I keep having this "line" on my shots

[afxstudio]

I have no idea which section this fits into, so forgive me if this shouldn't be here. I have no idea what causes this problem.
Basically on all my shots I keep seeing this vertical line, looks like a light leak, near the left edge of the frame. See below.

https://i1.yapics.com/06/04/1204E1w006.jpg

Here a close up:
https://i4.yapics.com/06/04/4204T1sX06.jpg

This thing keeps popping up in all my pictures, both negatives and positives.
Do you have any clue about the origin of this?
I apply all the best practices when shooting, e.g. I keep my dark cloth on all the time, I double check the film holder doesn't stay under direct sunlight, I keep the holder steady when removing the dark slide and so on.
I can't tell if it's the camera, the holder (all of them? sounds unlikely) or the lab. If I'm not mistaken, I don't get this when home developing black and white, but I should check better to be sure.
Sometimes it's more visible than this. This one may not be the best example since the shot is slightly overexposed.

Thanks for any insight.
Max

[Larry Gebhardt]

My guess is something reflective on the frame of the camera bouncing the light from the extra image circle. Look inside from the front shining a flashlight at the edges of the film area.

[chacabuco]

Are you scanning these yourself? Can you see the line in the negatives or only in the scans? Could be dust on the light source

[afxstudio]

My guess is something reflective on the frame of the camera bouncing the light from the extra image circle. Look inside from the front shining a flashlight at the edges of the film area.
I'll perform the test tonight, even though I can't think of anything reflecting light. That part of the film is placed near the dark slide handle.

Are you scanning these yourself? Can you see the line in the negatives or only in the scans? Could be dust on the light source
I can see the line in the negatives, so it's definitely not the scan. It may not be that much visible on the film itself, but it's definitely there. The scan just magnifies it.

[NER]

I have seen this before. It occurs opposite the notch code on the edge of the film just beyond where the flap of the holder meets the film. I believe the line is caused by light reflecting off the edge of the flap onto the film & the difficulty can be minimized by lightly sanding the edges of the flap with a fine grit paper to reduce the reflection (i.e., this solution has worked for me). The line in the negative is not a problem in projection enlarging if your negative carrier covers the line - and in that case the line can be ignored; however, if your easel blades do not adequately cover the edges of the projected image affected in this way, the same problem of reflections off the edge of the carrier can be seen in the resulting print (only it's worse because the edges are larger so the lines are wider and the reflections are doubled because you have two surfaces in contact with the negative - one above and one below). Of course you will also see the line in the negative and all of these then need to be trimmed away in the finishing. That has been my experience.

To "Chacabuco" (Rob Stephenson) - I took a look at your website. Your work is truly remarkable ... some of the best I have ever seen. Thoughtful and well-executed, instructive to say the least.

N. Riley
http://normanrileyphotography.com

EDIT: Actually, I have that backwards. In your case the line is opposite the notch code, so if you are loading your film in the traditional way, i.e., so that the notch code is on the same side as the flap, the reflection is from the felt end of holder. The edge of the holder on that end is the one you should consider treating to minimize the reflection generating this line.

[Doremus Scudder]

I have seen this before. It occurs opposite the notch code on the edge of the film just beyond where the flap of the holder meets the film. I believe the line is caused by light reflecting off the edge of the flap onto the film & the difficulty can be minimized by lightly sanding the edges of the flap with a fine grit paper to reduce the reflection (i.e., this solution has worked for me). ...
N. Riley


+1 I've sanded the edges on many holders to fix this problem.

Doremus

[Bob Salomon]

Take an empty holder, pull out the dark slide until the image area is fully visible. Take a fine line permanent marker and draw a line on the dark slide. Now when you shoot only pull that dark slide out till you see your line.

[Andrew O'Neill]

Take an empty holder, pull out the dark slide until the image area is fully visible. Take a fine line permanent marker and draw a line on the dark slide. Now when you shoot only pull that dark slide out till you see your line.

Clever! Thank you.

[chacabuco]

Thanks so much Norman! Really nice of you to say and glad I got the opportunity to check out your site too. Fantastic work!


I have seen this before. It occurs opposite the notch code on the edge of the film just beyond where the flap of the holder meets the film. I believe the line is caused by light reflecting off the edge of the flap onto the film & the difficulty can be minimized by lightly sanding the edges of the flap with a fine grit paper to reduce the reflection (i.e., this solution has worked for me). The line in the negative is not a problem in projection enlarging if your negative carrier covers the line - and in that case the line can be ignored; however, if your easel blades do not adequately cover the edges of the projected image affected in this way, the same problem of reflections off the edge of the carrier can be seen in the resulting print (only it's worse because the edges are larger so the lines are wider and the reflections are doubled because you have two surfaces in contact with the negative - one above and one below). Of course you will also see the line in the negative and all of these then need to be trimmed away in the finishing. That has been my experience.

To "Chacabuco" (Rob Stephenson) - I took a look at your website. Your work is truly remarkable ... some of the best I have ever seen. Thoughtful and well-executed, instructive to say the least.

N. Riley
http://normanrileyphotography.com

EDIT: Actually, I have that backwards. In your case the line is opposite the notch code, so if you are loading your film in the traditional way, i.e., so that the notch code is on the same side as the flap, the reflection is from the felt end of holder. The edge of the holder on that end is the one you should consider treating to minimize the reflection generating this line.

[esearing]

In the image above the line I see is on the left side opposite the notch which would be at the bottom of the holder. So are y'all saying the bottom flap is reflective on its edges? And if so is that indicative of a certain brand of holders (shiny plastic ones vs wood vs bakelite) ? How would pulling out the slide part way have any impact?

[afxstudio]

Take an empty holder, pull out the dark slide until the image area is fully visible. Take a fine line permanent marker and draw a line on the dark slide. Now when you shoot only pull that dark slide out till you see your line.

That's an option I'm adopting right now, even though a little cumbersome when operating under the dark cloth all the time. The dark cloth tends to put pressure on the dark slide and drag it down.
Also, after taking the exposure, I still have to pull it all out and put it back inside with sides inverted (white-black labels).


I have seen this before. It occurs opposite the notch code on the edge of the film just beyond where the flap of the holder meets the film. I believe the line is caused by light reflecting off the edge of the flap onto the film & the difficulty can be minimized by lightly sanding the edges of the flap with a fine grit paper to reduce the reflection (i.e., this solution has worked for me). The line in the negative is not a problem in projection enlarging if your negative carrier covers the line - and in that case the line can be ignored; however, if your easel blades do not adequately cover the edges of the projected image affected in this way, the same problem of reflections off the edge of the carrier can be seen in the resulting print (only it's worse because the edges are larger so the lines are wider and the reflections are doubled because you have two surfaces in contact with the negative - one above and one below). Of course you will also see the line in the negative and all of these then need to be trimmed away in the finishing. That has been my experience.
EDIT: Actually, I have that backwards. In your case the line is opposite the notch code, so if you are loading your film in the traditional way, i.e., so that the notch code is on the same side as the flap, the reflection is from the felt end of holder. The edge of the holder on that end is the one you should consider treating to minimize the reflection generating this line.

Thanks, I'll try to sand the edges, although the reflection occurs on the opposite side of the flaps, as you realized in your edit.
I load my film with the notch code on the flaps' side.


In the image above the line I see is on the left side opposite the notch which would be at the bottom of the holder. So are y'all saying the bottom flap is reflective on its edges? And if so is that indicative of a certain brand of holders (shiny plastic ones vs wood vs bakelite) ? How would pulling out the slide part way have any impact?

That's what I'm going to figure out. So far I tested it with 4 black and white negatives and there is no sign of that line, but as I said for some reason I never really got that problem with negative B/W films, just color (both negative and reversal).