Strange hairy negatives

bernards · 23rd March 2009

I need some help here. This is the first time I've encountered such a phenomenon. I developed a test roll of Fuji Neopan 400 yesterday night. Everything went as per normal until I was hanging up the film. I noticed the sprocket holes appeared to be badly scratched. On closer inspection, it appears to be teeny strands of hair, lots of it. I could even push it around with my fingers.

Before this roll, the same tank was used with to develop a roll of TriX 120mm film with no incident.

This roll of neopan was bought from Konata about a month back. Below is a frame with the hair very obvious. On top of that, the negative appears to be pretty badly scratched up. Anybody know where those tiny black hair came from?

Rangefinder_fan · 23rd March 2009

Hi,
I suspect that the 'hair' that you saw was actually the still wet film emulsion that was scratched off. How did you get excess water off your roll?
Or, what dev. tank are you using? Inversion or swirl?
Are the frames with the scratches towards the start or end of the roll? Or evenly distributed?

Others would prob weigh in with other possibilities.

rf

jfoo · 23rd March 2009

the only hair i can think off is the felt lining that prevents stray light from entering the film canister. did you by chance use scissors to cut off the film close to that area after you have reel the film into the spool inside the dark bag.

badly scratched spocket holes can only mean improperly loaded film, ie skewing.

bernards · 27th March 2009

Originally Posted by Rangefinder_fan

Hi,
I suspect that the 'hair' that you saw was actually the still wet film emulsion that was scratched off. How did you get excess water off your roll?
Or, what dev. tank are you using? Inversion or swirl?
Are the frames with the scratches towards the start or end of the roll? Or evenly distributed?

Others would prob weigh in with other possibilities.

rf

I was using a Paterson tank and swirling for agitation. The end of the roll was a lot worse then the front. However the hairy thingy appeared on the sprockets along the entire line. I shake off the water while still in the reel and just hang it out to dry overnight.

This is the first time I have encountered this and using Neopan 400.

Quote:

the only hair i can think off is the felt lining that prevents stray light from entering the film canister. did you by chance use scissors to cut off the film close to that area after you have reel the film into the spool inside the dark bag.

badly scratched spocket holes can only mean improperly loaded film, ie skewing.

There was too much of hair to be from the felt. The entire line on both sides of the sprockets.

jtb · 27th March 2009

during darkness use the scissors to round off the sharp corners of the film edges to prevent scratches during spooling.
During the drying time, hang it with a load right at the bottom to prevent the film from curling up....

Rangefinder_fan · 27th March 2009

Dunno lah. I still think it is likely to be film emulsion that was scratched off, either during loading or during development. If I recall, Neopan gets a little sticky during loading due to the humidity, so if one mucked up the loading and needed to try several times, the roll would start to crinkle. Then, if the end of the roll is not loaded properly, and if its a swirl type tank, that may explain why the start of the roll gets more scratched up.
Aside from that, I can only imagine that you had a small furry mammal inside the dark bag during loading..

23rd March 2009	#1
bernards Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 884	Strange hairy negatives I need some help here. This is the first time I've encountered such a phenomenon. I developed a test roll of Fuji Neopan 400 yesterday night. Everything went as per normal until I was hanging up the film. I noticed the sprocket holes appeared to be badly scratched. On closer inspection, it appears to be teeny strands of hair, lots of it. I could even push it around with my fingers. Before this roll, the same tank was used with to develop a roll of TriX 120mm film with no incident. This roll of neopan was bought from Konata about a month back. Below is a frame with the hair very obvious. On top of that, the negative appears to be pretty badly scratched up. Anybody know where those tiny black hair came from?

23rd March 2009	#2
Rangefinder_fan Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 503	Re: Strange hairy negatives Hi, I suspect that the 'hair' that you saw was actually the still wet film emulsion that was scratched off. How did you get excess water off your roll? Or, what dev. tank are you using? Inversion or swirl? Are the frames with the scratches towards the start or end of the roll? Or evenly distributed? Others would prob weigh in with other possibilities. rf

23rd March 2009	#3
jfoo Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 1,270	Re: Strange hairy negatives the only hair i can think off is the felt lining that prevents stray light from entering the film canister. did you by chance use scissors to cut off the film close to that area after you have reel the film into the spool inside the dark bag. badly scratched spocket holes can only mean improperly loaded film, ie skewing.

27th March 2009	#5
jtb Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 191	Re: Strange hairy negatives during darkness use the scissors to round off the sharp corners of the film edges to prevent scratches during spooling. During the drying time, hang it with a load right at the bottom to prevent the film from curling up....

27th March 2009	#6
Rangefinder_fan Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 503	Re: Strange hairy negatives Dunno lah. I still think it is likely to be film emulsion that was scratched off, either during loading or during development. If I recall, Neopan gets a little sticky during loading due to the humidity, so if one mucked up the loading and needed to try several times, the roll would start to crinkle. Then, if the end of the roll is not loaded properly, and if its a swirl type tank, that may explain why the start of the roll gets more scratched up. Aside from that, I can only imagine that you had a small furry mammal inside the dark bag during loading..