Film Holders Scratching my Negs (?)

[Jac@stafford.net]

I agree that N Dhananjay might be onto the cause. I have experienced film from most of a pack that had nearly identical artifacts that only a machine could cause so consistently. As Cor asked, please share with us the brand. I have never had mechanical issues from the big manufacturers.

[Kirks518]

What brand of film did you use ?

best,

Cor

It'll be interesting to k now which film, as the "bad batch" theory never really flies with the likes of Ilford/Fuji/Foma/Kodak - if there really was a "bad batch" produced, there would be a chorus of complaints all over LFPF (and APUG) because the user base is small and vocal and the "batches" proportionately rather large.

I agree that N Dhananjay might be onto the cause. I have experienced film from most of a pack that had nearly identical artifacts that only a machine could cause so consistently. As Cor asked, please share with us the brand. I have never had mechanical issues from the big manufacturers.

The film is old Kodak Super-XX, expired in the 70's, so who knows.

I doubt the film holders have anything to do with the abrasions. If the film holders were at fault I would expect the abrasion to be straight and in line with the direction the film is loaded and unloaded.

Maybe the damage is happening during the "taco" processing. It looks like the abrasions happen while the film is wet.

This is a possibility, as the rubber bands are pretty much in the location of the abrasions, but I think* I had them show up when I processed in my F-R Sheet Film Tank.

Now I'm starting to think it may be something to do with the rubber bands reacting to the developer/fixer (D-76 stock & Ilford Rapid Fix). I have two sheets left to develop. Maybe I'll do the taco method, one with a rubber band, one with a cotton hair band (as shown in most tutorials), and see if that is the cause. Funny, in many threads talking about the taco method, they mention rubber bands without ill effects.

[Kirks518]

Some more reading lead me to this: http://www.apug.org/forums/viewpost.php?p=1953704326 which specifically states that rubber bands will leave a stripe on the base side, so there we have it!

[Kevin Harding]

Some more reading lead me to this: http://www.apug.org/forums/viewpost.php?p=1953704326 which specifically states that rubber bands will leave a stripe on the base side, so there we have it!

But that stripe is often either some of the anti-halation dye or improperly fixed areas, not an abrasion, in my experience, which is why an additional soak in fix will often correct the issue.

[N Dhananjay]

I'd say you have too many variables here. It is possible that the old expired film has a very sensitive base and the rubber bands are doing something, or maybe some weird aging has happened to the film emulsion base - who knows? I would start with the following tests. 1) Develop 1 unexposed sheet in tray by rocking and then see if the problem is there - that will tell you if the developing technique with rubber bands matters. 2) Buy a box of new film from a reputed supplier and develop with your existing technique and see if the rubber bands causes a problem here. The combination of results will give you the following interpretations.
1 - yes and 2 - no: the film is at fault
1 - yes and 2 - yes: the old, fragile film is at fault but the rubber band is probably not helping and probably exacerbating things
1 - no and 2 - no: the film and your developing technique are fine. It's something else - gremlins, karma, who knows??? But we will need to come up with some new theories.
1 - no and 2 - yes: the rubber band is definitely at fault.

Good luck. DJ

[John Bowen]

The REAL problem, as I see it, is a newbie shooting Super XX. Just put the film up for sale on ebay and buy yourself a Ferrari with the proceeds.
Good luck with your film scratches. I know it took me a while to get the hang of developing 8x10 and 7x17 sheets in trays. Quite a few scratched negatives (in the emulsion, no less) when I started.