Scratches on negatives

[mr2mk1g 10]

Has anyone come across scratching on the negatives which shows up on the photos? The scratches run horizontally along the negative and is only on some shots but appear along the length of the film. Its occured on the last two films so its not the film itself.

They're my g/f's photo's taken with a Cannon EOS camera on good film. She had a long argument with the developers last night and made em do the run again but Im not hopefull as the marks are on the negatives.

She never seems to be able to get her photo's developed right the first time round and always has to argue for a second run (no matter where she goes) - which then comes out right!

Are these marks caused by crappy developing or could her camera itself be to blame??

Its a shame cos I was doing some cool surf landings in the shots and we got some comedy shots of dumb squaddies under two canopies at 400ft

[quade 3]

Quote

Are these marks caused by crappy developing or could her camera itself be to blame??

Without seeing the film I'd have to say yes to both.

The camera itself could be to blame. It's possible that at some point a grain of sand or dust found its way into the camera and has scratched the surface of the film gate. Check the entire path the film would travel with a high powered magnifing glass.

It could also be that the developer has an issue.

Shoot a roll of film (you don't care about) and have it developed at another lab.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[hoym 0]

I had this experience last year (pre-digital days). I took a negative in to have duplicates and enlargements made and the results came back with these big long scratches across the prints. The scratches were not on the original proofs.

I took the negatives to a professional lab. They scanned the negative and digitally repaired the damage. The resulting prints came out great.

To their credit, the first lab paid for the damage repair and the reprints (5 @ 20x30). The cost for the repair work wasn't that bad. Around $30 to $50 I think but I don't remember exactly. Also, they put the repaired image onto a CD so that I could get additional reprints if needed.

Good luck.

[fasterfaller 0]

You should be able to fix that . The scanner I use has a program called digital ice that can fix a lot of faults in a negative .

[Grumpy 5]

Check the pressure plate which is attached to the inside of back door and holds the film flat when the door is closed. It usually has little dimples in it which love to trap a bit of sand etc. Every time the film winds on, it is dragged across the grit and presto! scratch along the entire length of film.
Even if that's not the problem in this case a worthwhile precaution (particularly in dusty/sandy areas) is to give a quick clean around the pressure plate/film transport area area with a blower brush (available from camera stores) or compressed air everytime you load a film (point the lense towards the sky so dirt falls out of and not into the camera)