daniel_fortier

those micronesia = high humidity?

If so watch out for this "not so extreme" case, as I saw it here in south florida in high humidity.

Some films were open from their original packaging and alowed to long time in humid environment before been cooled down and bad surprise condensation resulted... within a roll the emulsion got some dew and stock randomly.

It resulted in permanent marks on the films.

Were they cooled down to rapidly? I don't know, but B&W seem more fragile then color negs or chromes.

Check with the professionnal division of Kodak they might help.

If not, my sugestion is do not over-react film is not fish... all the long pro asignments that I processed did not cary ice chest around for months and films were fine, x-rays are more of an issue.

Also some films are better with their image latency over long period of time, Velvia 50 is one of them but EPP EPR EPN and all these older design emulsions might be more sensitive.

Fresh B&W and C-41 films are very good. Check expiration date.

regards

Ronald,

Did you ever actualy work in a pro-lab or pro film distributor?

 

Kodak sent exposed control strips in dry ice, for years now they use coolpack & insulation instead.

 

Imagine How many tons of dry ice would have been needed in the pre-digital years...

The answer from Fuji & Kodak is that they "factor in" the transit time in the emulsion ripening, yes aging the emulsion is part of the manifacturing process.

 

regards

Hi,

These are the spike on the histogram I am talking about, but this is not the 21 steps...

All the IT-8 on the market, specialy the ones supplied with scanner or software like silverfast, are dupes their density range is poor... they are helpfull in profiling color in mid to light tones.

I am talking about the transparent 21 step grey scale Kodak sell, I dont have their catalog # check with any photostore that sell Kodak darkroom products, to explain it better here is a link with a similar product (but to big to fit on 35mm slide):

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=52771&is=REG

Also here is fast scan low res of my cut & tape 35mm, not shure but I think it was done on an Epson 3200, compare to my # in the previous post to see how deep it resolve.

Any tranparent grey scale would work, but you need a densitometer to put # on step and various gray card exposure on original slides/negs to compare what the # represent to your actual images. (zone system style)

hope it help.

regards<div></div>

real density range & flare/blooming are the issue.

2 tests:

A) scan a transparent 21 step gray scale look at the histogram to see how deep the scanner realy resolve (available in 35mm or simply assemble your own by cutting a 5" scale and taping it in 3 row of 7 patch to fit a 35 frame) if you dont have access to a densitometer the step are +/- has follow; #1= 0.05 #3= 0.35 #7= 0.96 #10= 1.40 #13= 1.85 #16= 2.35 #19= 2.80 #21= 3.10

 

B) already with the above scan if you used a black taped-up 35mm will show you the flare/blooming in the tape area, but try to scan a black un-exposed processed slide on wich you made some scratches on the emulsion with a sharp blade... very instructive!

 

Please let me know if you find a scanner that easely define 16 "clean" steps or more, I am still searching...

 

regards

daniel

don't worry, no one in south florida drive up north with a cooler!

and all the US films that Fuji USA and Kodak USA sell are ground ship year round.

regards

daniel

P.S. still from S.Cal to you, the little upgrade of second day or 3rd day shipping should'nt harm either...

Very simple, first only practice with slides you dont care for...

For the clear mark: if these marks are on the glossy side, they are just due by a to concentrated final rinse bath (kind of photo-flo)prior to drying. just try to blow with your warm breath on them (like cleaning a pair of glasses)if it's clearing most of it I would stop there as most scanner will not pick-up a weak clear mark due to there diffuse light source. The only bad thing that could exist is if the water used in mixing the final rinse was of poor purity (hard water) then the impurities would be pile up in the mark area and only my next suggestion would help.

For other type of stains and spots or heavy of the clear ones with E-6 films, re-washing is the way to go.

You will need; a small clip to hold the film during the wash & for drying, clean preferably filtered luke warm +/- 33 celc. or low 90 far., a very little bit of photo -flo or wetting agent (available in photo store) and pure distiled water, and finally a dust free area to for drying.

practice on a reject slide...

unmount the slide; peel open the carboard type (do not bend the film!), for plastic mount if you don't know the opening trick for each type you may scratch the film as you try to slide it out, I would recommend to break it open to.

Did I mention to not touch the image area with your fingers... then clip the film by a corner out of the image area (as for the drying the film would be hanging on an angle so the dripping will be from a corner)

Then softly agitate in the luke warm filtered tap water for at least 3 mn. the emulsion need to soak and swell fully as it does so it will change color turning blueish, if the mark was on the emulsion side (you could see bumps or pitts looking at it at an angle when it was dry) let it soak for longer in extreme case like bad water drop or spit!! you could go up to 10 mn. longer will not be really more effecive(the films are made to be wet for a few hours without damage).

Touching the films is a no-no, except for an extreme measure in case of stock big sh.t on the film on the base and only with fully wet softened fingers, anything stock to the emulsion is for good or will leave permanent damage even if removed.

Then just slightly agitate the film in the luke warm pre-mix photo-flo or wetting agent for half a minute and hang to dry. (distiled water with very little photo-flo, mix at half the instruction concentration the least the better)

Inpect your film when dry, check for the old marks and to see if you added new one!

Do not be afraid to do it, it's faster and easier then my long reply!

regards

daniel

What type of slides? E-6? kodachrome? scala?

what type of stains? on which side? glossy (base) or matt (emulsion)

colored stain or milky?

if there is no colors it is usually benine, do not react to fast you could do more harm then good.

E-6 is very resilient.

i could suggest a cure with more infos.

regards

daniel

try Dafo/Eclair inc. 121 de la Commune W. in the old montreal,

talk with Warren or Lynn(514) 286-9151

regards

My take:

As partly explain on many of the answers;

scratches if running straight and lenghtwise on the film point to a roller transport processor which are offenly in small lab a Noritsu running on a 3 chemistry E-6, that is agressive, contrasty and even if they give a more sharp look, you are loosing a lot of details.

Don't be trick, look for real details, first in the highlights then the shadows.

Lens that wins on resolution chart (see Pop photo tests)are usually less contrasty so they can resolve more. aka leica

It's like minilab B&W ilford machine with 90 seconds dev time the negs look "sharp" with very define grain structure, but with the same loss.

regards

p.s. that's one of the reason that digital offenly look so sharp, less tones & more accute transition.

zone system should be learn with E-6 process in a consistent pro-lab.

it's the perfect tool for exposure, since there is less then a 1/8 Fstop variation and no contrats change due to the process, everything will be your decision or your equipment variable. Just do the same calibration test you are use in zone, stick to one film and learn the range of grey you can get & how you like to place your key zone ( hight light, skin tone, clouds, midtones). With chrome compare to B&W it's reverse; expose for light detail area, since a washout slide is less acceptable. Then verify were every thing else will be rendered. Also i would suggest to start with a 35mm, contrast & tone will be (modern lenses) very close across format for the same type of film.

just compare, shoot two rolls process one & send the other to a Q-LAB certified laboratory you will see the process difference, keep all the other variables the same; films, camera/lens, subject, light condition,etc..

regards

we currently have an ongoing fashion catalog shoot on 100GX on 120 film, the models have makeup but one can see that shoulder arms, legs etc.. have no bad colors or contrast. in fact not realy warm, (the 100G is to cold) more we see different situations and hour of the day (outside shoot) more we like it, it's the most fuji like films of kodak. That's what the 100VS should had be made like. for the velviaF100 we saw none with skin tone shoot so far, the people shot looked o.k.

yes i would, 20 is 1 stop over 40, and pulling in the process really work mostly on mid to light area, cutting more then 2/3 just add mud to those area no details to add to the highlights they were blasted by overexposure, over the years with different films -2/3 became a prefered standard with E-6 to correct for accidental 1 stop overexposed films that can't be clip test (processing only a few frames) to fine tune. adjusting my recomended time of 4'45" by +/- 15sec is a matter of taste but usefull with a clip test only if all the fil is exactly the same(on tripod shot withing seconds like fashion). For all labs, minus processing times are decided by the times available on their equipment and averages of previous results, there is just to much variables; films, subjects, lightning, taste & used for... our refrema has a programmable range for the first dev of 3min to 31min45sec by 15sec increments. With current films we rarely go below 4min and above 16min.

regards,

in FUJI line of slide films the proviaF series are more sensitive to processing variation then the others (somewhat like the EPP & EPR in kodak line but not the reactions) ,the bluish and in stronger case blue-green are exagerated by the processing, in good conditions provia 100F is the best Fuji slide film for light caucasian exposed to fashion taste, astia is the best for latino & dark skin tone.

andrew, were talking about modifying the process it imply that the exposure was change to a greater extent then what a normal process would tolerate, (rating velvia at 40 is the norm for publishing on a commercial agenda, 50 is for slide projector & was to compete with the saturated kodachrome 25), PETR we did not pull the velvia 100F, only pushed it to 500 process at 11min30sec or for us +2&1/4, amazing the blacks and DMAX (base of film) is holding great, we will try pulling & definitively pushing some moore... i might post the result at some point.

set at 25iso is rare, if so process at 4min45SEC. in first dev. (or -2/3)do not go -1 it's to strong. it will be slightly cooler but it's better then a to light slide. some use on purpose this technique with a warm-up filter to reduce contrast.

regards

nestor this is processing most likely, take one of your slide apart from the mount & look at it a pinpoint light source (spot in a low light room) inspect the reflection of that light on the emulsion side you should see a metallic reflection (kind of)the silver content of e-6 films is completely remove during process only color dyes are left, the best way to look at it is under infrared viewer silver will show up dyes are invisible! anyhow you can save the films at the same time prove the lab wrong (may be request this from another lab!) have the films reprocess starting at the pre-bleach step of course in good chemistry. the film will have to be taken out of mounts and attach to 4x5 holder clips. if it does not go away the film also can have been expose to light at the end of the 1st developer and started a solarization, that is permanent.

just answered inthe previous link! check FILM TEMPERATURE?

there are a few, some very bad, remember that films are in control environment when packaged, in humid climate your film can absorb to much hudidity while out of the sealed packaging in camera or sitting around and when put back in a cold environment dew form and film stick together or with the paper backing in 120!! after photographic material are expose they do loose some, I say some latent details but for what i saw paper is more prone then films unless youre after very faint details barely exposed. try an easy test shoot your usual subject twice store one, process one promptly wait 2 weeks and process the other then make prints of both at the same time and compare. over the years papers have become a lot better in that regard, in the days that 250 prints of the same neg was common, these were exposed on roll paper so the last one process was the first exposed and with a time difference of 2 hours, one would clearly see a loss of details in weak exposure area, try that to with paper if you print. to return to films issues many are very good at keeping their image even if not process for long period but some may change unevenly in their different layers showing more color shift then lost of details. just test it for your own opinion. (the lab easely can have more variation then the film itself!)

grain!! shuuuut... this is taboo. in neg look like konica 1600, and slide in pro the epl-400 from kokak don't know if the elite 400 is the same film, you are left with using half frame, shoot wider & crop. pushing c-41 will increase more contrast then grain.

with elite 200 for your goals it will be a .5 out of 4 score, just buy 2 rolls of films go outside shoot & process ;)

the MS is (was) a low contrast 100 iso film that push further then at the time provia RDPII 100. the only good use that i can remember was sticking to 400 ISO in a studio or outside both with flash, the color & contrast were punchy more then the new 400 at normal. if you like grain its a good choice. it's problem on a pro level is that it gives different color balance as you change the processing speed plus it was expensive for a while, 200 rolls shoot adds up. a tip for the new proviaF 400 most of the labs do not have an adjusted processing push time for it, so if you think you're hot on a +1 or +2 or whatever do the fine tuning of iso on you're side while asking the same process speed from the lab. also we prefer a slightly higher iso rating and small push like 640ISO and +.5 grain barely change but contrast & saturation are a lot nicer then using it at 400ISO and normal process.

if you value printing yourself durst 138 will do it all, this was my love for 12 years, find it complete or complete it soon on ebay orthe used market new or rebuilt is $$$, from condenser to color, 35 to 5X7 pin register, glass or glassless, 1" print to 40' murals... yep it's that good.

scoring 3 out of your 4 point is elite extra100 or EBX-100,

scince it's the e-100vs package for consumer market just try one to check skintone it might be to red for good grades!

you must have try something by now,don't know for tental process, but in regular c-41 adding 30sec to 1mn to your dev time is a lot, you won't have the same success as with b&w in regards to rising the iso.