Kodak Gold 100 - Its purple

Hi I have just had a roll of Kodak Gold 100 developed in the local high street lab (jessops). The film came back with a horrible purple tint all over the negative. (i only get develop only done in the lab - so no prints). I purchased the roll from ebay where it was described as new. Upon scanning the negs, the images look like the sample below. this is a straight foward scan using vuescan with no film profiles set. all exposures were correct, taken in apature priority mode with a minolta dynax 7. I can think of 3 potential explanations: 1 the film was well past its use by date 2 The lab screwed up in processing. 3 the film was previosly stored in non ideal conditions. Any advise would be appreciated Thanks Paul

 

Wow... that's fairly wrong. Colour shift all over the place.

I'd say that you've got a film that has a combination of your points 1 & 3. I know there is a lot of talk on this forum about lab's getting things wrong, but I've been using the same high street lab for 12 years, and have never had a bad neg (that wasn't my own fault, you understand).

From your scan, I'd say the film was both out of date, and hasn't been kept correctly. You might be able to get some recourse from the seller, but I think you're going to have a hard time proving anything... was the box date-stamped?

 

If you click a neutral area to set color balance in Vuescan, does it look any better?
What color setting did you use? Neutral, manual, white balance?

 

2 seconds later. Set gray by clicking gray eyedropper in curves on the rock.

 

thanks guys,

the film came with no box, so not stamped with a date.

I used white balance setting - changing it to auto levels drastically improves things.

Roger, how do you set grey with a dropper?

thanks

 

In Vuescan's preview window, right-click with your mouse on a neutral area.

In Photoshop, open up curves, and there will be 3 eyedroppers (Black, neutral, white). Click on the neutral/gray one and then click on a neutral area in your image. Voila. While you're at it, lighten it a touch.

 

ok, figured out how to set grey. looks like I will be able to salvage some pictures after all.

 

Looks like 1 & 3 too. You might check the film itself which might appear a little green. If so, it's out of dated and might suffered from heat in the past.

 

The package should have had a "use by" date.

 

That much color shift has to be due to inappropriate storage conditions. General outdatedness, even a couple years after expiration, shouldn't cause that much shift if stored at room temperature/humidity or lower, and if left unopened in the original plastic cannister. The film may have been "new," but that doesn't mean "before expiration" or "never mishandled." Sorry for your woes, but it looks salvageable with scanning & editing.