Scratched on Prints

Is the disk scratched or damaged or anything like that? Is part of the top film a little chopped up?

If the bottom of the disk is scratched you're able to bring in the CD to any place that sells video games or CD's and they should be able to fill in the scratches for you since the top film is the important part of the disk.

If the top film is scratched up, you may need to buy a new disk :/

I hope this helps :)

Try using the Q-tip and alcohol on the print head (transparent film). Did you refill the cartridge yourself because overfilling will cause ink everywhere. If there is too much ink for the Q-tip, try a kleenex with alcohol. In order to test prints, the excessive ink must be dealt with.

First check the disc doesn't have dirt, finger prints or is very badly scratched. If it happens on all discs you will need a lens cleaner disc. If that doesn't work then it could be damage to the lens or a fault on the unit.

It's scratch along the film and will have been caused by either faulty film (very unlikely but not impossible), or it has been scratched when running through the camera or processing machinery (sadly both very common).

Open the back of your camera and lay a section of scratched negative over the back, emulsion side down, just as it would have been when taking photos. Use the scratch to guide you to find any rough/sharp points especially across the masking frame (the 36mm x 24mm rectangular hole in the camera which determines the size of the image). If you find none, then take your negative along and ask ask at the photo lab you use whether they have had any problems. They'll almost certainly say "no" but will then quietly check and rectify their machinery if they find dirt or debris stuck in there. Frequently the fault is in their sleeving machine which cuts up the negatives into shorter lengths.

Unfortunately, it's a problem which is far more common these days. Most 35mm film cameras are old and poorly maintained, or are just overpriced and badly made plastic toy cameras like the entire Lomo range. In addition, many people get their films processed at local minilabs and as they're used less frequently now the standards of operation and maintenance have generally fallen. I find that if I use a postal processing service the large commercial labs have better maintained machinery. The downside is that the local minilab will often give a more personal service with respect to getting an accurately exposed print and the large commercial lab will not unless you pay for a premium service.

Sounds like its time for a new drum/print cartridge. When it get worn you start to get poor quality prints and sometimes lines. COule also be scratched and transfering the line on the prints but in either case needs to be replaced.

Hello, Andrea.

Sounds like either your printer needs a new fuser assembly (If the teflon roller gets scratched or starts to disintegrate you will get lines or black marks on the page) or you need a replacement toner.

Hope this helps.

This looks as if the negative has been scratched by the minilab processor. It could be scratched in tha camera but with this camera there are only two places this could happen resulting in this kind of scratch.

One is the film cassette itself, the other is the take-up spool, where the film is wound onto itself. However this would not be likley to create a scratch affecting more than one or two negs.

Colour film has a built in orange filter which compensates for the excess sensitivity of colour papers to blue. If this is scratched away, then more blue get's through which prints yellow.

The processing machine uses sqeegee's to prevent carry-over of chenicals form one bath to another, and damage or contaminaton of any one of these can scratch the negative. This is much more likely during processing, as the emulsion is softer when wet.

Films usually have a protective anti-scratch layer, but the protection is not 100%. Also develelped emulsion is generally harder than undeveloped as the last development stage often contains chemical hardeners designed to give extra protection to the negative.

The reason it may not show on all the prints is simply that these days many colour film is printed by digital scanning. Many scanners can detect scratches by viewing the negative in infrared light. Photographic dyes are transparent to infrared in order to reduce heat absorption from enlarger lamps, so there should be no image visible in infrared, anything that is must be dust or a scratch. The image can them be processed to compensate for the scrathes making them virtually undetectable.

A thin scratch may be filled in by using pixesl just either side of the scratch to fill the scratch in. With a wider scratch, if there is some residual image then the software can use that and nearby unscratched areas as a guide to make an acceptable guess as to what was supposed to be there. If the scratch is too wide and too deep it will just give up. A bodged attempt may end-up worse than the scratch. (Often a skilled touch up artist can make it dissapear, but machines on their own are not that smart yet.)

So the good news is that your camera is unlikely to be at fault.

If this shows on one film or a batch of films processed at the same time, take them back to the processor. (I have done this before and been paid a fair amount of compensation. If they printed them at the same time it should be obvious that the negs were scratched before you took them home.)

On the other hand if this is showing on films processed at the same place over a period of time then don't use them again.

If this is happening no matter where you get the film developed, then you might need to check you camera!

Lines/streaks at the same location indicate either a speck of dust stuck on the glass or the glass may be scratched.
S. Mohan

dear ben505,
This could be due to the shutter leaking light from the top or bottom, and it could also be caused by light leaking in through the camera back. The most common cause of edge fogging is light leaking in through the film canister, which happens over time if the unused film is not stored properly. If this is a high ISO film(400 and up) and you load your film into the camera in a very bright enviroment that can also cause film fogging. Try a brand new roll of film and if that doesn't resolve the problem I would have it looked at by a camera service technician.

Sincerely,
Agent Allan
Go Ahead. Use Us.

The lines could be scratches in the negatives.

Have you looked CLOSELY at your negatives with a magnifier to see if the scratches are on your film?

And when you say "Serviced", do you mean "cleaned" also?

If you have scratched film, then return it to the place you got it serviced/cleaned and let the owner/manager know that you just had it serviced there and it's scratching your negatives.

If you have an automatic camera, this bit below will be of no help.

Assuming that your camera is a manual loader, it may be that you aren't putting enough film into the take up spool for it to catch.

Try putting a little more film into the take up spool when you are loading the camera, and MAKE SURE that the holes in the film LINE UP with the film sprockets.

Then after you close the film door and start advancing your film, look at the film rewind knob, if it isn't turning while you are winding in film, then your film hasn't caught in the take up spool.

Another way to tell if your film is advancing is to shoot a test shot, and then advance the film, and then lightly turn the rewind knob a bit.

You should be able to feel the tension of the film if it is loaded correctly.