Help Identify Potential Issue

[Ramesh]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Recently got 120 roll developed and scanned by the lab.

In all images, there are thin lines running from top to bottom.

The camera is a Rolleiflex, that was serviced for slow shutter speed issues a couple of years ago. This is the first roll I have put through after this services.

The issues I could think of are:

1. Development Error,

2. Error in scanning 

3. Faulty camera

Any suggestions/thoughts on what it could be?

Many thanks,

Ramesh

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

[Kl@usW.]

Ramesh, 

sorry to see such a nice photo spoiled. 

my 2pence: 

--it´s not the camera. ( unless you use sanding paper as a film pressure plate... ) 

-- it´s not the development ( lines too sharp) 

--it might be a film error

-- it is probably a scanning problem: either step-motor of the scanner or a software problem.

two questions:

do you have the film ?

Do the stripes/scratches  cover the whole film--not only the scanned window ? ----> film error

Do the stripes/scratches cover the whole film--not only the scanned window and can you see/ feel the scratchers on the emulsion or the film base? ---> mechanical problem, maybe scanner, maybe handling.. 

Are  the stripes/scratches on all frames but not the margin of the film? ---> scanner problem

good luck,   Klaus 

 

Edited September 21, 2023 by Kl@usW.

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[Ramesh]

11 minutes ago, Kl@usW. said:

Ramesh, 

sorry to see such a nice photo spoiled. 

my 2pence: 

--it´s not the camera. ( unless you use sanding paper as a film pressure plate... ) 

-- it´s not the development ( lines too sharp) 

--it might be a film error

-- it is probably a scanning problem: either step-motor of the scanner or a software problem.

two questions:

do you have the film ?

Do the stripes/scratches  cover the whole film--not only the scanned window ? ----> film error

Do the stripes/scratches cover the whole film--not only the scanned window and can you see/ feel the scratchers on the emulsion or the film base? ---> mechanical problem, maybe scanner, maybe handling.. 

Are  the stripes/scratches on all frames but not the margin of the film? ---> scanner problem

good luck,   Klaus 

 

Klaus, 

Thanks for the detailed response. I will talk to the lab technician tomorrow. I haven't received the developed film yet. I will check the other things you pointed out when I get the negatives.

Incidentally, I had a couple of 35mm rolls developed and scanned at the same time. No such issues on the scans of those two rolls.

Cheers,

Ramesh

 

[Kl@usW.]

vor 2 Stunden schrieb Ramesh:

Klaus, 

Thanks for the detailed response. I will talk to the lab technician tomorrow. I haven't received the developed film yet. I will check the other things you pointed out when I get the negatives.

Incidentally, I had a couple of 35mm rolls developed and scanned at the same time. No such issues on the scans of those two rolls.

Cheers,

Ramesh

 

In a professional lab the 35mm and the 120 films are scanned on different machines-so that won't explain or exclude anything. 

[250swb]

I suspect it's a scanning problem, a bit like the banding you'd get with a digital file that's been under exposed. The scanner hasn't got the DR to cover the transition from bright to dark. What you'd do if scanning this manually is scan at a very low contrast to capture as much information as possible and then make the final image in Lightroom or Photoshop.

[pop]

This looks very similar to a problem I had once when scanning 6x9 cm negatives on a flatbed scanner without using one of the provided film holders.

I had placed the negatives at the very edge of the glass window in order to align them nicely in parallel to the scanner bed. It turned out that you had to leave a gap of about one cm (half an inch) between the edge of the scanner window and the first negative. You can see that the film holders for that scanner all have a gap at that location. I presume that the scanner uses the start of the bed to calibrate its sensors and lights.

The problem immediately went away, of course, as soon as I moved the negatives away from that edge. I then could produce stripes at will by obstructing part of that area that had to be empty and transparent.

The scanner in question was an Epson Perfection v600 Photo. Other scanners could have the same issue, I think.

[pop]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

15 hours ago, pop said:

problem I had once

I even have made a simple demo showing the effect:

 

[Ramesh]

Problem Solved !!!

Thank you all for the kind suggestions - You guys are amazing.

The problem is a film loading error on my part. I have an older version of Rollei, in which the film goes over a steel roller on its way to the take up spool.

After not using the camera for a number of years, I decided to watch a few YouTube Videos on film loading, and the examples were from later model Rolleis, which has two rollers. The film is threaded underneath the first and over the second roller before threading into the take up spool.

My loading error explains the thin lines across emulsion through the entire roll in between the film spacing as well, as it would have passed through a somewhat rough edge bordering the film plane.

Just to verify, I loaded a Black and White roll (correctly, this time - I might add) shot through the 12 frames and developed the roll last night. The result is a nicely developed roll, which no lines in sight.

Thanks once again for your help.

Cheers,

Ramesh

[adan]

Nice research and analysis!

........................

Yes, Rollei introduced an auto-indexing feature with two roller shafts in the late 1940s, with the Rolleiflex Automat.

With the film squeezed between two chrome-plated rollers, the camera can detect the start of the actual film (a faint bulge where the film beings and is taped onto the paper backing) and use that to start the exposure counter on its journey to "1."

Film side                                                                        ô
                                                                         ======---------------------------------------
Paper Backing                                                               o

Very ingenious!

The earlier Rolleiflexes - AND the cheaper Rolleicords and Rolleiflex Ts of any year - do not have the Automat feature. They use the more common 120-film technique of lining up the "START" line printed across the backing paper,

<———————><

with a camera index mark < alongside the film rails, from which the camera gearing can "count centimeters" to move the film to the correct postion for the first frame, once the back was closed. With only one chrome roller for the film to ride on.

But at a glance, the rollers look identical (~2mm-thick shiny chrome rods) - I have to check my mental gears as to Rollei version whenever I try a different one.

Edited September 26, 2023 by adan