White Spots on Negatives

[rj__]

<p>Yesterday, I had a lab process six rolls of Kodak Portra 160NC and 400NC. I

would appreciate comments on the cause of white spots that appear in the same

place on every frame.</p>

 

<p>The photographs were taken with a Leica M3 and 50mm, 90mm and 135mm lenses.

This example is a straight scan with nothing altered by the scanning software

or in Photoshop. The spots are generally the same size, although in a few cases

they are larger or smaller than the ones here.</p>

 

<p>I suspect that it is a problem with the processing rather than a problem

with my M3. Given that I used two types of film and three lenses, I have ruled

out a bad film lot or damaged lens. On a couple of rolls, the lab left a bit of

unexposed negative which also has the spots, which suggests that it is a

processing issue. I plan to have a seventh roll of film processed by a

different lab in a couple of days, but in the meantime I would appreciate any

comments on how this could happen.</p>

 

<p>I can fix the spots in Photoshop, but it is going to be a nuisance. If

anyone has thoughts on how best to remove the spots, I'd be obliged.</p>

 

<p>Thanks.</p>

 

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[nickperzik]

my guess - since you said the spots are on the same place on every frame - is that you

might have a light leak in your camera. if you think it might be lab related, find out what

type of machine your lab uses. if it's dip and dunk, spots like that are not possible as

nothing actually touches the film - it hangs on a rack and is lowered into the chemistry. i

worked at a lab that uses dip and dunk machines for a long time and have seen every

possible damage that was our fault and i've never seen spots like that before. if your lab

is using a mini-lab type machine there could be something on the rollers that's getting

stuck on the film and then cleaned off in the bleach-fix. honestly, though, without actually

seeing the negatives, i can only guess.

[nickperzik]

also - try and find out if anyone else who uses the same lab has had similar problems. if

so, then you have your answer.

[jtk]

Shutter pinhole. Run half of a short roll of junk film with the camera continually expose to bright daylight, giving each frame a minute to rest before the next. Run the other half through without exposure. Process.

[rj__]

Thanks, pinhole(s) in the shutter makes sense, although it isn't clear to me how something like that would appear out of nowhere. I'll have a better idea what is happening when I pick up another roll of film, from a different lab, on Wednesday.

 

Luckily, I was using a Mamiya 7 to shoot the same material, so there is a medium format version of most of the material that I shot with the Leica.