Poor developing??

[Gavlister]

Hi

I am looking for some advice here!! I am newly returned to film photography as a result of buying a Leica M6 for a backup.

I bought this in Thailand which all seems good but the results are less than satisfactory. I was shooting Tri-X. Anyway, I decided to get the films processed passing back through Bangkok at what seemed like a decent store...this was recommended to me.

OK apart from horrendous quality control, (there are so many blemishes on the photos, including long lines, scratches and whatever else.) the scanned negatives are appallingly low quality. They look very 'vintage' which is kind of nice but not what I want or expect. I have enclosed a fairly typical picture...there are some that are a lot worse and some that are maybe a bit better but still lack the quality I would expect.

OK....a couple of questions!! 1) The banding going across the pictures, is that a result of poor processing or something due to my loading or the camera. Not all have this, actually some are fairly clear. Others have big splotches and variations! 2) The colour and contrast, is that a result of using wrong chemicals or something along those lines? and 3) The scans are only around 400kb each, I would guess they have been done with a very inferior scanner. Could I expect sharper and higher quality pictures if they were scanned properly?

I guess I am asking these questions because Iwill still be travelling for a few more months. If this is a result of bad processing then I will continue using the camera. If this is some fault either on my half or the camera then that is a different matter.

I realise being away from home is not an ideal time to start fresh out with film but I had no choice for a few months due camera malfunction

By the way, I ran a film through it before I bought the camera...this was in colour due time requirements and all seemed good!!

Anyway, any feedback on this would be greatly appreciated.

thanks for any help

 

[markbarendt]

Welcome,

I'm going to guess bad lab/scan work.

Look at the negatives directly and see if the same problems are there.

 

[Ian Grant]

Have to agree it's most likely the processing. These days there's few labs left capable of quality B&W work. Looks more like poor fixing rather than the developer itself.

Ian

 

[polyglot]

It looks like the negs are insufficiently fixed (pale blotches in scan) and the scan was incompetent (choice of black point and the fact that they're in colour!). Do the negs have a slight brown tinge? If so, you need to re-fix and wash them otherwise they will not be stable in the long term. Streaks could be processing or the scanner; processing damage is perhaps more likely in this case.

I would never go back to that lab again.

 

[Katie]

Poor processing for sure. Lack of sufficient fixer (I had negs that looked just like that and after a re-fix they were fine).

 

[Jeff Kubach]

I agree poor fixing!

Jeff

 

[Gavlister]

Thanks a lot everyone for your replies. I guess that's what you get for taking shortcuts with things of value!!

Well at least I will still continue using the film camera but will wait till I get home before processing!!

 

[tycho]

Just as a safety percussion, hand carry your film, don't let it go through the x-rays. This may be a hassle with security. Kodak recommends that unprocessed film should not pass through 5 x-rays in one trip (the one's at the gate). The x-rays for check-in baggage will ruin your film. If you decide to mail your film home, ask what kind of x-rays it will go through before going that route.

 

[polyglot]

meh. I went through 13 security scans with my films on my last holiday with no perceptible damage.