Weird light leaks

cerber0s · Aug 27, 2023

I have these weird light leaks along the edges on some parts of the film. They show up on a bunch of consecutive frames, then they’re completely gone for a bunch of frames before they return. They almost never reach the actual image are, but stay around the perforations. They show up regardless of what camera I use.

I bulk load the film, so I’m looking at either the film loader, or the cassette(s). But in my mind, neither should show leaks just around the perforations. Any ideas?

ic-racer · Aug 27, 2023

Light leaking around the spindle can cause that.

Sirius Glass · Aug 27, 2023

Those are not light leaks. They come from the emulsion side of the film touching the reel thus preventing the film development where it touches. An annoying problem.

cerber0s · Aug 27, 2023

Sirius Glass said:
Those are not light leaks. They come from the emulsion side of the film touching the reel thus preventing the film development where it touches. An annoying problem.

That makes much more sense! Thank you

MattKing · Aug 27, 2023

Sirius Glass said:
Those are not light leaks. They come from the emulsion side of the film touching the reel thus preventing the film development where it touches. An annoying problem.

They look like those.
If they are, re-fixing and re-washing the film off the reels will make them disappear. Try that on one of the cut strips to check - you can do it in the light.

koraks · Aug 28, 2023

Sirius Glass said:
Those are not light leaks. They come from the emulsion side of the film touching the reel thus preventing the film development where it touches. An annoying problem.

This is sometimes the case, but not always. The edges look a little fuzzy for this defect to be the case, which tends to create somewhat more sharply defined blobs along the edges of the film.

If it's an actual light leak, it can be caused by ill-fitting end caps on the 35mm cassette. @cerber0s, you mention bulk loading. What kind of cassettes do you use, and is it e.g. possible that you're re-using metal cassettes with slightly bent end caps?

cerber0s · Aug 28, 2023

koraks said:
This is sometimes the case, but not always. The edges look a little fuzzy for this defect to be the case, which tends to create somewhat more sharply defined blobs along the edges of the film.

If it's an actual light leak, it can be caused by ill-fitting end caps on the 35mm cassette. @cerber0s, you mention bulk loading. What kind of cassettes do you use, and is it e.g. possible that you're re-using metal cassettes with slightly bent end caps?

I use the AP bulk loader, with the AP plastic cassettes. I’ve considered the cassette as well, but I have the issue both on top and bottom of the negative. A leaky cap would only show on top, or mostly on top and downwards.

koraks · Aug 28, 2023

Well, you could take a bit of the affected film and dump it into fixer. Usually, if the reel-touching issue is the cause, there will be undeveloped emulsion along the edges and it will mostly fix out while leaving the images unaffected.

A light leak somewhere in the bulk loading process is still likely, even if unrelated to the end cap of the cassette. There are several steps in the loading process where such a leak could occur.

ic-racer · Aug 28, 2023

I occasionally get something like this at the beginning of a roll. From light leaking around the end of the spindle when a loaded cassette is left sitting around in the light. outside of the camera.

Don_ih · Aug 29, 2023

In this instance, though, that stuff is unfixed emulsion:

- it's not the colour of developed exposed emulsion.

That happened with every roll I loaded emulsion-side-out developing film in the Jobo. (I loaded it emulsion side out to prevent any grit racing on the face of the film while it was rotating, in the event that some got in the tank).

Weird light leaks

cerber0s

ic-racer

Sirius Glass

cerber0s

MattKing

Moderator

koraks

Moderator

cerber0s

koraks

Moderator

ic-racer

Don_ih

Weird light leaks

Moderator

Moderator

Moderator

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency