Scratches on film caused by negative sleeves

[bob_mcbob]

I seem to always end up with light scratches on my home-processed black and

white film, no matter what I do. I've narrowed down the possible causes to my

scanner (Coolscan V) or the PrintFile negative sheets I use. I usually try to

keep the scanner's rollers free of any dust, but last time I was scanning I

opened up the negative adapter and gave it a very thorough cleaning (there was

not much to clean), and there were still scratches on the resulting scans. I

can only conclude this is being caused by the PrintFile sheets.

 

The scratches are so light I can't see them with the naked eye, but the scanner

picks them up quite distinctly. This would not be a huge deal for colour film

because of ICE, but on black and white it means i have to spend a long time

cloning them out, which is quite a pain when they go through areas with small

detail.

 

I've read Light Impressions makes envelopes for storing negatives that are much

better than the standard sheets. I checked out their site and found the

"InfoFlap" envelopes, which seem rather expensive at $11.95 for 50, considering

you'd have to use 6 per roll (or do you put multiple strips on them?). Shipping

from Light Impressions to Ontario is a lot, but my dad will be down in PA for a

little while next week, so I was thinking of having some stuff shipped to him to

bring back.

 

I know there have been many threads on this sort of thing in the past, but it is

difficult to go through them when you don't really know what you're looking for.

I would really appreciate any suggestions on what to order!

[William Kahn]

Chris, I'm not sure what might be causing the scratches, but I've been using Print File sleeves for years with no problems whatsoever. Trying the Light Impressions sleeves won't hurt, and should at least tell you whether the Print File sleeves are actually at fault. Good luck....

[william john smith]

Some random ideas: <P>You mentioned that you get the scratches "on my home-

processed

black and white film", do you get the same scratches with lab processed color film? If not

then it could be the sleeves, which I doubt but you never know. I have been using PrintFile

sheets for at least 25 years without this type of problem related to the sleeve. <BR>Did

you

try scanning a

negative before placing in the negative sleeve? <BR>How do you wipe the Photo-Flo off of

the negatives? If you use a squeegee this could be the cause, had this happen to me years

ago, switched to spraying the Photo-Flo on instead of soaking it and wiping it, worked

wonders.<BR>Use

the process of elimination and you find the source. I'm betting on how you wipe the

negatives.

[karl_borowski]

You're probably not using the right fixer. Kodak fixer, powdered form, does NOT have hardener, so your film is going to be soft and easily scratched. The squeegee thing could be an issue as well. For some reason, I get a lot of very hairline scratches on my 35mm, but not on 220 negs, using a Kodak Chamois. I can only hazard the guess that since it is easier for my fingers to grasp 35mm than ~65mm film, that I am pressing to hard. Be very very gentle when squeegeeing, maybe even just use your fingers, and use distilled water with your photoflo to eliminate chemical deposits that cause streaking.

 

Regards,

 

~Karl Borowski

[scott_kinkade]

Ace...

 

Could you tell us how you spray the Photo Flo? Do you just take out the wet roll, hang it, and use a spray bottle while the strip hangs there? Do you squeegee?

[william john smith]

Scott.......<P>

 

The purpose of spraying the Photo-Flo is to eliminate using a squeegee or your fingers.

This

leaves the film surface untouched, which means no scratches.<P>As far as fixer goes,

most

modern films don't need hardener, only the so called "old school" type film from eastern

Europe, Efke, J&C, etc. Those films have very soft emulsions, in fact presoaking before

developing is recommended so as to open up the emulsion. I use hardener in all my

fixers,

print and film. Hardener can be added to most fixers. There some off the wall fixers that

don't

take kindly to hardeners but Kodak's are not one of them.<P>BTW, hardener doesn't give

any more protection from scratches once the film is dry.

[mike_ferron]

I finally have the courage to "not squeegee" any of my films. My developer, fix and photoflow are all mixed with water I filter through a couple of coffee filters to eliminate deposits and I aggitate wash my films for 8 minutes. Now I just hang em and don't worry. They dry spotless with 0 scratches.

[bob_mcbob]

My colour negatives have the odd scratch caused by the bargain bin place I get them developed at (I mainly stick to black and white for film), but not the scratches running the entire length of the film. I have squeegeed exactly one film, and I will never do it again. I use Ilford rapid fixer, not Kodak powdered fixer. Also, I don't even use photo flo . The water here is full of minerals that leaves deposits, so I just do my final rinse in distilled water. It dries completely clear without the help of photo flo.

 

Has anyone used the Light Impressions envelopes? They have markings for 18 frames, so presumably you are supposed to put multiple strips in them. I like that you don't have to pull the film in and out of the sleeve. Also, I noticed the Light Impressions makes polyethylene sleeves similar to the PrintFile ones they claim are non-static, so perhaps I should give them a try.

 

I suppose the best thing would be a sleeve-type storage sheet with fold-down instead of slide-in compartments.

[mark liddell]

I've been using clearfile for storage and have had a few negs scratched by the sleeves. This happens if there is a crease and it abrades the neg. I have just switched to printfile since they are softer and are less prone to this problem apparently.

[dalahorse]

Printfile pages have served me well for over 10 years. I've never had a scratched negative from them, and I live in a dry, dusty area (New Mexico). Maybe you're loading film into sleeves before they're completely dry? I doubt your scratches are the fault of the Printfile products, but it sounds like you already had your mind made up before you put the question out there.

[colin_lee3]

I've also had scratches from using printfile sleeves, though it's admittedly my own fault. I seem to have a problem with dust being attracted to the prinfile sleeve by static. When it gets inside the sleeve, it scratches the negative when I slide them in and out. I never squeegee my negatives and always use photoflo, and the scratches always appeared after putting them in a sleeve.

 

Any suggestions on keeping dust away? Or am I somehow not using the sleeves properly?

 

 

Colin Lee

[bob_mcbob]

<i>I doubt your scratches are the fault of the Printfile products, but it sounds like you already had your mind made up before you put the question out there.</i>

<p>

Well Jacob, after carefully going through every step of the process (camera-->developing reel-->film hanging-->printfile sleeves-->scanner and eliminating everything else, the only thing that remained was the sleeves, so yes, I had made up my mind before posting. I have read several posts in the past about this sort of thing happening, and even based on replies in this thread it seems I am not the only one with the problem.

<p>

The house is dusty, which is a fact of life and something I really can't control. I've learned to live with dust and spotting scans, but it seems even if I carefully blow the negatives down before sliding them into the sleeves, I still end up with scratches. These are minute scratches that I don't even think would show up in printing, but the LED light source on the Nikon scanners apparently acts the same way as a condenser enlarger in picking up stuff like that.

<p>

In any case, I don't think it would hurt to try a different storage product.

[bill_tuthill]

I believe negative sleeves, even good ones, can cause scratches,

especially when filmstrips are often removed and replaced for

scanning. Maybe use blower/brush before inserting.