Light edges on 35mm negative scans

Examples here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kd5nrh/sets/72157605219270246/

Scanned on an Epson 4490 with the stock holder, from Delta Pro 100 and Tri-X 400. Note the more-washed-out areas of the light areas on the long edges of several shots. None of my one-hour prints from color or C41 BW film show these issues, and I can't see any evidence of it in the negatives. (OTOH "I can't see it" is not a definite "it isn't there," but if it is, it's not enough for me to tell) Is it a result of curl at the edges, or something else? Short of going to a fluid mount or dedicated film scanner, (not really an economical option at this point, since I'm only planning to use the scanner for proofing and posting) what is the best way to avoid this?

KD5NRH said:

Examples here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kd5nrh/sets/72157605219270246/

Scanned on an Epson 4490 with the stock holder, from Delta Pro 100 and Tri-X 400. Note the more-washed-out areas of the light areas on the long edges of several shots. None of my one-hour prints from color or C41 BW film show these issues, and I can't see any evidence of it in the negatives. (OTOH "I can't see it" is not a definite "it isn't there," but if it is, it's not enough for me to tell) Is it a result of curl at the edges, or something else? Short of going to a fluid mount or dedicated film scanner, (not really an economical option at this point, since I'm only planning to use the scanner for proofing and posting) what is the best way to avoid this?

Click to expand...

It sure looks like uneven development of the negative, or "edge surge" from improper agitation in the developer.

But it's easy to correct - just burn it in with Photoshop.

Sam

I think it is something about the light coming from the scanner to the negative borders.

That looks awfully like "edge surge": incomplete or too fast turns during developer agitation.
I've seen it before in one of my trials of a small steel tank.
HTH

I'd go with the other posts. Seems like uneven development - not sure what the cause would be. However, something off-topic, by the looks of those scans you seem to be underexposing your film. No detail in the shadows, muddy midtones, and practically no highlight/separation.

You should probably try and work on your exposure/processing technique. One thing I should point out -

If you are working with an in-camera meter, don't. Save yourself a lot of frustration and get a hand-held incident meter. In-camera meters (unless 3-deg spotmeters) are typically "averaging out" your scene. The reading is worthless.

I've been pulling my hair out for months until I realized this problem (had the same issue in my work).

My $0.02