Vertical brown stain developed negs

srichards

srichards

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Suz
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I've just got back my negs from AG. They're free from dust but again there are weird vertical brown lines down a few of them. Is that anything related to using out of date film or is it a development issue? Or is it something wrong with the camera?

All the marks are exactly the same distance from the frame edge...



Royal fail has managed to mangle them too and crushed them in such a way there are pinholes in a couple of frames. The plastic negative holders are cracked and slighly ripped in places. Considering they were in a cardboard envelope with a bubble wrap envelope inside they've done a good job ruining them. Must have taken some effort :bang:
 
That's rotten, Suz. Probably can't do anything about the post, but it's possible that AG will re-wash the film, or something. I'd contact them; they've been helpful when I have.

I just wish they were faster!
 
ChrisR said:
That's rotten, Suz. Probably can't do anything about the post, but it's possible that AG will re-wash the film, or something. I'd contact them; they've been helpful when I have. I just wish they were faster!
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I'll email them and mention Royal mail's mangling efforts too. If it's just rewashing I may be able to do that at home as I've got distilled water knocking about somewhere. It's only the odd edge frame so I can probably just dunk that bit :)
 
i would think the line is a bit too even to be a dev problem ,,how have other films through the camera been ?
 
I haven't had the camera long (few months). This is the worry. It's about the 3rd film through. One other from AG had one frame with a pale brown stain. Very pale. This one is more pronounced. That was from the dynax but I think I had the 7000 developed elsewhere and that was ok (more scratched) but no stains.

What would cause the issue if it were the camera at fault?

Even more worrying thought is could it be my scanner??

I emailed AG and they responded straight away to apologise for Royal Fail's film handling and said they'd look into the brown stain issue.

I'm wracking my brains wondering what could cause random brown stains on only a few frames. I'd expect a camera issue to have problems on every frame not just the odd one. Brown is the wrong colour too. I'd expect either a white ish tint for over exposure or a black ish tint for under. Brown streak is just wrong on so many levels!
 
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donutagain said:
i would think the line is a bit too even to be a dev problem ,,how have other films through the camera been ?
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I thought the opposite - if it's a commercial C-41 machine, a stain in the same place makes a lot of sense.
 
Its on 2 frames in the same place. Beginning of roll and half way through. Weirdly I can see the same issue on the other roll in the same place. Hoping the weather improves so I can do a quick test roll this weekend. Warranty on camera runs out in a couple of weeks so I need to make sure its not that.

Checked other rolls from other cameras and other developers and they don't have brown mark, just lots of water stains and scratches instead! AG definitely produce the cleanest negs.
 
if it's exactly the same distance from the edge it's camera or scanner surely?
 
Alan Clogwyn said:
if it's exactly the same distance from the edge it's camera or scanner surely?
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My name's not Shirley ;)

Can't be the scanner as the issue doesn't show up on any rolls or any other slides I've scanned. I've done several hundred frames this year. I can't think what would cause that either. It's an analogue looking stain. It's only shown up on 3 frames out of 70 odd all from the dynax and all devved at AG. I can rescan the frames with the other scanner to definitely exclude it perhaps.

What could go wrong in a camera to cause a brown stain on 1 or 2 frames per roll? It makes more sense that' it's either the developing process at fault or handling of the negatives afterwards. I have a vague memory that when I did black and white developing at uni we were warned about brown stains but I cannot for the life of me remember what the cause of them was.
 
When I found a local shop who said "he would dev some 120 film for me in his Konica machine"...well after a few times, he told me he couldn't continue doing this as he normally dev 35mm and to do 120 has to cleaners the rollers (or whatever) and it was too much hassle.....so maybe it's your problem when using one machine to do 35mm and 120...of course if the lab is not using a machine then it can't be that.
 
I think the lab uses machines for all of it. I've only ever sent in single rolls so I wonder if they do single rolls on one machine and multiples on another and that's why others don't see the issue?

I don't think the issue is noticeable unless you scan the frame as you just can't see it when you check them normally. The line is thin on the scan so on the actual neg it must be minuscule!
 
srichards said:
The line is thin on the scan so on the actual neg it must be minuscule!
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So far all posts suggest you've seen the line on the neg, except this one.

have you seen it ?, you might need a loupe.

If you have then I'm going with a machine processing fault.
To explain the random frames it appears on, it could be that the transport of the film stopped on one or more occasions leaving the odd frame resting on a mucky roller or something long enough to either mark it or contaminate it and to prevent correct development.

If the line isn't on the neg, gotta start with the scanner..:)
 
I don't get it. Re-scanned that bird frame and no brown stain. I don't understand why it would only be on the AG rolls and on none of the others! I've scanned hundreds of frames this year. None except the AG ones have issues and now they aren't doing it either. I just don't get how a scanner could leave a brown dribble on the scan one minute and work perfectly the next.

Completely confused now.
 
Could be a bit of dirt in the calibration area? On my V500, getting dust in it shows up as pink streaks across the frames.
 
I peered through the door with a torch and there is crud on the bottom of the film holder path and a few bits of dust. That can't help.

I don't know who to send it to as it is delicate equipment and there are far too many ham fisted cretins masquerading as repairers.
 
Oh, I thought it was visible on the negatives!

"I've just got back my negs from AG. They're free from dust but again there are weird vertical brown lines down a few of them."

Scanning defects like that happen all the time. Cleaning the calibration area always works for me, although it is a bit of an annoyance - especially after a long scan.
 
freecom2 said:
Oh, I thought it was visible on the negatives!

"I've just got back my negs from AG. They're free from dust but again there are weird vertical brown lines down a few of them."

Scanning defects like that happen all the time. Cleaning the calibration area always works for me, although it is a bit of an annoyance - especially after a long scan.
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The line was too thin to be visible anyway without magnification. I don't have a loupe so I couldn't check that way. Penny might have dropped otherwise. I did take that strip out and re preview and it was the same which is why I assumed it was the dev and not the scanner. It's the first time I've actually had an issue hence the sudden panic. Normally I get the odd hair on there or an obvious dust speck so the infrared clean deals with it. I've never had a brown dribble mark before owning the dynax or using AG.

Found somewhere local that might be ok for cleaning it. Just got to see. It did make a weird werrrppp noise too so I think it needs a pro to give it some attention now.
 
Do you know someone nearby with a scanner to scan the neg...if no problem then your scanner has a fault.
 
excalibur2 said:
Do you know someone nearby with a scanner to scan the neg...if no problem then your scanner has a fault.
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It's not done it on a repeat scan with the same scanner. I can try the canon flatbed I have as that does negs as well.

I've also updated vuescan just in case.

If it ever stops raining I'm going to do a quick test roll and get it devved and scanned at the same time somewhere else to exclude the camera and my scanner and AG.
 
Suz, if it isn't on the neg, (and that's the easiest thing of all to check), it ain't AG, it ain't the film and ain't the camera.

If you send out another roll and it comes back clean, it hasn't told you anything you don't already know.
 
^^^ exactly. Seems an unnecessary faff when it's relatively easy to exclude certain things. Don't have a loupe? Use a lens - a 50mm works just fine, and just be careful not to damage the front/rear elements.
 
I have ordered a loupe as I think it would be sensible to have one knocking around anyway.

I've updated vuescan to another version on the off chance it could be that as I've had a few issues with stupid behaviour with it.

It's a disaster as there is literally nowhere in the UK that deals with them any more and the only scanner that is as good is at least a grand (Nikon Coolscan) even second hand.
 
joxby said:
As good as what ? I'm only seeing a Canon flatbed mentioned..
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I mean as a permanent replacement if dedicated scanner is buggered. Canon flatbed is pants in comparison to the Minolta I've got the issue with.

On the upside I changed version of vuescan and scanned several strips and brown mark hasn't manifested on any frames :)
 
I still don't know which scanner it is, but surely if you turn the negative round so that a different part is presented to the suspect scanner area, you can see if the fault is transferred to the other edge of the image?
 
I don't know if this suggestion will help you, as I'm not sure what model Minolta you have, so feel free to ignore it if it's not relevant.

I have a Minolta Scan Dual II that I bought cheaply secondhand which had a thin magenta stripe running the length of the frame, parallel to the long side. I initially attributed this to a hot/dead pixel in the sensor. I read on a forum (can't remember where) that it might be dust and that turning the scanner on its side and running it like that for a couple of strips might clear it. It did make the stripe go away and when turned back to the correct operating position, it's still OK.

I realise that it's only shifted the dust around inside but it has had a real beneficial effect.
 
Its a Minolta 5400ii scan elite. It won't repeat the fault now. I'll have to wait until it does it again and try flipping the negs over. I'm fairly certain when it appeared before it was still there after a repeat preview which is what made me assume it must have been the negs. I'll have to be more thorough next time :)

My stripe is running parallel to the short side.

Good idea about turning it into a different orientation to encourage dust to move out of the way :)
 
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