Is there thing as a bad roll?

Hey guys,

is is there such a thing as a bad roll of film? Even from from brand name as Ilford? I developed a roll of black and white asa 100 delta 120. I noticed what looked like scratch running down 3/4 on the left side of this roll. I panicked, and quickly reviewed previous roll from same camera.. Nothing there indicating there might be something the camera is doing. So it possible I processed a bad roll?

ToddB

Do you mean a bad roll in the sense of one roll only exhibiting a defect when the hundreds of rolls before it and after it are OK?

I'd have thought not. Once a defect is spotted by Ilford I'd have thought that its quality checks allow it to know how far back the defect may have occurred and to check those lengths or rolls before they leave the factory.

Otherwise we, the consumers, become the QC inspectors for Ilford and it relies on us to tell it when we discover a defect.

pentaxuser

Yes.. Maybe there is few that slipped through QC... Again, I checked previous developed rolls and no onomalies on film.

Just on another site, it is nearly impossible for Rolleiflex to scratch film due to protective paper on film. Must of been while processing. Oh..BTW, I don't use squeegee either. I dip my finger in photo flo and skreet the film between them.

Try another roll through your camera to make sure its not the camera.

If you got a little grit on your finger, squeegeeing can scratch the film.

Doing a shoot of my kids homecoming dance later in the week. I'll keep you posted.

Have you ever

Have you ever seen a brand new disabled Rolls Royce alongside the road and with the engine compartment on fire? I did -- once. I have been around towns that had a lot of those cars and never saw a disabled one before or after. STUFF HAPPENS.

forgot

I forgot to mention I would NOT look at the firm that made the roll of film as the culprit, except as a last resort. It is probably something else but you never know.

ToddB said:

I developed a roll of black and white asa 100 delta 120. I noticed what looked like scratch running down 3/4 on the left side of this roll. I panicked, and quickly reviewed previous roll from same camera.. Nothing there indicating there might be something the camera is doing. So it possible I processed a bad roll?

Click to expand...

Could be bad film from the manufacturer, but extremely unlikely.

It should be easy enough to check, though. Since 120 roll film is taped to the backing paper, this means that IT IS NOT POSSIBLE for your camera to put a scratch there. If the scratch continues under the tape, it had to have come that way from the manufacturer. (A scratch will be visible even on unprocessed film; examine closely looking at the reflections from a specular type of light source.)

So, find the beginning of the film and have a look. If you left the tape in place, peel it off and see if the scratch goes through that part. If you've already peeled the tape off, it's possible that you somehow scratched the film there during processing.

I've had warped and blurred edge codes on Ilford rolls before, but I think that's about it.

I have taken bad images!

Jeff

Dear Todd,

Firstly I am extremely sorry you have experienced a problem with an ILFORD Photo product. It is highly, highly unlikely ( but not impossible ) that you would have a single scratch running through a single 120 film ( most of teh QC is already done before finishing but you would have approx 600 films 120 from each unique slitting identified from the individual batch , 4 test films are processed from each identified unique slitting first / last and two taken at random, a further film is taken for archiving. I have contacted our QC department and we have no justified QC issues outstanding on any ILFORD film product of any type at this time.

We obviously do get films returned to the factory for checking, and on vary, very rare occasions they are QC justified and replaced, you bought an ILFORD Photo product, therefore you are absolutely entitled to return it to us for checking, normally its fairly easy identify a cause of a scratch under an electron microscope, the usual cause I have to say is not during manufacture but is during the wipedown of excess fluid before drying or during loading ( but not normally a full single scratch ).

Simon ILFORD Photo / HARMAN technology Limited

ToddB said:

Just on another site, it is nearly impossible for Rolleiflex to scratch film due to protective paper on film. Must of been while processing. Oh..BTW, I don't use squeegee either. I dip my finger in photo flo and skreet the film between them.

Click to expand...

Don't do that! Your skin isn't sensitive enough to tell you when a tiny particle is on your finger and that will scratch your film.

Never touch the negatives until they're bone dry.

RR

(I've used ILFORD films for 57 years and never had a faulty example.)

Regular Rod said:

Don't do that! Your skin isn't sensitive enough to tell you when a tiny particle is on your finger and that will scratch your film.

Never touch the negatives until they're bone dry.

RR

(I've used ILFORD films for 57 years and never had a faulty example.)

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Might be OK if you hands were super soft. I rely on a certain washing up liquid so that "hands that do dishes can be soft as my brain". At least I think that was the 1950s slogan on TV

pentaxuser

Wouldn't squeegeing with your fingers leave a track of grease?

ToddB said:

Hey guys,

is is there such a thing as a bad roll of film? Even from from brand name as Ilford? I developed a roll of black and white asa 100 delta 120. I noticed what looked like scratch running down 3/4 on the left side of this roll. I panicked, and quickly reviewed previous roll from same camera.. Nothing there indicating there might be something the camera is doing. So it possible I processed a bad roll?

ToddB

Click to expand...

Do you do anything during your process MO that could make such a scratch?

What method do you skreet your negs? Or do you just let drip dry after Photoflo?

Td

ToddB said:

Just on another site, it is nearly impossible for Rolleiflex to scratch film due to protective paper on film. Must of been while processing. Oh..BTW, I don't use squeegee either. I dip my finger in photo flo and skreet the film between them.

Click to expand...

The paper is on the base side of the film, not the emulsion.A scratch in the emulsion is possible if a piece of grit, or chip of film or any other similar gets on the film path.