Light Leaks For First 10 Frames?

Hey There,

Recently, I'm seeing black streaks on the edges of my home-processed Tri-X. They're mostly limited to the edges of the negatives but occasionally get worse around the sprocket holes and (even more rarely) bleed down into the frame. This is almost always limited to the first few frames. It gets less intense later in the roll and the problem is all but gone by frame 10. (I've attached a photo of a recent roll that will give you a look at the problem). It happens consistently on the tri-x I process at home.

My first fear was a light leak in the m6 I'm shooting. However, after seeing a couple of problem rolls, I processed an additional 8 rolls of color film (mostly portra 400) and have found ZERO issues. No streaking along the edges, no sprocket hole woes, nothing. All that film was shot and loaded in the same set of varying lighting conditions as the tri-x.

After those 8 color rolls came back without a leak, I processed two more rolls of tri-x shot after I'd shot those 8 rolls of color and found, again, pronounced streaking and leaks around the sprocket holes.

Anyone have any ideas about what's happening here?

Thanks!

Is your tri-x bulk loaded or in Kodak cassettes?

The tri-x is in Kodak cassettes, all purchased recently from B&H.

If the commercially done rolls from the same camera are ok, it kind of leads to your processing. Is the fogging always at the bottom or do you have rolls where it is on top?

There is one possibility regarding the camera I can think of. The right side strap lug came out of my M4-2, and I discovered that it's anchored into the film chamber. I don't know if the M6 has similar construction, but you might check to see of the strap lug is possibly loose.

Otherwise, what is your processing workflow, darkroom loading or changing bag, what kind of tanks and reels? If you're using plastic, have you checked for cracks? As a test, you could sacrifice a roll or part of one, and process it without exposing in the camera.

You can test the tank with a sheet of cut down photo paper just as easily, plus you can mark the orientation of the paper when you stick it in the canister.

Load it in the dark, take it outside and rotate it around a light source and then process.

I think it's bad cartridges.

Thanks for all these thoughts/ideas. I should clarify — the color rolls that turned out free of fogging I processed myself using the same tank and reels as the problematic tri x.

I read about that strap lug issue and checked mine. They’re both on there, tight.

I think I may take a tri x canister outside for a bit (as I would if I were intending to load it) and then process it without putting it through the camera. If these streaks show up, I’ll have at least limited the problems to processing or bad cassettes.

Let me know if you guys have any other thoughts on this. It’s vexing.