Spots on negs from 270 Rodenstock closed down to F45

[billie williams]

hi all,

when we had an 18' surf a few weeks ago i pulled out the Rodenstock 270 for my 4x5 Technika III and headed for the beach. since i wanted to get up close, but also wanted a good dof, i shut it down to f45. the shots, while lacking the graphical elements that make a good image, do carry some of the wildness of the day. however, on each of the negs, in exactly the same place, there is one round light spot about 1/2" in diameter. i have attached a scan of one of the images here so you can see it. (the spot - now dark of course - is about 1/4 way down and almost in the center.) when i look at the glass itself, i don't see any weird spot or crap. and when i looked at the shots i had done last year at f5.6, there are no spots.

i was not facing into the sun. it was coming from over my left shoulder. i used my husband as a lens shade.

i believe that the glass is not coated.

i had no filter on.

so, i'm wondering if you have come across anything like that.

thank you for any help you may be able to provide. billie

[Brad Rippe]

Thats a strange one. Bad batch of film? Try making a few more exposures at various f-stops, maybe develop one with no exposure. Have you used this batch of film before? Its possible hair or dust was stuck inside the bellows, or somehow got attached to the lens temporarily and cast a shadow on the film?
-Brad

[billie williams]

hi brad, the film batch has been used since with no problems. i had not thought of an issue inside the bellows.

[ic-racer]

You don't mention how the film is processed. A drop of water on the film before it went in the developer or an air bell under the film if developed emulsion-side-down could cause that.

[billie williams]

i have a&i in hollywood develop the film. there were 4 negs from that shoot and they all have the evil spot. which is not to say that a&i is infallible, but they are probably less prone to error than me. lol! the film is fuji acros 100.

[Fred L]

schmutz on the lens ?

[billie williams]

fred, i sure hope that is what it was! beach schmutz. it was a windy cold morning. i'll do some film tests and hope the evil ghost spot disappears. i was just trying to make sure that it wasn't something about closing down the lens that far or reflection back from the water. btw, 'beach schmutz' will now be an integral part of my vocab. love that.

[J. Fada]

More than likely it was perhaps a drop of water, or something similar, on the front of the lens. I have had the same thing happen to me in the rain unfortunately. Sucks! You can't see it through the lens obviously, so these days, whenever I am near water, I always check the front of the lens. It is possible that there might be something inside the lens that could cause this as well. Time to get out the flashlight.

By the way those don't look like 18 footers to me. I spent a decade in SoCal surfing. They look more like ankle slappers!

[billie williams]

hi j. yea, well, they did not turn out to be 18', but they were well above the ankle. honest. really. :-)

i am so hoping it was water (or beach schmutz). sorry to hear (but relieved to know) that you've had that happen too.

[billie williams]

thanks for all the good input everybody! i appreciate it. i'm off to do film tests.