Can you identify this blemish?

[dglickstein]

Here is a shot from my EOS3, 400mm f5.6 L lens, Kodak 100VS. There is

a blemish in the upper right corner and it's gone by frame #16. I

have a few rolls like this, different lenses, not all shots in the

roll have this blemish. The blemish occurs in the same place in the

frames in which it occurs. It gets lighter or darker depending on the

exposure. Over 70 rolls, this occurs in about 10 rolls only.

 

Do you think it's something wrong with camera, film or developing? Is

it a spirit or the source of Intelligent Design? Kidding aside, this

bothers me and thanks in advance.

 

dG<div></div>

[dglickstein]

OK, scratch that, never posted a photo here before. I will try again. Sorry.

[dglickstein]

OK, here we go, hopefully it will work now--looks horrible, but you see the blemish.

 

dG<div></div>

[les]

What about a different film ? If it is not the lens, then it is either a film or the camera or you (I guess you didn't leave fingerprints there). I can't think about anything in the camere - so maybe this is a film defect.

[dglickstein]

Leszek,

 

I primarily shoot 100VS. It does look like a finger print. I am waiting for some Velvia to come back to see if it appears there. I checked other rolls--the blemish goes through the entire roll sometimes (or it does all the time and I can't see it), so I was mistaken in my original post. It is difficult to see with a faint or blown out background. The darker the photo the darker the blemish.

 

I have seen the blemish in rolls from different batches of film (from different boxes). It occurs with different lenses too.

 

I don't know what I could have done to cause this. It was developed using Kodak mailers. It does look like a finger print or a round shadow.

 

dG

[PuppyDigs]

Ever watch techs in a minilab handle negatives? They cut the negs in stripes and hang

them prior to printing. Half the time I've observed the techs dragging the negs across the

floor, tabletops and, yes, touching the hell out of them with their bare fingers! With all that

said, it rare that I've received a slide or neg without a scratch or finger goo. It's sad, but

that's the way it is. The too often rough handling of my slides and negs forced me into the

digital domain...

[awindsor]

Could it possibly be a weak anti-halation layer and a cutout in the pressure plate in the camera. Some light is reflected back off the film plate interface except at that cutout resulting in a darker spot. I have never seen it with regular film but it used to happen with some IR films. Many of the Canon film cameras have some holes in their pressure platers (sometimes to accomodate date backs and sometimes for unexplained reasons). This would explain why the blemish is always in the same place. It is also tension dependent and this might explain why it only happens at the beginning of the rolk,

[chrisjb]

Hi, I`d guess that you are using the same lab, if so this looks more like a lab problem, its very consistant with the results of diluted chemistry and or a crook roller transport in the film developing machine. Puppy may be partially right as more folks use digital film labs are losing thier quality as it is hard to keep equipment turning over, (I closed mine down 18 mths ago). To be sure try another lab or ask a pro who does his own to D & P one for you, or go and talk to the lab manager.

 

HTH good luck

[awindsor]

It is the regularity of position that makes me doubt the lab explanation. It is too regular to be a chemistry problem. Since the blemish is darker it is unlikely to be abrasion on the emulsion.