Odd marks on negatives. Any ideas?

FishyFish

FishyFish

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I shot a roll of expired Tri-X Pan recently and found that there were marks on a signigicant number of the frames when I scanned them. At first I thought they were drying marks but, upon closer inspection, they don't look like any drying marks I've encountered previously. I suspect it may be that the film itself has become degraded in some way, perhaps due to it's age, storage, or use. If you click the image it should take you to the Flickr version which can be zoomed in on to get a better look.

I've shot several rolls from this batch of film and this is the only one that has shown these markings. The white crescent at the left of the frame is where the negative got slightly kinked.

Any ideas as to what has caused them?


Marked by fishyfish_arcade, on Flickr
 
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Outside my experience. It looks like an out of focus hair, unlikely though that is.
 
dmb said:
Very odd wavy mark. Only seen anything like that on film that had been through x-ray scanners. Lines mentioned in Kodak link http://www.kodak.com/global/en/service/tib/tib5201.shtml
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Thanks David. I think the effect of X-ray scanners is much more regular in appearance. In this case the effect is different across frames, and isn't on every frame
StephenM said:
Outside my experience. It looks like an out of focus hair, unlikely though that is.
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It would have to be a very long hair, and one that had somehow survived my cutting the negatives. Also, I'm the only person who has come close to the negs and I'm bald. :D
 
the long u shaped one coming from the top defies logic as it is dark at the top portion against the light sky and light against the dark at the bottom.
Bubbles scratches debris and and kinks and stress marks during processing do not do that, they are either dark or light.

however as all the marks have the same spotty texture and made up of dark and light spots. it is probably a degradation of the emulsion by fungus.
Though that usually take the form of random lines radiation outward from points on the surface of the emulsion side of the film. These look more like the edge contact traces where two surfaces have touched, .probably when the film was in storage.

In the maximum enlarged version the whole grain structure looks rather odd, with over all striations and clumped grain structure. the whole emulsion looks degraded.
 
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There's only one logical explanation here - it's Casper. :coat:
 
The oval mark is too regular to be hair (or not depending on how you look at it)

Was this picture taken through a window?
 
Looks like fluid to me.
 
Terrywoodenpic said:
the long u shaped one coming from the top defies logic as it is dark at the top portion against the light sky and light against the dark at the bottom.
Bubbles scratches debris and and kinks and stress marks during processing do not do that, they are either dark or light.

however as all the marks have the same spotty texture and made up of dark and light spots. it is probably a degradation of the emulsion by fungus.
Though that usually take the form of random lines radiation outward from points on the surface of the emulsion side of the film. These look more like the edge contact traces where two surfaces have touched, .probably when the film was in storage.

In the maximum enlarged version the whole grain structure looks rather odd, with over all striations and clumped grain structure. the whole emulsion looks degraded.
Click to expand...
Degredation is my thought too. The roll of film expired around 2003, so it's not out of the question. My other thought was that I didn't allow the film to reach ambient temperature before removing it from its sealed container after taking it out of the freezer, but that is pure speculation and I've no idea if the formation of condensation could affect the roll like this.

soupdragon said:
The oval mark is too regular to be hair (or not depending on how you look at it)

Was this picture taken through a window?
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No, it was outside. It appears to greater or lesser extent on multiple frames taken on different days in different locations across the full length of the film.
 
FishyFish said:
Degredation is my thought too. The roll of film expired around 2003, so it's not out of the question. My other thought was that I didn't allow the film to reach ambient temperature before removing it from its sealed container after taking it out of the freezer, but that is pure speculation and I've no idea if the formation of condensation could affect the roll like this.


No, it was outside. It appears to greater or lesser extent on multiple frames taken on different days in different locations across the full length of the film.
Click to expand...
Condensation could easily be the main problem. it could have been a reaction and partial sticking between the damp film and the backing paper.
 
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