What is this line on all of my exposures?

millenial

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Hello,

I am new to this forum, i've been lurking for a while. I hope I am posting this in the correct place. Does anyone know, what this line running across all of my frames is? Or if you can point me in the direction of possibilities? The film used is Kodak 135, Black and White C41 process, expired 2005. I am new to film, please let me know if you need additional information.
 

MattKing

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Welcome to Photrio.
That looks like either physical damage to the film, or a strange scanning artifact.
Can you see it if you look at the negatives themselves, perhaps with a backlight and a magnifier?
Can you show us a digital picture of those negatives, backlit and with the sprockets and edge printing and spaces between the frames visible?
 
OP
OP

millenial

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Yes! I am picking up the negatives tomorrow morning. I'll upload them as soon as I can tomorrow, thanks!
 

Don_ih

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I have never seen damage like that on any negative strip ever. Scanners can generate very odd effects, sometimes. I hope, for your sake, that's the case. I can't think of anything that would cause that particular damage.
 

Ian David

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Almost looks like some sort of physical dragging damage to the emulsion as the film was advanced through the camera - either due to a damaged canister or something projecting into the film path within the camera... Dunno. I guess you won't be able to inspect the canister now, but maybe have a look around inside the camera? Maybe something like that could also possibly happen due to careless handling or squeegeeing of the wet emulsion at the lab
 

koraks

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millenial said:
Kodak 135, Black and White C41 process
Click to expand...

I'm sorry, but what film is this exactly? Kodak BW400CN perhaps?

I agree with the others that the defect looks like severely physical damage to the emulsion, possibly cause by the film being dragged across a small, pointed but not too sharp object. Because the defect shows as excess density I think the odds are that it happened prior to development. Maybe during loading the film into a development reel (if one was used).
 

lamerko

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Looks like physical damage from some kind of transport mechanism...
 

Sirius Glass

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Something is damaging the film as it moves through the camera.
 

Dustin McAmera

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...or maybe as it went through a minilab? Something caught in front of a roller maybe?
 

Kino

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What camera are you using?

Was it hard to rewind the film back into the canister?

Did you hear any unusual sounds when advancing the film?
 
OP
OP

millenial

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Hello all, I have an update.

It was the scanning from my local lab which caused this. I inspected the negatives and had the lab tech scan a few to double check, the second scans came out clean. They will rescan for me, i'm glad because I paid for the max resolution scanning.

Although I now know what caused this, my only possible conclusion for physical damage was a loose light seal which I noticed when I opened the back cover. The seal was "hanging" out of its track (top track). I replaced that seal myself and I believe I used the wrong ones because the ones I bought had a sticky back to them.

I appreciate all the help, now I know what a scanning issue looks like.

Thanks!
 
OP
OP

millenial

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Oh, and for the curious, this is the film I used. Also, no rewind issues and I am using a Nikomat FT2.

Didn't want to leave any questions hanging...
 

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Kino

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That is one of the most bizarre scanning defects I have ever seen...
 

MattKing

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Kino said:
That is one of the most bizarre scanning defects I have ever seen...
Click to expand...

I've got a couple that could compete ...
millenial said:
I appreciate all the help, now I know what a scanning issue looks like.
Click to expand...

For clarity, scanning issues can come in a variety of flavours. The repeated pattern of geometric shapes were a bit of a clue, because they make your issue look more "digital" than some.
 

Sirius Glass

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millenial said:
Oh, and for the curious, this is the film I used. Also, no rewind issues and I am using a Nikomat FT2.

Didn't want to leave any questions hanging...
Click to expand...

Another Photrio success story!
 

brbo

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Dennis S said:
Scanner issue from today. My new PIE PF XA+ but my old V700 is still running strong with no mistakes so machines do fail.
Click to expand...

Do you have ICE enabled when scanning traditional BW film?
 

albada

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Dennis S said:
Scanner issue from today. My new PIE PF XA+ but my old V700 is still running strong with no mistakes so machines do fail.
Click to expand...

I like that icicle-effect throughout the tree. If that's a scanning defect, hold onto that one!

Mark
 

Kino

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Dennis S said:
Scanner issue from today. My new PIE PF XA+ but my old V700 is still running strong with no mistakes so machines do fail.
Click to expand...

Are you running a lot of programs in the background when scanning? If so, you might try shutting everything down, restarting your computer and only opening the scanner interface to see if it improves.

Looks like a communication issue on the serial port...
 

koraks

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Kino said:
Looks like a communication issue on the serial port...
Click to expand...

Nah. USB would just throw an all-out hissy fit and crap out under those circumstances. In the old days of RS232 (but this was never used for scanners) or even P-ATA or SCSI, you might have seen something like this under the conditions you describe. But it's not a pattern that fits in USB given how the protocol is laid out.
 

Kino

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What OS are you running?

What scanner software are you using?

Have you made sure all "auto" anything is turned-off in the menus?
 

Dennis S

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albada said:
I like that icicle-effect throughout the tree. If that's a scanning defect, hold onto that one!

Mark
Click to expand...

Yes quite the effects on that scan with a bit of clean up.
 

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