Fomapan Creative 200 120 Black dots and...streaks

@mzjo I'm sorry I never followed up on the examples you posted. The heavily scratched film is not processing related in the sense that it's a chemistry or processing temperature problem. The damage you show is caused by the emulsion side of the film dragging across something. This 'something' could for instance be a (semi-)stuck transport roller in the camera.

The best thing you can do at this point IMO is to systematically identify every place where the emulsion side of the film can come into contact with anything, from the point you receive the film from the seller to the moment you notice the scratches.

koraks said:

Welcome to Photrio, @lfjack Sorry to hear about your experience with Foma 400. I haven't shot it all that much in sheet film format; maybe one or two boxes.
Have you contacted Foma about the problem? And is it feasible to share some examples here? This may help other photographers recognize the problem if they happen to run into it. Thanks!

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I will examine my negatives again and compare to HP5 as well as Retropan. I may be holding that film wrong or I may have been unlucky. I plan to update my post with findings later this or next week.

koraks said:

@mzjo I'm sorry I never followed up on the examples you posted. The heavily scratched film is not processing related in the sense that it's a chemistry or processing temperature problem. The damage you show is caused by the emulsion side of the film dragging across something. This 'something' could for instance be a (semi-)stuck transport roller in the camera.

The best thing you can do at this point IMO is to systematically identify every place where the emulsion side of the film can come into contact with anything, from the point you receive the film from the seller to the moment you notice the scratches.

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I am convinced that changing my processing method/habits should tell me something. I am not convinced that it's the camera but I will be able to confirm or deny that as in my post upstream. Incidentally the scratches seem to me to be less prominent when I have made analog prints rather than negative scans - and the more dense the negative the more pronounced the scratch!

koraks said:

The heavily scratched film is not processing related in the sense that it's a chemistry or processing temperature problem. The damage you show is caused by the emulsion side of the film dragging across something.

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mzjo said:

I am convinced that changing my processing method/habits should tell me something. I am not convinced that it's the camera but I will be able to confirm or deny that as in my post upstream.

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Koraks is right — those lines are not a product defect, at least not one previously observed with this film. Of course experiment, but it would very surprising to see lines like that caused by the processing of the film.

How are you processing the film? If you are squeegeeing the film dry at the end, it is conceivable that you are damaging the film then. Otherwise, it is hard to imagine how these marks are a processing artifact.

mzjo said:

I am convinced that changing my processing method/habits should tell me something.

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Feel free to experiment and see what happens.

mzjo said:

Incidentally the scratches seem to me to be less prominent when I have made analog prints rather than negative scans - and the more dense the negative the more pronounced the scratch!

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Yes, that's sensible for emulsion-side scratches. They're mechanical damage to the emulsion side, so look for anything in your handling where the film (emulsion) surface touches anything else. This is typically only the backing paper in 120 film (which is clearly not the problem here), and parts of the film transport and the film gate in the camera. The only way I can see your processing as a problem is if you somehow manage to load or handle the film in such a way that it forcefully drags across the edge of a table or something. Since this is rather far-fetched, and the length of the scratches is very consistent with camera-use, I still think it's the camera.

In your place, I'd borrow a known-good camera and run a roll of this film through it, process it yourself and evaluate the results.

koraks said:

... or if Foma has finally managed to minimize the problem ...

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Is it just my imagination or are the problems with Fomapan 200 in 120 format becoming less and less? I am referring to production related problems and not those caused by careless handling or rough cameras. Have not seen any issues lately concerning straight tramline-like scratches of white spots due to dye residues.

MrclSchprs said:

Is it just my imagination or are the problems with Fomapan 200 in 120 format becoming less and less? I am referring to production related problems and not those caused by careless handling or rough cameras. Have not seen any issues lately concerning straight tramline-like scratches of white spots due to dye residues.

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I am leery of getting too optimistic that this is true. I stopped using Foma 200 in 120 years ago because I simply could not rely on it.

I'd love to return. Hopefully we'll hear from returnees who can confirm this.