scratches on negatives

I just processed a couple rolls of 120 black and white film in my darkroom and was surprised to find

scratches covering the leader of the film and scattered across the rest of the roll as well. Is this from

loading or agitating? I had a lot of trouble getting them onto the reels, and suspect that they could have

been damaged in the process.

That's most likely the reason. It's happened to me with 620 film.

Don`t take the film off the paper backing. Just let the dual strips hang and unroll together. They separate just as they go on the reel.

Some films are easily scratched (Bergger for example), some cameras (like Holgas) may scratch the film as well, and squeegees definitely scratch films... If the scratch gets from the beginning to the end of the film in a regular shape, I believe it comes from the camera from the camera, or a squeegee if you used one.

I had this problem for several rolls of 120 film. I was using a plastic reel and a special

film loading device that curved the film so that it loaded onto the reel easily. I could not

figure it out.....until I realized that the felt strip on the film loader had some dust on it or

the curved film holder had some dust on it which was scratching the film from one end to

the other. --The moral of the story for me was this: go back to using the Kodak aprons

that i had been using for almost 50 years without a single incident.

 

I can not speak for others but in all these years, i have not found a scratch of the negative

which came from the camera itself. Some cameras have better rails and some are really

cheap, but a scratch across the entire emulsion can only result from a bad pressure plate

(again, which I think is rare) or more usually due to something about the reel loading

process.

 

Jerry

When dealing with scratches on negtives, I use the old "nose grease" trick. Rub your finger down the side of your nose to get some of the

oil off your skin, then rub your finger on the scratched negative (but not on the emulsion side). You can print normally without the scratches being seen.

" I had a lot of trouble getting them onto the reels..."

 

I think it's well worth sacrificing a roll of film in order to practice loading in daylight. Do it over and over, first watching and then with eyes closed until you have it down perfect. I agree with the suggestion to leave the backing paper attached until film is loaded. Therefore, while practicing, don't remove backing paper; that way you'll be able to re-roll film back to its original configuration.

 

I hesitate to mention the next part because people jump all over it. I've loaded thousands of rolls of 120 onto reels when working in an in-house lab, and I'm convinced that stainless steel reels are the way to go. It takes some practice to get the technique down, but once you've got it, you'll load faster and smoother than you ever can with plastic reels. Plastic reels are okay for 35mm (though I still prefer stainless steel), but "walking" 120 film onto a plastic reel is just asking for trouble. Also, get good quality reels.