Scratched 35mm negatives - causes?

[dnjl]

Recently all my negatives have scratches on them, and I really wonder why. The scratches only occur on the frames at the end of the roll (36 exp.) on both colour and B&W film. I don't develop myself but have a local lab take care of that. When I first noticed the scratches, I took them to another lab guy (who doesn't send the roll to a large lab but devs himself). Same thing, scratched negatives. Now I wonder: could it be my camera? Or perhaps it is a handling issue? I'm lost here.

Example:

I used a Canon EOS 30 (Elan 7), the film is Agfa Vista Plus 200. I have my camera rewind the film with leader out, don't know if that makes any difference. The camera is clean inside and I don't see anything that could've caused this.
Your insight is most appreciated

CORRECTION: the scratches are at the beginning of the roll, not the end.

 

[Christopher Walrath]

The three major culprits are processing (2 different processors and processes rules that out, I think), film retainer in camera misaligned (as this is only an 'intermittent' problem I think this is ruled out as well) or perhaps at the end of the roll the film is being dragged through the felt light traps on your spool thus probably causing the problem as the film is pulled out at more of an angle at the end of the roll than at the beginning.

 

[dnjl]

I made a mistake here, it's at the beginning of the roll where the scratches are, not at the end. Sorry for that.

 

[bobwysiwyg]

I would look very carefully (good light, magnifying glass) at the last edge the film moves across before going onto the take-up side. Since you say it is the beginning of the roll and not the entire roll, perhaps at the start, when the circumference of the take-up side is smallest and applying more downward pressure on this "edge" something is scratching it. As more film gathers on the take-up side, the circumference increases but decreases the pressure on the film crossing this edge. Does this make sense?

By the way this is entirely a SWAG.

 

[Rick A]

I would clean the inside of the camera thoroughly. pay particulas attention to the pressure plate and all surfaces the film slides across.

 

[Christopher Walrath]

Also take care to pull out only enough leader that the canister is in its proper psoition when you close the camera back. If it's rotated out slightly it moves when loading tension is applied and could be a possible perp as well.

 

[tkamiya]

Which side are the scratches on? Emulsion side or the back side? Determining that might give you a hint on where to look for problems. The scratches are PERFECTLY parallel to the length of the film. I *think* this is a pretty good sign that this is happening when the film was in your camera.

 

[dnjl]

The scratches are on the emulsion side of the film, not on the base. I checked my camera and there's no sharp edge that could have caused this. In fact, all places where the film slides over an edge have a little roll mechanism (I checked those and they're smooth). The pressure plate is very clean and smooth as well.

 

[MattKing]

Do the scratches originate in the leader and then continue into the first frame(s)?

 

[dnjl]

I couldn't say. The lab cut the roll and threw away the leader.
I will pay attention to the loading next time and see if there's a problem. Thanks for all the suggestions so far.