Color Cast after Developing

[AndreasResch]

Hello!

I just got my slides back from the developers (4x5" Velvia 50 and Provia 100F) and some of them have a terrible yellow/green color cast to a point where some of them aren't usable at all any more. In some slides the color cast is a little more pronounced in the corners or around the borders.

The problem is, there isn't a connection that I can make out between the slides. Some are V50 some are 100F. They were take with different lenses at different times. The Velvia expired in August 2011 with most of the shots being taken in October 2011. The film was in the freezer though. The Provia has no expiration issues (June 2012).

Here is one of the shots that was affected the most ...

http://www.andreasresch.at/upload/images/RFX013.jpg

You can download a ZIP-File containing 3 more scans here ... http://www.andreasresch.at/upload/Scans.zip

I've talked to the developer about issues in the lab but they said they were working properly and no problems were recorded in that time frame.

With so many experienced large format photographers, maybe some of you can figure out what the issue is. It's a bad feeling walking around with an issue like that never knowing if a shot will be useless or not.

Thanks a lot guys,
Andreas

[polyglot]

Lab error. So much for "no problems were recorded" - this is the problem right here!

Incorrect pH in the developer will cause these sorts of colour shifts and the fact that it's uneven across the sheet points very strongly to it being a process issue.

[vinny]

I've shot all sorts of expired film (up to 15yrs past date) and never have I seen anything like this. My guess, the lab phucked up.

[Jim Michael]

Can the lab provide a copy of the process control chart for the period in which the film was developed?

[AndreasResch]

Thanks for the feedback, guys.

I'm sort of happy to hear that you're assuming that the lab is responsible for that. Anything that takes an error in my equipment out of the calculation is good. Although the images are gone.

@Jim - I don't know if the lab provides something in a form of a chart. I'll ask them. If not I'm curious what will happen when I send them the slides back to comment on. The sad thing is, that this is the only 4x5 developer in Austria I know of (and he's like 200 miles away already). The next step would be to search for some in Germany.

Thanks again for your valuable feedback. Have a great Christmas and all the best for 2012.

Andreas

[Mick Fagan]

I have a roll of 135 transparency film attached to my darkroom wall with virtually that exact colour cast.

The cast in my case, was from contaminated colour developer. The contamination I sourced back to dipping my thermometer from one of the other baths to the colour bath without first rinsing it under clean running water.

To be really sure, I did another E6 run doing what I thought was an identical thermometer dip, got green film again.

This was about 15 years ago, maybe a little more. Never did it again, but I haven't done E6 for about 6 years.

Mick.

[AndreasResch]

I have a roll of 135 transparency film attached to my darkroom wall with virtually that exact colour cast.

The cast in my case, was from contaminated colour developer. The contamination I sourced back to dipping my thermometer from one of the other baths to the colour bath without first rinsing it under clean running water.

To be really sure, I did another E6 run doing what I thought was an identical thermometer dip, got green film again.

This was about 15 years ago, maybe a little more. Never did it again, but I haven't done E6 for about 6 years.

Mick.

Hello Mick,

thanks for sharing your experience with me. That's another vote for a lab error.

Cheers,
Andreas

[Jim Michael]

If something like Mick describes occurred, then I would expect to see a normal plot on the days before contamination occurred, then a wild swing on the day of or day after the incident. Some labs run one control a day, some run multiple, and some never run one. They tell you whether the temperature is in line, replenishment rate is correct, signal chemistry problems, etc. If you run a film line an employee who can interpret that chart and adjust the process is a great asset.