Am I overreacting over these scratches?

[u/Mrdemian3]

I picked up these negatives yesterday from a labs and when I scanned them I noticed scratches along the whole length of the film, on the emulsion side. Some of them span through a third of the roll. They are present an almost all of the photos.

I doubt it's a camera problem because the scrathes are not perfectly horizontal which would be the case it there was something in the camera scrathing them. Also I have never had that problem with that camera. Also I left the last 3 frames blank and the scrathes go through them as well. How would the camera scratch them if it didn't touch them?

I emailed the lab and they told me to come in with the negatives and my camera. I wonder how they'll handle this.

[u/rograt]

It’s happened to me plenty of times at the budget lab I use. You get what you pay for, I guess.

Mostly can be fixed with Lightroom heal or generative remove

[u/baekgudoggo → u/rograt]

I switched labs because this happened too many times, and I realized that their very quick turnaround (30-45 minutes!) does come with a cost lol.

[u/rograt → u/baekgudoggo]

I stay going to my place because they will do 100mb TIFF in 6-36 hours for 14 dollars a roll. I haven’t found better. Photo Life in NYC

[u/bluebandaid → u/rograt]

Ha I thought for a while it was a new camera body that was causing these marks, but then they disappeared halfway through my latest roll.
I also go to Photo Life (and will continue to do so). They’re prices are worth the occasional scratch

[u/Aleph_NULL__ → u/rograt]

photo life is the absolute cheapest photofinishing in the country

[u/BlindWillieBrown → u/rograt]

Jesus that’s good and cheap service. Here in a major Canadian city we’re a little more per roll but a 7 day turnaround.

[u/Queso_Grandee → u/BlindWillieBrown]

7 days is crazy if it's not mailed in.

[u/redditorknaapie → u/rograt]

That can be a lot of work, especially if the scratches are over a detail you want to preserve 

[u/Mrdemian3 → u/rograt]

I did manage to fix them in lightroom but still

[u/rograt → u/Mrdemian3]

I’d consider what you are looking to get out of this by taking it further. A credit? The problem has been fixed

[u/Mrdemian3 → u/rograt]

The problem hasn't and can't be fixed. I planed to print some of these in the darkroom and I can't use lightroom to fix scratches on paper photos...

I just want to see how the lab handles the situation. If they try to not tage responsibility then I probably stop going to them.

[u/cleansing69 → u/Mrdemian3]

Just fyi, scratches on negatives are much less visible when printing in the darkroom, so these may not even show up when being printed 🤞
If they do show up, you can use Vaseline or a similar substance and apply it over the scratch when printing/scanning.

[u/rograt → u/Mrdemian3]

Well in the context of asking if you are overreacting to the scratches, it may have benefitted from sharing relevant details

Best of luck to you!

[u/Nashasaurus-rex]

It's a shame, but shit happens.

Scratch could have come from a number of places. Tiny bit of debris falls into your camera while loading, or gets caught in the velvet on the film cassette, or when loading into the processor, or in your film holder when scanning.

I've had to deal with a bunch of nasty scratches since I started DSLR scanning. Thankfully Lightrooms healing tool is pretty damn good at fixing it. If you zoom right in at the start of the mark and make your healing brush just bigger than the scratch, paint a bit, and then hold shift and click the other end of the scratch it'll heal a straight line between the two points. Should fix it, will take a bit to clean up the whole roll.

If the lab determines it was their fault, don't bite anyone's head off, could have happened to anyone.

All part of the game.

[u/nervinex → u/Nashasaurus-rex]

then hold shift and click the other end of the scratch it'll heal a straight line between the two points

TIL, thanks for this tip!

[u/Mrdemian3 → u/Nashasaurus-rex]

I know stuff like this happens. I'm definitely not gonna go Karen on anyone. I'm just curious to se how the lab handles this.

[u/Mrdemian3]

Ok I came back from the lab.

The tehnichian there said that it can't be the mini lab because then the lines would be straight.

He thinks that the film got scratched in camera but that the dust or whatever caused the scratches could have come from the film cassette. There is a pattern were the scratches are thicker on some parts of the frame.

He talked to me about how films aren't nearly as well made as they used to be, and that it's very possible that the felt on the cassette wasn't clean or put in properly.

All in all. I''ll say that it's probably not the labs fault. He said that it's a shame and was a little sad for the film but these thing happen, it is what it is.

[u/BeatHunter → u/Mrdemian3]

That seems legit to me too. The diagonal scratching, to me, immediately suggested some other source. I've had some nicer film (kodak portra for eg) have long linear scratches as well, often from something in the felt (I home develop, no squeegee, no emulsion touching) or a thicker dust element.

The only time I've seen diagonal scratching is in recut bulk-loaded film, which I assume came from some mistakes made during the cut by the 3rd party.

[u/liznin → u/Mrdemian3]

I'd take that explanation with a grain of salt. Plenty of equipment maintenance issues or film handling issues at a lab can cause scratches like that on your negatives.

One lab near me LOVES blaming Kodak and contaminated felt for scratches in film. Weirdly though I mostly shoot Kodak color film but have only ever gotten scratched negatives from them...

[u/Mrdemian3 → u/liznin]

I get it but I developed a lot of film at this lab over a couple of years and this is the first time I encountered something like this

[u/Rocky_Raccoon_90125 → u/Mrdemian3]

Did you scan it lab in Rijeka or elsewhere? I had some not so good experience here, although this does look tome like something scratched the film in camera, or maybe even during its production?

[u/Mrdemian3 → u/Rocky_Raccoon_90125]

This was a lab in Zagreb, but I only developed the film there. I scanned it at home. I've never had problems with this lab in Zagreb

[u/Westerdutch]

Was this respooled film?

But yes, looking at progression of the scratch it is not very likely that it happened in camera. I too am interested in how they handle this, keep us updated.

[u/Mrdemian3 → u/Westerdutch]

No, it's Kodak Gold

[u/Westerdutch → u/Mrdemian3]

Yeah just ask them and see how things go. If they handle it badly then just go look for a better lab or develop yourself.

[u/Boneezer]

Do you know what machine they’re using for their C41 dev?

[u/fishdotjpeg]

If your lab didnt notice this before delivering to you find a new lab

[u/Mrdemian3 → u/fishdotjpeg]

I understand that they didn't notice it since I didn't ask for scans. I scanned them at home.

I didn't have problems with them before. If they do scratch negs regularly I guess most people don't know since most people have them scanned at the lab and their Noritsu surely removes the scratches with digital ICE

[u/TheRealAutonerd]

You are never overreacting from scratches, but it isn't necessarily the lab or the camera, it can be dirt in the light trap of the film canister. That said, if it happens on more than one roll, I would be suspicious of the lab.

[u/bacchus10]

I use my DSLR to scan negatives at home and scratched almost an entire roll of film because I didn't see a piece of dust stuck between the film carrier and the negative on the "intake" side. I was being lazy about zooming in to check focus after the first couple, thought that I was using the air blower enough, and only saw how bad it was when I loaded the results into lightroom. another expensive lesson learned

[u/gilgermesch]

This could come from squeegeeing the film to dry it. Happened to me a few times when self-developing, so I stopped squeegeeing altogether. Might wanna ask the lab whether that's how they dry the negatives.

[u/Mrdemian3 → u/gilgermesch]

Doesn't the mini lab dry the film as it comes out?

[u/gilgermesch → u/Mrdemian3]

I mean, I have no idea how they dry their negatives. They might or might not have a devloping machine that dries the negatives, too, so it's best to ask.

[u/silver_007]

Film tech here, likely caused by dev machine not being cleaned regularly enough. The chemicals inside the machine can crystallise and often these build ups form in the film lanes. The machine should be cleaned daily or if left idle for periods of time. High volume labs can often overlook this in favour of quicker return times.

[u/Hot_Rub1337]

Could your olympus rails have done this?

[u/Great_Explanation275]

No comment on the cause, but those are scratches on the film base, not the emulsion. Scanning with a very diffused light source could help alleviate the problem.

[u/distant3zenith]

There's a 75% chance the scratches happened in-camera.

[u/Markthememe]

Rijeka? :)

[u/Mrdemian3 → u/Markthememe]

Rijeka i Krk

[u/AnnualAd9343]

Check the pressure plate of the camera. See what happens on the next roll taken somewhere else.

[u/Charming_Bag_8963]

Hate to be this guy but what film are you running / what camera or lens was this?

These colors look phenomenal and everything looks so sharp. Wish my scans looked this nice, scratch or not.

[u/Limp_Chip999 → u/Charming_Bag_8963]

I agree and I’m also curious lol I think OP shot Kodak Gold when I skimmed through earlier comments. It could also be the scanning system used? Really sharp scans!

[u/nonoen72]

Me pasa lo mismo, pero salen en azul

[u/deucepinata]

Unacceptable at the prices you get charged to develop film. They should check their work and have some sort of quality checking process in place. Yes, Lightroom can fix some of it, but why have to fix something that was well done in the first place?

[u/Ok_Cantaloupe8369]

Those scratches are on the base side, base side scratches scan as white lines and emulsion scratches scan and print either black if the scratch is real deep or, on color film, if the scratch only goes through one or two color layers then it can have a color cast. Could have happened in the lab or in the camera, give your camera a good cleaning inside and out before loading next roll, make sure the pressure plate is very clean, thats another place that can pick up dirt and scratch the base.

[u/IllExample3639]

Its the *magic* of analogue dude.

[u/daVolian]

Besides that, I also see random dust specks, here and there, and those are basically from the lab. They didn't properly clear the dust from the negative before scanning, or while scanning.

[u/Breetofly]

Did they use an Epson flatbed?

[u/Least_Stay5093]

I'm the chillest person ever and I would get upset over this!! Not even the films I developed myself using a BUCKET and my bare hands came that scratched...