What's wrong with my Portra 160 ?

[Simplicius]

Hi

What is this dapple effect ?

Two rolls of Portra 160 in 120, shot of different days, different cameras ( Hasselblad & Agfa Isolette) On a tripod so exposure might be long in both cases. Lots of Portra 400 in 120 shot in same period, all came back from the same lab perfect. The lab is highly professional, Carmencita Film Labs in Valencia.

All shots had lens hoods and Circular polarisers ( B+W and a Nikon CPL) . Both cameras and their glass are without any flaws and both back from a recent full CLA.

Agfa Isolette III , Solinar F3.5 , - look at hulls of boats



And the Hasselblad with 100mm f/3.5 Planar T : look at blue parts of sky



Any advice what I did wrong?

 

[pentaxuser]

I see what I think you are referring to in the nearest hull but unless you had drawn my attention to it I'd have assumed it was a reflection from the light on the water on the hull and would not have seen this as a defect. I still think it may be the case

Whats the problem with the sky in the second pic?

pentaxuser

 

[Lachlan Young]

It might be a scanning artefact or it might be excessive humidity/ dampness causing the film to stick to the backing paper. This can happen with any 120 film that has been improperly stored or handled, despite what the anti-Kodak whine brigade would have you believe. Did you refrigerate or freeze the film at any time?

 

[Prest_400]

I've had some of this showing on Portra 400 and Ektar, most possibly it is:

It might be a scanning artefact or it might be excessive humidity/ dampness causing the film to stick to the backing paper. This can happen with any 120 film that has been improperly stored or handled, despite what the anti-Kodak whine brigade would have you believe. Did you refrigerate or freeze the film at any time?

In my case I could be leaving the film in camera for a couple months, although prior exposure I tend to store frozen or refrigerated. And after exposure I could have it around for a month or so, best refrigerated...
My case was less noticeable. In a frame it showed prominently but looking at the negative seemed like it was fine. It could be an aggregate of both issues...

 

[Simplicius]

It might be a scanning artefact or it might be excessive humidity/ dampness causing the film to stick to the backing paper. This can happen with any 120 film that has been improperly stored or handled, despite what the anti-Kodak whine brigade would have you believe. Did you refrigerate or freeze the film at any time?

Film is bought fresh and stored in a domestic fridge in plastic boxes with silica gel packs. Been banging my head against the wall, only thing i can think of is these are two old expired rolls that somehow got lost and rediscovered at bottom of a bag then to be used.

 

[MattKing]

Can you re-scan the negatives in the opposite direction to check whether the mottling changes/moves? If it changes/moves, it is a scanning artifact.
Can you look at the negatives under high magnification to see if you can see the mottling?

 

[bestbefore1978]

It looks a bit like the effect of air bubbles or excessive foam in the C41 developer if done in a Jobo or on spiral reels.

 

[Lachlan Young]

Film is bought fresh and stored in a domestic fridge in plastic boxes with silica gel packs. Been banging my head against the wall, only thing i can think of is these are two old expired rolls that somehow got lost and rediscovered at bottom of a bag then to be used.

Likely to be humidity damage - possibly from how long the film was left to rise to room temperature & the environment that happened in. Honestly, unless ambient temperatures are wildly excessive or you are trying to store films for prolonged periods (ie years - in which case carefully controlled freezing is going to be better), I'd suggest that poorly monitored refrigeration is likely to cause more problems than it might prevent.

Edit: should add that this is for in-date film, used & processed within sensible (couple of months) timelines.

 

[Theo Sulphate]

I'm using Portra 160 NC from 10 to 15 years ago and don't see this problem. Mine's refrigerated, take it out, load it the next day, use it for a week in average weather (68F - 20C). 45% humidity. No problems.

Pro-oriented photo stores (such as Pro Photo Supply in Portland, Ore.) always keep their film refrigerated. I don't think this is a refrigeration issue.

But I agree that some extreme environmental issue could cause this.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I'm using Portra 160 NC from 10 to 15 years ago and don't see this problem. Mine's refrigerated, take it out, load it the next day, use it for a week in average weather (68F - 20C). 45% humidity. No problems.

Pro-oriented photo stores (such as Pro Photo Supply in Portland, Ore.) always keep their film refrigerated. I don't think this is a refrigeration issue.

But I agree that some extreme environmental issue could cause this.

I have similar experience, but I freeze my unopened film and refrigerate opened film in ZipLok bags. Never had a problem in decades. Film stores and Kodak store film in refrigerators.