Sources Of Negative Scratches

Hi All,

I've been noticing lately that many of my negatives have been getting small hairline scratches, almost always on the base of the film (not the emulsion). Despite the fact I'm trying to be careful when handling film, it seems that scratches inevitably appear. Luckily, Edwal No-Scratch seems to be doing the trick in covering up the scratches for printing. However, I prefer to avoid scratches in the first place.

So, I was thinking about where these scratches could be coming from and I made a list, which is as follows:

- From the camera
- From bulk loading the film
- From wiping down the film
- From removing the film from the development spool
- From removing/adding the film from negative protectors
- From general handling of the film

I've been trying to handle the film, whenever possible, with cotton gloves and I'm certain that the camera is not the at fault. However, I'm sure there are other procedures that I could implement to minimize the likelihood of adding more scratches.

Anyone had similar problems and what did you do to resolve them? Any comments will be appreciated.

Hard to tell without seeing the damage but I'd look at it in Sherlock way. Process of elimination.

Do you have a second camera? Do the negatives come out damaged?

Use a roll of factory loaded. How does that look?

What are you wiping with? I don't like wiping. The only time I wipe is with a gloved hand. I use the thin gloves with no coating on them. This is easy don't wipe. Do you still have the problem?

Can't imagine removing the film. But you could send a roll out to be done.

I personally believe that the bulking loading of the film and the film cannisters are the sources of the scratches. The scratch lines are (usually) straight but they occur at different parts of the film. They are light and don't penetrate to the emulsion. If it was wiping or handling, they would appear as curved lines or lines not perfectly straight and parallel to the edge of the film. However, there are some scratches that are obviously due to film mishandling. I do wipe the film with my fingers when they are wet but perhaps this is not condusive to scratch free film.

I find that almost all my scratches on my negatives come from inside the camera. I've gotten into the habit of blowing out the inside of my camera with canned air before each roll of film goes in (be careful to never blow on the shutter though!) The helps greatly.

Also, if you carry 35mm film around NOT inside the canister it can pick up dirt and or sand which will scratch as the film comes out inside the camera. If the scratches are prefectly straight, it is most likely coming from inside the camera.

What kind of bulk loader are you using?

It's easy to check if it's the loader or not. Buy a factory load and shoot it.

Nick Zentena said:

What kind of bulk loader are you using?

It's easy to check if it's the loader or not. Buy a factory load and shoot it.

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I'm using a Watson bulk loader(s). I have some factory film already in cannisters that I can shoot to see if it's the bulking loading process. I've elminated the camera as I've shot a blank roll and rewound the film cannister. I then checked the film for scratches and there appeared to be none.

brian steinberger said:

I find that almost all my scratches on my negatives come from inside the camera. I've gotten into the habit of blowing out the inside of my camera with canned air before each roll of film goes in (be careful to never blow on the shutter though!) The helps greatly.

Also, if you carry 35mm film around NOT inside the canister it can pick up dirt and or sand which will scratch as the film comes out inside the camera. If the scratches are prefectly straight, it is most likely coming from inside the camera.

Click to expand...

It's quite possible this may be the case. When I put a test roll through the camera, I blew out the camera with Dust Off for the first time in a while. No scratches but the earlier problems may be the result of in-camera dust. I'll make blowing out my camera part of my daily routine.

Snapshot said:

I'll make blowing out my camera part of my daily routine.

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Good routine to follow everytime you're at home between rolls or have canned air on hand. I find it rather hard to scratch negatives during processing (not that I'm trying though!) and I don't even use a hardener in my fixer. But then again I'm not shooting Efke and some of those eastern European films which are are known the scratch easily.

Good Luck with everything!