Uneven neg exposure on contact sheet

Hi everyone,

Newbie’s 1st post…

Having a bit of an issue here that I’m struggling to understand. My contact print shows completely uneven exposures between different neg strips from the same roll. It seems to be an issue with the neg itself but I don’t understand what caused it.

Any idea? I’m attaching a pic of the print - note that this is not a test strip with multiple exposure times - the whole strip was exposed for 15 sec. @ f8

Also attaching a pic of the sleeve - the negs that come out white do look a bit darker but I’m surprised the difference between the neg strips would be so massive.

Thanks!

Look at the base plus fog on those two strips; it's pretty substantial, like it was fogged. Even the margins are much heavier than the ones to the left and right.
You might still be able to print through this density on some images, but your contrast will certainly be very low and these images will likely be muddy.

Welcome to Photrio.
I assume that you aren't able to make a single contact proof print with all the negatives showing at the same time.
If you were able to do that, it would be easier to make comparisons.
Bur based on what I can see, the negatives look a bit under-exposed, and the three strips toward the left look to have been fogged.
Particularly the second and third strips.
If you printed them much darker, you might get more from the contact proofs.

Thanks Kino,

That makes sense - You’re absolutely right, I did try a test print (attached) - Muddy but not uninteresting

Thanks so much Matt - Any idea what might have caused the fogging?

I notice it kind of fades in and then out, going from the leftmost strip to the rightmost. To me, it looks like a Watson type bulk loader didn't have the gate fully closed when the door was opened, or vice versa.

Some light leaked in - somewhere.
Unless it is old, severely heat damaged film