Blue cast to transparencies

[Mike Mahoney]

I'm getting a fairly pronounced blue cast on the majority of shots taken with a Schneider 90 F8 SA. I thought it may be the film, Fuji RDP 111, but the color ca st also appears with Agfa RSX 2. I've tried various amounts of over/under exposu re but the cast persists. I can take it out in PS, but would rather have a good original - anyone offer suggestions? This color appears in both shade and sun sh ots, so it's not the blue cast associated with open shade shots. I'm going to tr y an 81b filter tomorrow to see if that helps, but I'm wondering if anyone else has had the same experience?

[Steve Singleton]

It would seem that processing flaws would be a more likely cause than your lens. Are you using a trusted lab and have you consulted the lab manager?

[Mike Mahoney]

Thanks, Steve, I have had the same problem at two different processors.

[Jacque Staskon]

So... is it a blue..blue or a cyan blue? It could still be processing, even though you have tried two labs with the same results. Have you evaluated your transparencies with a color checker? Or are you looking at them with a less than optimal light table and lupe? Have you made prints from these transparencies, if so what were the prints like?

[Mike Mahoney]

Jacque - it's more of a cyan blue, and I don't have a color checker exactly, but I can get color info from Photoshop. I've been using the same daylight balanced Logan PortaView box for years, and the problem is not there - other transparencies on this same box are fine. I haven't made any prints, and printing is not really a concern, as most of my final output is a digital file. I've tried a warming filter today, and that will help, as the blue trannies look much better on the table when seen thru the 81b, but still the cast should not be there. Incorrect processing is probably the culprit, but I've tried two different processors with the same results, and we have no other 4X5 E6 processors close to me at all - in fact the second processor is in another province, and has a national reputation for high quality work. The mystery continues ......

[Steve Singleton]

On one occasion, I loaded one sheet of film backward in the holder, so the anti-halation backing produced a color cast on the developed film (actually the mis-loaded film was more pleasing under the dusk conditions I was shooting in). If loading is clearly not a factor, are you using more than one lens and getting only faulty results with the 90? If so, I'd agree it must be the lens. If not, I would see if someone else could expose the other side of the same holder with another camera. That should quickly establish whether it is the film or lens.

[Jim Galli]

A couple of ideas.

Talk to the processor folks. Blue cast is often caused by too low a PH in the first developer/ or the color developer. Ask them if they've made any recent changes that would lead to this ie. switched to different companies chems or whatever. Ask them if their ph meter is calibrated.

Second, is the stuff that's going blue shot at the same altitude as the "normal". Up around 5500 ft and you would need a 81A to compensate for the increase in ultraviolet in that atmosphere. Somewhere around 8500 ft and you would need an 81B to get you back to 5500 degrees color temperature.

[john g]

Sounds like your labs are running the film through faster and rasing the temp. to compensate to save time and not replenishing their chemicals on time to cut costs. I have even been to Kodak Q labs {the best of the best suposedly} that do this. Just keep testing labs to find the best one. Here is a sugestion expose 5-10 sheets of film at the same exposure of the same seen and send one each to 5-10 labs. You will be suprised at the difference.

[kthompson]

There about a dozen things or more that could cause chrome films to run blue in E6...the pH of the color developer is one, but in my experience (not dip & dunk, but a Wing Lynch) Ektachrome will go blue if the color developer is acidic, and Fujichrome will drift to a magenta/red cast. If it's too alkaline, the opposite happens...Fujichrome goes a sorta green/cyan and Ektachrome runs yellow. On the lab side, you can still be within +/- 10 pts. and be "in control" in the real world....if it is the processing, your best bet would be to use cc filters to tune your film to their process, or to just find another lab that's a better match. Because, even a Q lab could be a bad fit...

[Aaron Francis]

All the suggestions are valid however, the problem could be simpler, ive never used a Schneider camera before, however could it be possible that it is a very subtle light leak in the back? Could there be reflections inside your lens barrell? It might be an idea to take the camera to a technician and run these possibilities by him. Good Luck