Scratch on my HIE?!

[michael_riggs]

I just acquired a Canon EOS 10s to use for IR shooting. I ran a roll of HIE

through it and had the lab develop the film only. The film showed no evidence

of light leaks or light from the internal IR diode for film advancing. Great,

my research paid off, thank you p net. However, upon further investigation, I

noticed a scratch running nearly the whole length of the film. At the

beginning of the roll the scratch is above the center of the film about 4 mm.

About half way, the scratch moves to direct center.

Could it be the new (to me) camera?

Or the different lab? My regular lab is across town and this one is a shorter

drive by about 20 minutes. The film is developed evenly.

I'll put another roll through it this weekend and see what happens. But I'd

like some opinions. And I know this place is abundant with those.

[gnashings]

Sorry to say this, but you may never know the answer unless its inside your camera - in which case it gets even more crappy - I think unless a thorough inspection of the camera reveals some obvious protrusion, it will cost you another roll of film to find out. And then... you still send it away, and thus can't be sure either way...

I do not envy you!

If I had to bet money, I would bet on the lab - this film has a notoriously delicate emulsion, unlike most modern films which can pretty well take a beating.

As you can see, too many options, too many possible suspects. Since your regular lab is as close to a trust-worthy set of hands you have (unless you dev your own at all), I suggest a roll of regular film that they will develop (I find TriX used to scratch easier than most films of its vintage, or better yet - get some Efke) and have them develop it. If its the camera, you will know for sure.

This is not sure-fire, but as close to it as you can get, given that you somewhat trust and have had good results from your regular lab.

I wouldn't use another roll of IR before you sort this, its bloody expensive!

[brit]

Agree HIE is very very very delicate so its hard to quantify the degree of your 'scratch' but what i would do is get the chapest possible film you can, even outdated if you can. Put it through the camera rewind it, take it out the camera and pull the film from the cannister and look to see if there are any surface scratches you can see. Respool the film and put it through the camera agan, rewind it , pull it out , look, respool etc etc. You could pass the film throught he camera 10, 20 50 times if you like which should give you an idea of any camera fault or its intermittancy.

[ronald_moravec1]

A wandering scratch indicates it happened when somone wiped it down to speed drying. They cought some dirt or the device already had some debris in it.

 

NEVER wipe down film or this will be the result sooner or later. A bit of wetting agent and drip dry.

 

Do your own film in the future.

[slichtyler]

If the scratch is a perfectly straight line down the negative, I'd guess that it's a bit of dirt or

grit that was on the light trap of the film canister (always a problem for me down here in

Mexico). I'd check the inside of the camera to make sure it isn't dirty, and I'd check to make

sure that my changing bag didn't have grit (assuming that's where you load your HIE).

 

If it's not a straight line down the negative, then it's something that happened after the film

was removed from the cannister, and wiping the negatives would be the most likely cause.

[robert himmelright]

take a cheap roll of film, completely unexposed, never put through your camera, and get it developed, if its scratched, its the lab.

[michael_riggs]

The scratch was perfectly straight, but shifted position a few mm about half way through the roll. The camera was clean upon inspection after the film was taken out. I loaded the film in a room without light. I'll keep an eye on the light traps from now on. Thanks gents, now off to test another roll.

[slichtyler]

Perfectly straight and then jumped: sounds like a little grain of sand was in there, and at

some point, it slipped down. If the jump is between frames, that's almost certainly the case

-- you were walking around, and shook it loose. Those felt traps are just like tiny doormats,

and they're great at catching grit.

 

Fortunately, it's rather easy to fix this stuff in Photoshop, if that's part of your workflow.

[bobmichaels]

I agree with Ronald about doing your own film. And I also agree with him about the probable cause of the scratch.

 

But, I have squeegeed my film for a few thousand rolls and never had a scratch. Never have dust in the drying emulsion either. Oh, I do wash the rubber (not sponge) squeegee in the film photoflo solution before using it. Someday I may have a scratch, but it hasn't happened yet.

[michael_riggs]

A local shop was selling expired SFX for $3 a roll, so I bought a few and used one as a test roll. Played around with different filters and ISO to get an idea of what settings to use, then 2/3 through the roll I switched it to my Elan7E, and started where I left off. Had another lab develop it. If the scratch stops at frame 25, camera's fault. If no scratch it's either the lab's fault or a possible bad roll. I used compressed air to clean both cameras before use. Neither appeared to have any problems.

[michael_riggs]

I got the film back and what do ya know, NO scratches. Looks like the lab is the culprit. I also found out my Sigma 120-300 needs to be stopped down on sunny days. After my next trip to Yellowstone, I'm saving up for my own darkroom.