why do only the best negs have scratches, developing issues, or dust?

[eddie]

ARRRGGGGGGHHHHH! WHY ME?!?!? WHAT HAVE I DONE?

sorry for the yelling!

i am so frustrated! it seems that only my very best negs all have some issues. they seem to have scratches, dust, developing problems, pinholes, light leaks etc etc! most of it is my fault i am sure. i just want o know how i always seem to ruin the best ones....i mean if i have one out of 10 great negs i ruin that one good one! i have 9 possible less than perfect ones to ruin and i ruin the best....every time! if you tink about it that is a pretty good statistic! 100% of the good negs get ruined and NONE of the rest! can anyone else say that?

tonight i just souped up about 16 negs of 8x10. 8 at a time in trays. one pile kind of got away from me going from the dev. to the stop. i manages to scratch the best neg out of the batch. i shot 3 sheets of the scene....this one had the best lighting (landscape from the sawtooth mountains) with awesome clouds! the other two were less than ideal! i will post them for fun when they dry.

thanks for listening and sharing my pain.....i feel better already!

eddie

[Michael Graves]

I never have pinholes, scratches or dust specks on my best negatives.


Perhaps if I ever got any good negatives......

[jb7]

ARRRGGGGGGHHHHH! WHY ME?!?!? WHAT HAVE I DONE?

8 at a time in trays.

I wonder if there's a clue in your post?

I'm not far off exposing and developing my first 8x10's
(so I have zero experience)
but I think 8 might be tempting fate...

j

[eddie]

I wonder if there's a clue in your post?

I'm not far off exposing and developing my first 8x10's
(so I have zero experience)
but I think 8 might be tempting fate...

j

maybe...but i seem to have similar problems in a jobo tank or my daylight tank for 4x5. even when i do a few at a time you can bet that the good ones get "it" oh! and when i am loading the 120 reels only the best roll rolls on badly......sometimes i scratch the 4x5 taking them out of the holders, sometimes they may get damaged in the box when i transport them.

if the negs are ho-hum they all come out perfect....no issues at all! a perfe4ct neg that is plagued by bad lighting or a boring sky etc etc.

keep us posted on how your 8x10 negs go. good luck. it is fun.....most of the time:)

eddie

[jb7]

keep us posted on how your 8x10 negs go. good luck. it is fun.....most of the time:)

eddie


Thanks Eddie-
will do-

just need to get my bellows sorted-

Shooting film without them might lead to something worse than scratches...

j

[Toyon]

I get a lot of problems on my crappy negatives. Sounds like you are not shooting enough bad negatives.

More realistically, always shoot two of everything. One of could be problem free.

[Blueberrydesk]

Eddie, you're not alone. On a trip up 395 from Lone Pine, I stopped at Mono Lake to use up my last 3 sheets of 8x10. Two of the negs came out perfect. Those were the ones with so-so lighting and composition. The shot with the glorious 'godlight' streaming down out of the dramatic clouds, shining down on the Sierra in the background and tufas reaching up towards the heavens has a 6 inch long, 1/8th inch wide scratch running right through the middle of the neg. Must have been a piece of sand caught in the light trap that got shoved along the neg when replacing the darkslide.

I cried a little, I admit. So, I feel your pain.

[Turner Reich]

Ansel Adams once said that he takes two identical exposures of each subject to insure against processing problems. That said it was reported that he had a lot of crummy exposures and printings. Sure the one shot Moonrise is there but in all actuality he had a lot of failure. It would seem that an over abundance of work is the only cure for the disasters that happen. It's such a complex process that it's amazing any good work is put out.

[splanken]

Misery loves company....

I storm came through San Diego last week and during clearing, some fantastic clouds were flowing over my local canyon. I shot 5 on 4x5 FP4. Developed them last night...
As the conditions were tricky, I developed my first "OK" negs - looked good. Took the best final special one out of the carrier then dropped it on the garage floor. In the dark obviously...
Once I found it and blew the crap off it I put it in the pre-soak bath for a min. Flustered, I then went to put it in the developer. Couldn't find it....
Turned out I put it in my final soak bath instead.....which is above my pre soak bath, with the other 4 developed negatives. Found it after I gave up and turned on my lights.

"my photography path is strewn with cow pats from the Devil's own satanic herd...".

Been a pleasure.

[erie patsellis]

Listening to Jeff Curto's history of photography podcasts, he mentioned Weston's Pepper #30, and made a note of the fact that #s 1- 29 nobody has seen. Perseverence, I believe, is what's called for in circumstances like this.

[Stephanie Brim]

http://thirtyfivemillimeter.org/blogimages/applestangerines.jpg

Some of that was my fault, but it still ticks me off. So yeah. I understand. :p

[keith english]

I still don't know why I'm getting pinholes in 4x5 developed in BTZS tubes. i use new developer and strain the fix. But, that's one reason why I switched to photoshop and digital printing. Those nasty dust snakes go away in about 10 seconds of work.

[Paul Kierstead]

it seems that only my very best negs all have some issues.


I think they are the best negs because we only see what they could have been, not what they are.

[PViapiano]

8 is way to many negs to be shuffling through, esp 8x10s.

The darkroom needs to be organized and you need to have everything in place, mise en place as chefs like to say, otherwise you're wasting your time. I think the anticipation and the fear of scratching a neg makes everyone nervous. You can be casual and relaxed, don't get flustered. Try one or two at a time until you're satisfied that you're not destroying your film. For 8x10 use a larger tray, like 12x16. Wear gloves or finger cots and hold onto them in a corner of the tray, carefully slide the bottom one out and place on top, etc.

Do everything slowly and methodically and you will achieve Zenlike consistency in the darkroom, grasshopper...

[eddie]

thanks of ral lthe tips. i have run many batches of film with no problems.

i was just kinda having a murphy's law moment. it seems no matter how i do it something happens to my best negs. i have done tray developing with 1,2,4,6,8,10 negs. sometimes with no problems other times with problems. i have used a jobo drum and had uneven development on a sheet (yes, the best sheet out of 5! again!) i was hand filling the drum and rolling it on the floor. i tried daylight tanks...again issues. i have issues with reels for my 120 and 35mm.....a lot less issues when i use the plastic reels on 35mm....

so as you see it seems that i have all sorts of difficulties......it is murphy's law for sure.

who knows? these most recent scratches could have been from being inside a box and traveling back across the country....wait till you see the scratches....two parallel scratches in the middle.....

[eddie]

SUCCESS! I DID IT!

i managed to load shot and developed 6 perfect negs! thats right, i broke the curse. all lighting was good (studio lighting! :) ) and no issues what so ever on them! they are hanging now. stay tuned!

cheers

eddie

[Skorzen]

Quick lock the door and knock on wood! (before it is too late lol)

oh and by the way I finally got the film out to you, things have been crazy with the holidays and all.

[MIke Sherck]

I think I recall reading that Weston developed one sheet of 8x10 at a time. I don't think I have the patience for that; we may find out if I ever learn to take a decent photograph. In the mean time, best of luck to you! Glad to hear that the last batch came out all right.

Mike

[Bill_1856]

You're in good company.
St. Ansel writes in "40 Examples" that when he was drying the strip of 35mm film with the well-known image of Georgia O'Keefe and Orville Cox, it sllipped out of the clothspen, hit the floor, and was stepped on -- it was the only negative which was damaged!

[Nathan Potter]

When I was doing 8X10 industrial photography and had a pro darkroom at my disposal and my life depended on perfection of the shot I learned quickly to get perfection of image quality. So as PViapiano says above it's in your darkroom organization and technique where consistency and success will be found. Eventually I kind of knew which images would be the most valuable and processed them singly and last by tray development. I also took one or two duplicates - a safety measure I still use in my 4X5 work today.

Nate Potter, Atlanta GA.

[Gary L. Quay]

I had a wonderful 8x10 negative of Sheppard's Dell in the Columbia Gorge almost done, when I reached for the Kodak Tray Siphon, which was hanging on the temp control knob of my faucet. I lifted it carefully off, and brought it toward the tray, but the hose had snagged on the knob, and the siphon slipped out of my grasp. I retained my grip on a section of the hose with my other hand. Anybody ever read "The Pit and the Pendulum" by Edgar Allen Poe? The scratch was about an inch long and 1/8th inch wide.

Other than that, I've searched this site numerous times, and found all sorts of info about keeping dust off of negatives. I ruin fewer of my best negatives as I progress.

--Gary

[Per Madsen]

Remember Murphy's Law!

You can avoid 90 % of the problems through careful planning and
adhering to the same procedures each time, but the last 10 % is
the general perversity of the universe.

>8->>

[seawolf66]

Eddie: Here is a good foto so I thought till I went and scanned it and found what you see: Your in good company : [LOL]

[John Bowen]

If you think 8x10 negatives give you fits....just wait until you get to 7x17 or larger negatives....I think I shot nearly 50 7x17 negatives before I got rid of the light leaks in the NEW filmholders not to mention negative scratches etc.

good luck

[Chuck P.]

Bummer, I feel for you. But I have to say that I have relatively little problem with dust and the like after making some changes while loading film--. The very worst though is when dust is on the negative at the time of exposure, so I've turned to vaccuming all the holders thouroughly before turning out the lights to load the film and I return the dark slides to the fully inserted position. I load in my kitchen, I wear only a t-shirt or no shirt at all (no clothing on my arms); I pull back the dark slide just enough to be able to insert the film; I move slowly and deliberately. I can only say that I do not experience the dreaded pinhole anymore since doing this----so I believe that it works.