Help identifying problem

Recently got scans from the lab and 2 of them have blotches like this that almost look like burn marks. They're on the negatives and, in this case, the blotch extends a few mm outside the frame. The lab says it's not a processing error and suggest it's weird lens flare (at night, low light, extending outside the frame).

Any ideas?

If that mark is on the negative itself, then it's 99% certain to be a developing problem the lab created.

That looks like a drying mark to me...

It looks like film touching itself preventing absorption of the chemicals. There is 0% chance that's a lens flare. If who you're dealing with is a lower level lab technician, they might just be ignorant. Otherwise, they're lying. In either case, find a new lab or start home developing. It's easier than you think, easier than baking a cake.

Thanks all for the replies. This lab actually botched a roll a couple of months ago by having the film touch itself and remove emulsion, but they came clean about it that time. This time I feel like they're gaslighting a little... I've also had trouble with the scan quality in the past and they've lost two different sets of negatives, so I think a change might be overdue!

I'll definitely look into home developing. It's something I've been meaning to try for ages so this is probably the impulse I need. Investing in a scanner has been putting me off but I think I have sourced a Coolscan 4000 for a pretty reasonable price.

skreginal said:

Thanks all for the replies. This lab actually botched a roll a couple of months ago by having the film touch itself and remove emulsion, but they came clean about it that time. This time I feel like they're gaslighting a little... I've also had trouble with the scan quality in the past and they've lost two different sets of negatives, so I think a change might be overdue!

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Very much overdue, if that's the way they've handled your film! A lab that loses your film does not deserve a second chance.

Welcome aboard @skreginal ! Sorry to see your film was damaged at some point.

loccdor said:

It looks like film touching itself preventing absorption of the chemicals.

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That's a possibility.
Another possibility is slight moisture on the film itself when it was spooled, which consequently dried. This could also create similar anomalies.

What kind of film is this and in what format? The frame dimensions look like 120 roll film.

A lab error is the most likely cause; moisture on the film itself would be a (remote) possibility if this is e.g. cine film that was respooled by a minor player with poor working practices/QA, or DIY/home-spooled film.

koraks said:

What kind of film is this and in what format? The frame dimensions look like 120 roll film.

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You are correct about the 120. Cinestill 800T. I actually was doing some reading about it specifically and I think there's evidence on one of the other frames of static discharge (there's a weird tree-looking thing), which makes sense considering it was shot in the cold in Colorado! But I don't think the static would account for the other blotches...

There was also a mark on a single frame of Ektar shot on the same camera in New Mexico in November (cropped to preserve resolution below). It's a lot fainter and initially I thought it was some kind of light leak but if you zoom in there's a faint outline on the left that makes it look more like a drop of smeared liquid. I'm thinking it could be the same problem.

Also interesting is that all the marks are both in a similar location at the right of the frame. But I don't think they're consistent enough to suggest something off with the camera itself (Yashica 124).

retina_restoration said:

Very much overdue, if that's the way they've handled your film! A lab that loses your film does not deserve a second chance.

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I think it is entirely fair to name the lab that has caused these processing errors...

djdister said:

I think it is entirely fair to name the lab that has caused these processing errors...

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I'd rather not, without 100% confidence in the underlying cause. They have processed a lot of 35mm for me with very few problems and it's really just in the last few months that things have got a bit weird. If it does turn out that it's something with my (new to me) camera or some error on my end I'd be pretty embarrassed to have called them out. I dropped off 2 rolls of 120 at a different lab yesterday so we'll see if any of those frames come back with similar issues that suggest it's me and not the lab!

skreginal said:

There was also a mark on a single frame of Ektar shot on the same camera in New Mexico in November (cropped to preserve resolution below)

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My first impression would be that the film (emulsion side) impacted with an edge of some sort in that spot. This edge could well be the edge of another strip of film. My expectation is that this would have happened at some stage during processing or at least when the film was wet, although that's not perfectly guaranteed.

skreginal said:

But I don't think they're consistent enough to suggest something off with the camera itself (Yashica 124).

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I agree with that assessment. Also, the nature of the defect as such doesn't look like anything I associate with a camera-related factor.

Btw, all labs make mistakes. The good ones do so very, very rarely. The bad ones do it more often. But there's no such thing as 100% success rate.

koraks said:

Btw, all labs make mistakes. The good ones do so very, very rarely. The bad ones do it more often. But there's no such thing as 100% success rate.

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I think that's the right take. Thanks a lot for the diagnosing!