So why are all my slides blue?!

[robert_potts1]

If this is indeed Velvia, it should say RVP100F on the bottom and have a number on the top, usually in yellow or orange, on most of the slides.

[rowland_mowrey]

Aaron;

 

If you hold the unmounted slide up to a strong light, (not sun) and look through it, it should be neutral black unless you are looking at an area with edge markings.

 

If the edges around the sprocket holes are blue, then the film or process was bad. If it is black and the picture is blue, then you used tungsten in daylight most probably.

 

There are some areas without edge markings where the edge markings break and then begin repeating. At least this is the case with some films.

 

Hope you find a solution to your problem.

 

Ron Mowrey

[catcher]

This might be starting too look a little embarrassing for me, but here goes. As I said before, there are simply no markings on the film, anywhere. I opened an old slide I'd thrown away last week (clean trash, really) from a different roll processed at the fuji lab and it did have markings on it. But not this blue roll. Hmm. The other bit of potentially embarassing evidence is that I did have an odd roll of tungsten film in the freezer. It came with a batch film I bought off ebay. I never use tungsten film so it was loose. Well, lo and behold that film is now missing. So two possible theories: I accidentally grabbed the Tungsten roll rather than the Velvia roll, and even though I usually double check as I load in the camera, apparently missed this one. Or second (and I think the more likely explaination) there are gnomes living in my basement that steal my film and the occassional odd sock out of the dryer. There is one bit of info that someone could provide that would help me save face. Does Tungsten film regularly not have markings like other film? My sincere hope is that perhaps I just misplaced the Tungsten roll, and since there are no markings at all on this blue roll, it really was some sort of film/processing error since all film has markings. Or maybe it really was the gnomes.

[rowland_mowrey]

Aaron;

 

Sorry to ruin your day, but tungsten film has edge marking as well. The markings differ based on film type from the daylight version markings, but it is there nonetheless.

 

I don't know about off brands. There are some films out there that might not have marking, but Fuji, EK, and Agfa are not among them.

 

Again, good luck.

 

BTW, I keep finding extra socks in my dryer. What size do you wear?

 

Regards.

 

Ron Mowrey

[catcher]

Ah well, I suppose it will be forever a mystery unless the lab confirms the mistake. Ron your info about markings does at least confirm my sanity. I could have sworn it was Velvia in my camera, and since there are no markings at all on this roll I'm inclined to think it was and it was either bad film or bad processing. I would expect to find markings identifying it as Tungsten. In any case, thanks for all the insight and suggestions. Depending on how long it takes to hear from the lab, if this post is still around I'll let you know what they say, assuming I hear from them at all.

[rowland_mowrey]

Aaron;

 

Maybe you should e-mail me as well to make sure I hear your follow up. This is a strange one to me. I would like to keep track of it.

 

Thanks.

 

Ron Mowrey

[rob_landry]

Since the edge markings are exposed when the film is manufactured, you should see them unless you've received a defective roll of film (unlikely but possible, however I can't imagine Fuji forgetting to mark their film) or were the victim of bad processing. BTW, Velvia edge codes should be yellow with proper processing. Does this mean that the codes are somehow only printed on the blue sensitive layer of the film (yellow after processing)? Perhaps Ron can answer this one since he knows a great deal about emulsion coating. How are the edge markings applied?

 

I know that Velvia 100F uses a very different emulsion technology and has layers that differ greatly from other transparency films. Many who have used it indicate that it may be extra sensitive to processing variations. I haven't tried Velvia 100F yet myself because of all the negative comments I've read. I may order a couple rolls and send one to a local pro lab for processing and then process one myself to see if there is a difference. I tried this with Velvia 50 a while back and the roll processed at the lab was about a half-stop underexposed and looked muddy compared to the roll I processed myself. By itself, the lab processed roll wasn't bad, but when viewed side by side with the roll I processed myself, the difference was obvious. Both were shot in a controlled setting. In regards to Aaron's issue, I'm even tempted to shoot a test roll of 100F and intentionally screw up the processing to see if I can duplicate the result he got.

 

All in all, very perplexing.

[rowland_mowrey]

Guys;

 

If the edges of the film are blue, and the markings, being yellow, are absent, then this means that the blue sensitive layer was fogged, left out, misprocessed, etc. No yellow dye would remove the edge printing, but only if the edges were NOT black.

 

Edge printing is put on film during spooling and packaging in a method just like a camera back that marks your film with exposure, date, and time. Each mfgr also prints a bar code of information on the side opposite the ID code in plain English. There are also frame #s, and arrows indicating emulsion side printed on film. There is a lot of information there to help you and the mfgr identify the film and any problems with manufacturing.

 

Ron Mowrey

[catcher]

I know this is beating a dead horse, but under a loupe there simply are no markings whatsoever that I can see on this film, on any of the exposures, on any of the edges. From what Ron has said, it sounds like either 1)manufacturing error and for whatever reason the markings were never put on, or the layer that would show them was absent; or 2)processing error such that the layer that contains them was never properly processed. We'll see if the lab ever responds.

[rowland_mowrey]

Aaron;

 

This kind of 'horse' is never dead until we can find out what 'killed' it. I'm really curious as to what went wrong.

 

Ron Mowrey

[dan_sapper]

Another 2 cents:

 

Edge markings are exposed onto the film with a light source. I'm not very familiar with Fuji's edge markings, but I seem to remember them being yellowish-amber and composed of pixels. They should definitely be there on 35mm film (you said they were mounted, so I'm assuming 35mm).

 

That the edge markings are missing might be an indication that the film truly had a manufacturing error, and was not supposed to reach any customers. Or it might indicate that there is another company which is making black-market film (pirated), and labeling it as Fuji. I've never heard of pirate slide film, so that is a less likely scenario. Pirates would want to pick a mainstream color negative film in hopes of selling to a broader customer base.

 

I still suggest that you contact Fuji customer service, not just the lab. This is a professional grade film after all. If something is wrong with a batch that has made it onto store shelves, Fuji would want to know about it, and quickly.

 

Also, just want to acknowledge that you saw some yellow in the coreopsis flowers. That helps rule out that all the yellow layers are missing. Maybe just some of the yellow layers are missing (2 or 3 yellow layers are likely in Fujichrome Velvia).

[imaginator]

"The other bit of potentially embarassing evidence is that I did have an odd roll of tungsten film in the freezer. It came with a batch film I bought off ebay." An odd roll? What was it? Was it labeled? Maybe movie film?

[catcher]

By odd I just meant that it was one of a kind for me--I don't use Tungsten film. I don't remember the brand but I want to say Fuji. I'm going to look through the freezer again today to see if it's there.

[catcher]

In case anyone runs accross this sometime down the road--I got a call from the Fuji lab this afternoon (kudos for customer service), and they said that their tech person said it was "heat fog." Does that sound like a reasonable explaination? I've sent stuff to them before and never had any "heat fog." Anyway, that's what they said.

[rowland_mowrey]

Aaron;

 

That does not sound right unless two layers were sensitive to it, and the rest were not! Think about it.

 

Heat fog lowers dmax until eventually all colors would vanish. Selective heat fog is not usual unless two layers are identical in susceptiability and one is not sensitive at all.

 

Their answer does not make sense to me.

 

Dan Sapper or Joe Manthey would have more authoritative answers than I could give I would suspect.

 

Ron Mowrey

[dan_sapper]

My first response indicated the problem may be a "keeping" problem, affecting primarily the yellow layer(s). "Heat fog" would be a keeping problem, in my book. Basically, it means that those layers were desensitized by either heat or extended high humidity. It would need a lot of heat and time to have caused this problem (i.e. sitting in a hot car for several weeks).

[rowland_mowrey]

Dan;

 

What was I thinking? Two layers. Of course, you are right in that the yellow layer was the one affected to give a blue print. I was probably thinking 'cyan' not 'blue', thereby implicating the yellow and magenta in my post.

 

I still feel though that having one layer go into total fog leaving two unaffected is unusual. Heat usually leads to fog in all layers, not evenly of course, but it is unusual to see a good image from just two layers or even one layer alone. That blue image looks too 'normal' to me. The other thing that bothers me about this is the fact that Aaron says that the edges are black.

 

How can the picture be blue, the yellow layer be fogged so badly, and the edges still remain black. That does not make sense. Its like selectively fogging the yellow layer of a piece of ilfochrome paper on an easel, with the borders protected. The print is blue with a black border.

 

Something does not add up here.

 

Ron Mowrey

[catcher]

Hmm. I'm going to try to call them today, or more likely tomorrow. They left an 800 number. If there was a heat problem, and that can be caused by being left in a car for "several" weeks (I.e, not just a few days?), then the only thing I can think of is that somehow on the transit to B&H (where I purchased film) it encountered a long span of heat. But I've never had any trouble from B&H before. It's always been int he freezer at my house. I've worried before about sending film through the mail during the summer, but if it takes weeks or film to fog I wouldn't think the mail could be the problem. At most, it would be in transit for just a few days, and probably spend quite a bit of time in an air-conditioned warehouse or something. So I don't know. I'll let you know what they say when I call them.

[catcher]

Well, it's going to be at least next week before I get some answers. I called the lab back, but the person who is handling my case is out of the office until then. So, I'm going to get some answers, but it will be awhile.

[catcher]

Just in case anyone runs across this in the future--the only thing I can get from the lab is that this is heat fog.