expired) should produce a color shift (if any not compensated by the printer) over the whole area of the film, not just in one area. If the negatives are without error- it's definitely the lab. If both, I'd check your stuff (with a heavy bias towards a crappy lab).

Photo Engineer · Oct 20, 2007

Yep, I agree. Looks like a lab screw up.

If it is a bleach or fix problem, you might fix it by rebleaching or fixing, but it reminds me of film that has had something spilled on it before processing.

PE

TheTrailTog · Oct 20, 2007

Thanks for chiming in guys. I've been processing my own b&w film and have had no problems with the 15 or so rolls I have put through this camera. Guess It's time to start developing my own color film too...LOL

BTW - the shots above are negative scans, not print scans.

nicolai · Oct 21, 2007

It looks like heat damage to me. I recently posted some heat damage examples here (where I know it's heat damage, because I left the example rolls in a hot car, and rolls from the same pro-packs that weren't fried didn't do the same thing).

TheTrailTog · Oct 21, 2007

Hi Nicolai, thanks for help I dunno, it doesn't quite seem like heat. Though, I don't have any experience to back that up. I just don't understand how if it was heat that it would penetrate in the same spot to the center of the roll without effecting the edges. It looks like if you hung up a roll and then there was a run of some liquid down it that dried. I dunno, I'll try another roll from the 5 pack and if it does the same, I'll just chuck the rest.

btw-cool effect on some of those shots you got from the heat damaged rolls

fschifano · Oct 28, 2007

That looks suspiciously like a light leak to me. Age fog will affect the entire film. Same goes for heat damage. A spill would not be that uniform. It doesn't look like a water mark, a sign of poor drying conditions. Have you checked the camera for internal reflections? Maybe there's a shiny bit in there.

TheTrailTog · Oct 28, 2007

Hi fschifano, thanks for checking out my thread I have shot about 20 rolls of B&W through this camera, 5 or 6 of which have been since I shot this roll. I also shot a roll of E100GX slide film after shooting this roll. Never had a problem with fogging or light leaks or anything like that. It only happened with this roll. I have another roll of this batch of Portra that I shot the other day that I need to swing by the lab and see how it turns out.

Expired Portra 800... Bad film or bad lab???

Attachments

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency