Re: filmscanners: Scratched Negs & Home C-41 processing

["Hart or Mary Jo Corbett" <hnmjcorbett@earthlink.net>]

I don't see how that sticky laminate can do much except soften the focus, 
which is what dilutes the effect cause by the scratch.  In the old days whn
B&W reigned supreme in the darkroom, a printer's trick was to smear Vasalene
or similar on a neg just befroe printing it to achieve soft focus,
particularly on portraits and the like.  They cleaned it off as soon as the
enlarger exposure was made.

Collimated light, such a from a point source and then run through an
enlarger condenser increases the contrast but also increases the visibility
of any negative defects.  Collimated light essentially is where all the
light rays are parallel to each other.  Diffuse light (different than a
diffused image) was preferred, particularly from a so called "cold light"
source which is what I have had in my Beseler enlarger for many years.
[Something more learned from Ansel Adams, who printed with a cold light].
Even Adam's negs were not perfect, by any means! In later years, he had an
assistant whose job was to retouch his prints before they were matted and
framed.  He *never* exhibited an unretouched print.

Hart Corbett

----------
>From: Roman Kielich® <panromek@bigpond.com>
>To: filmscanners@halftone.co.uk
>Subject: RE: filmscanners: Scratched Negs & Home C-41 processing
>Date: Wed, Jan 24, 2001, 2:13 AM
>

> At 07:18 23/01/2001 -0800, you wrote:
>
>>         In one case, I picked up some negatives which demonstrated a very
>>long scratch across several frames which didn't show up in the prints
>>(which I use as pseudo-proofs).  The significance of the scratch was
>>it should have showed in the prints, and my conclusion was the scratch
>>occurred during the printing process.  One method of avoiding this is
>>to use a service which puts the sticky laminate on the film after
>>processing, but before printing.  However, the laminate has it own
>>downside ... primarily being a hassle to remove before scanning.
>>
>>shAf  :o)
>
> if they accepted your argument, they deserve to be punished. Most printers
> use diffused light which "masks" fine scratches. The same neg printed with
> a point light source would look terrible. Saying that, I'd rather look for
> scratches which are not parallel to the edge. It is definite sign of a film
> abuse.
>
>
> "Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow
> in Australia".
>
>