Two Questions: Pinholes? Shiny Dark Slides?

**Todd Caudle** · 30-Nov-2001, 23:03

1. What causes tiny, clear pinholes in transparency film? I figure if it was a d ust speck, it would be black. (I've had plenty of those over time!) Is it a defe ct in the film from the manufacturer? Something in the processing?

2. I bought a few used film holders, a couple of which have incredibly shiny dar kslides. The new ones I've bought have a dull finish, suggesting the shiny ones were discontinued for a reason. Is there an inherent problem with these that I s hould be aware/wary of?

**pat krentz** · 1-Dec-2001, 04:36

I have several glossy black darkslides which have never given me a problem, if the slide fits the holder and the light trap is snug, there is no reason for problems, whether shiny or flat. Pat

**Paul Schilliger** · 1-Dec-2001, 07:40

Todd, I would swap processing service for a while, to see if this remains. Other source could be a bad film batch, but I have never seen this. I don't think you should have any problem wit h shiny darkslides. Some rollfilm backs come with polished stainless steel slides!

**Peter Popp** · 1-Dec-2001, 12:24

What causes tiny, clear pinholes in transparency film? One word - Kodak. But I 've only seen it in 35 mm film. I stopped using E100VS because of this problem. Had some otherwise great shots ru ined. I've never seen it in Fuji Provia or Velvia. What specific film are you having trouble with?

**Stuart Whatling** · 1-Dec-2001, 18:05

Have you been packing the exposed/undeveloped sheets into a box too tight? On a recent trip to Syria I did precisely that. In order to save space I was putting about 80 sheets of exposed velvia into 50- sheet boxes. I must have got some minute particles of grit in there too (well it was in the desert) as a few sheets have little pinholes where the emulsion got scratched off. The give-away is that under a strong magnifier some of them have faint lines scratched randomly around the 'pinhole' - a bit like one of those diagrams of Brownian motion you see in physics books. Must be where the film was rattling around inside my rucksack. If anyone has suggestions for how to avoid this I'd love to hear them.

Provided you don't have any light-leaks around the seals, shiny shouldn't matter. Probably don't look as 'cool' though!

**Todd Caudle** · 6-Dec-2001, 15:19

Thanks everyone. Would've responded sooner, if not for beoing without Internet access since Friday. (Yep, I was an @home subscriber) The grit-in-the-filmbox thing sounds plausible, and I'm now not worried about shiny darkslides.