Opps, I scratched my film...

[snegron]

I got my film back from the lab recently (120 film, ISO 160, Porta VC) in those clear plastic "protective" strip covers. I removed the negative roll from the plastic strip as carefully as possible, but I scratched the film! The scratches appear as very thin lines. I thought they might have been dust streaks, so I took a smooth cotton cloth and gently attempted to remove the "dust". Of course, I only wound up sratching the negatives even more. I tried getting rid of the scratch marks in Photoshop but had no luck.

Does anyone have any recommendations on handling negative rolls from the lab when scanning? Should I ask the lab to not place my negatives in those long clear plastic protective covers? Would they be at a higher risk of getting scratched if they were not in the covers?

Does anyone wish to share their method for removing the negs from the plastic, placing them onto a scanner, then placing them back into the protective sleeve without a scratch?

 

[Dave Parker]

I have never had problems with the plastic sleeves, but you cannot pull them out, you have to open the tab and then take them out sideways very carefully, but I have thousands of negs stored in sleeves and have not had any scratch problems on my negs..I use white lab gloves to handle my negs when scanning that way I don't get fingerprints on them, not putting your negs in sleeves is going to increase the chance of damage to them in addition open them up to collect more dust and dirt.

R.

 

[Greg_E]

Depending on what parts are scratched, wet scanning may help to hide the scratches. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WETMOUNTING/

 

[colrehogan]

After I cut them into strips which will fit into the page, I take mine out of the protective sleeve and put them into a protective page. That way I don't have to worry about putting them back into those sleeves. I have found that cutting the negs/slides into shorter pieces will reduce the likelihood of this happening as you are dealing with a smaller piece of the plastic sleeve. However, if you wanted to put them back in, I would think that a shorter piece of the plastic sleeve would be more manageable.

 

[Claire Senft]

Have you tried scanning the negatives already or are you just assuming that there is a problem?

Color negative film should be treated with respect but it should be capable of withstanding ordinary handling if properly processed and dried before beibg sleeved.

 

[haris]

One idea I have is that film was not dry completely before put in sleeves. So film was "glued" into sleves, and was torn when pulled out. But, there are other possibilites: Film was screched before put in sleeves (into machine, or from machine to sleeves), or you mishandled film during scanning process...

Or, as you said that scratches are shown as very thin lines, can be broken emulsion, maybe sudden temperature changes in lab or at your place...

 

[Dave Parker]

If it was machined processed, it would be dry when it came out of the machine, unless there is a malfunction, which would be noticed right away as the machines have an alarm system to alert you to problems..

R.

 

[snegron]

Have you tried scanning the negatives already or are you just assuming that there is a problem?

Color negative film should be treated with respect but it should be capable of withstanding ordinary handling if properly processed and dried before beibg sleeved.

Yes, I scanned the negatives and noticed the scratches. When I took the negative out of the sleeve, it curled up as usual. My guess is that I must have scratched it when I uncurled it to place it on my flatbed scanner. I am also wondering if it might be a bad film back on my RB67. I noticed that one of the frames had similar gunk found on the hinge of the film back. Problem is that the scratch was on the emulsion side of the film, and the emulsion side doesn't really touch any part in the filmback like 35mm cameras do.

 

[Curt]

I tried plastic sleeves a long time ago and had scratches, I think the material was harder then. I went to a very complex and sophisticated system that I still use today. It's very expensive and takes hours to get setup right so the whole system works properly. It's important that all of this is done before the film is processed and dried so that it will be ready for instant use upon completion of development. It works like this; Take a sheet of archival paper such as Cranes, 81/2" x 11" in size. You can make two sleeves per page. Cut off two 5" pieces and fold them in half. They fit perfectly in a Sterling No268 box found at stationary stores. Or form the maker: Sterling Mountainside NJ 07092 US. I use a pencil to write on the sleeves the information and use a number system on the folded sleeves. OK I lied, it's actually easy and quick. When I need a negative I pull it out of the box and lift it out of the archival sleeve and put it in the negative carrier. It was my end to scratches. The least contact with anything the negative has is the key.