Who Goofed? Me or the Lab? (cross-posted)

[Shilesh Jani]

I got back 5 sheets of Provia from the lab yesterday and found the first sheet severely underexposed and the resk OK. So my thought was, ah well, I undereposed. Then I realized that BEFORE shooting the interior scene I had exposed it on Polaroid P/N 55 at the same 100 ISO to check for composition and focus. The P/N postive was just fine. So what could go wrong between changing the film holder and reshooting the same scene.

On closer look, the underexposed chrome is overall RED in color. Now I have often made exposure mistakes, but I have never seen a red cast on underexposed chromes.

Any thoughts?

Best Regards.

[Brian Kennedy]

I'd be interested to hear what others have to say about this, too. I've read (when I was thinking about processing my own E6) that you get a red cast when you bleach improperly. Is that what happened here? Do the resulting chromes look dark, too?

[Richard Fenner]

This has come up a few times - a quick search in the top right box on 'red cast' produced a few results, including in the FAQ pages:

"Once you have shot your film backwards, it will appear underexposed by 2 or 4 stops, and if you are shooting color it will have a predominant red color cast because it has been filtered by the base."

[MIke Sherck]

Once you have shot your film backwards, it will appear underexposed by 2 or 4 stops, and if you are shooting color it will have a predominant red color cast because it has been filtered by the base.

Sounds like my first six large format exposures! Ah, those were the days: mistakes that were easily corrected...

[Shilesh Jani]

Thank You!

I am glad, because my confidence in the lab I use (the ONLY one in Memphis who do LF chromes) has remained intact.

[Jon Shiu]

So, did the image come out backwards/reversed?

[Jim Ewins]

Polaroid 55 has an ASA of 50. Only one stop off the 100 stated. Jim

[Shilesh Jani]

Well, the image is dark. But sure enough, it is left/right reveresed.