Recurring issues with Nikon F80

Recent Classifieds

Forum statistics

Threads
199,075
Messages
2,785,864
Members
99,796
Latest member
Alvinabc
Recent bookmarks
0
OP
OP

h.v.

Member
Joined
Dec 5, 2011
Messages
186
Location
Alberta, Can
Format
Multi Format
So that means that if it is occurring on the uncut neg holder, it probably isn't the sleeves for cut negs?

Sorry for the late response. Still need to try scanning my dummy roll and am waiting to hear back from the lab as they're apparently doing some testing of their equipment. Keep in mind I still haven't gotten any B&W back that was shot with the F90. The turnaround for B&W has recently gotten longer (propelling me to want to start doing it myself even sooner) so I'll probably get that back within the next week. I've been reading that these scratchings are much more common on C-41 processes compared to B&W and E-6. Perhaps when the lines from B&W appeared on photos from the F80 it was the camera, but with the F90 it is the C-41 processing equipment. As good a guess as any at this point and I'll find out soon enough.

I've also gone back to some of my first rolls with the F80 from last year and cherry picked certain cut strips of negatives and I don't see any scratch lines. I'm not sure how that's useful, but I'm sure it could be somehow. Also, not sure if this is useful and I can't recall if I said this, but my one roll of E-6 from the F80 turned up no scratches.

I know I must sound like a broken record, but I just can't stand these scratches on important photographs. On the other hand, I just can't go back to full digital, because besides cost and the scratching, there aren't enough benefits to digital for me. It's nice to know that if I have hard drive crashes (which probably won't cause an issue, because I do multiple backups) I'll alwasy have the negs/slides, but I don't like knowing for most of these shots I will never be able to do anything with them traditionally (printing). I once thought it would be awesome to do a traditional book of film photos where the photos were printed in the darkroom and the book was bound by hand...but I guess that's out the window. I also enjoyed the idea of being able to one day hang up gorgeous black and white (and colour) prints done traditionally with quality you could never get from an inkjet print. Now, I must come across whiny, and for that, I apologize...that is if anyone's reading this anymore.

I've been trying different C-41 labs just to see with the Nikon F90 and the scratching issue still persists. Aside from awaiting to hear from my main C-41 lab and getting the negs back from the B&W lab, not sure what else to do. I think I will try and revisit the scanner hypothesis. I'll try "scanning" the negatives through other means as well as try scanning different types of things on the scanner itself...see if lines still appear. I know I see scratch lines on the negatives themselves, but this could be something minor and insignificant (after all, all negatives get some scratching) compared to what shows up in scans.

Edit: Sorry for the wall of text for those still reading.
 

SafetyBob

Member
Joined
Apr 19, 2011
Messages
290
Location
Yukon, OK
Format
Medium Format
I just hope you can actually find the root cause of the sratching. Sounds however like one of the more difficult cases in awhile here. Keep your chin up, sounds like you are close to finding the problem.

Bob E.
 
OP
OP

h.v.

Member
Joined
Dec 5, 2011
Messages
186
Location
Alberta, Can
Format
Multi Format
Thanks, SafetyBob, I read that earlier and I really appreciate it. I think you may be right, as I think I'm close to cracking the case on this one. I was busy the last weeks and just yesterday, scanning C-41, I picked up on a pattern I hadn't noticed before.

The first 4-5 frames (i.e. the first of two cut negative strips in the scanner's neg holder) never appeared to have this line. So, in effect, the 1st, 3rd, etc. strips in a negative sleeve wouldn't have the line, but 2nd, 4th, etc. would. How strange! So I inspected closer on the negative with my own eye, I did see some scratching, but it was in a different place on the negative than the line was appearing on the scan. Clearly the scratches I was seeing weren't significant to the scanner or digital ICE.

With that, I decided to do a bit of testing. I would put the first strip in the second negative holder slot for the scanner, and wouldn't you know it, a line appeared! So, I decided to do the inverse, scanning the 2nd, 4th, etc. strips in the first slot...now no lines! I'm now scanning 1 strip at a time, in the first slot only, and haven't seen any scratch lines yet.

I've got some black and white to try out still too with this and I might want to go back to older negatives and re-check, but I'm pretty sure it is the scanner now. Which means, my negs aren't screwed up for darkroom printing! That is a huge sigh of relief for me. I'll keep you guys posted for any future tests I do if interested. I also want to once again thank everybody for their help and support with this very annoying issue and I do apologize if I came off harsh, I was just getting very frustrated with this.
 

filmamigo

Member
Joined
Feb 1, 2007
Messages
315
Location
Toronto, Ont
Format
Multi Format
I'm really happy that you have found the culprit! And glad that your F80 is not to blame. It really is a nice camera to shoot with.
 

Sirius Glass

Subscriber
Joined
Jan 18, 2007
Messages
50,399
Location
Southern California
Format
Multi Format
Thanks, SafetyBob, I read that earlier and I really appreciate it. I think you may be right, as I think I'm close to cracking the case on this one. I was busy the last weeks and just yesterday, scanning C-41, I picked up on a pattern I hadn't noticed before.

The first 4-5 frames (i.e. the first of two cut negative strips in the scanner's neg holder) never appeared to have this line. So, in effect, the 1st, 3rd, etc. strips in a negative sleeve wouldn't have the line, but 2nd, 4th, etc. would. How strange! So I inspected closer on the negative with my own eye, I did see some scratching, but it was in a different place on the negative than the line was appearing on the scan. Clearly the scratches I was seeing weren't significant to the scanner or digital ICE.

With that, I decided to do a bit of testing. I would put the first strip in the second negative holder slot for the scanner, and wouldn't you know it, a line appeared! So, I decided to do the inverse, scanning the 2nd, 4th, etc. strips in the first slot...now no lines! I'm now scanning 1 strip at a time, in the first slot only, and haven't seen any scratch lines yet.

I've got some black and white to try out still too with this and I might want to go back to older negatives and re-check, but I'm pretty sure it is the scanner now. Which means, my negs aren't screwed up for darkroom printing! That is a huge sigh of relief for me. I'll keep you guys posted for any future tests I do if interested. I also want to once again thank everybody for their help and support with this very annoying issue and I do apologize if I came off harsh, I was just getting very frustrated with this.

Back at post #16
It sounds like a scanning artifact rather than a camera problem.

Even my ex would complain that sometimes I am right! :tongue:
 
Photrio.com contains affiliate links to products. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links.
To read our full affiliate disclosure statement please click Here.

PHOTRIO PARTNERS EQUALLY FUNDING OUR COMMUNITY:



Ilford ADOX Freestyle Photographic Stearman Press Weldon Color Lab Blue Moon Camera & Machine
Top Bottom