0
\$\begingroup\$

today I got the scans of my Lomography 400 roll, as you can see the quality of these is quite terrible. While I think it's not a lab error but it's how I handled this roll, I'm not quite sure about what might cause this. I stored this film on my refrigerator (I don't know the exact temperature) for around 2-3 months before I sent it and I'm not finishing the roll on the exact day I'm loading it on my camera. Then again, I've had rolls that I don't finish in one go before and stored it for quite some time but the results weren't like this.

Do you guys know what might've caused this? Thank youenter image description here enter image description here

Improve this question
\$\endgroup\$
3
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ Do you have the film negatives? Do they look the same? \$\endgroup\$
    – Kai Mattern
    Commented May 4, 2021 at 13:09
  • \$\begingroup\$ Do the negatives have good density, or are they almost clear? \$\endgroup\$
    – Michael C
    Commented May 4, 2021 at 16:54
  • \$\begingroup\$ i haven't pick up the negatives yet \$\endgroup\$
    – poplarbeargi
    Commented May 5, 2021 at 11:54

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1
\$\begingroup\$

Taking a while to finish the roll won't normally cause problems (within reason). I've finished rolls in the past year that sat in a camera for literally a dozen years and got acceptable images.

Part of what you see above is certainly a scanning issue -- the vertical (as shown) banding is probably due to a power supply ripple in the scanner or its scanning lamp.

The poor shadow detail is due to underexposure, pure and simple, and the green cast is from the scanning process trying to compensate for that. Not really a scanning fault, though it can be reduced by using scanner settings to let the clear film areas go black instead of trying to average the frame to a "normal" exposure.

I'd be very inclined to ask the lab to rescan this roll, and then use a different lab in the future.

Improve this answer
\$\endgroup\$
2
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ The film could be so severely underexposed that to get anything at all out of very low density negatives they had to push the scans to outrageous levels for both brightness and contrast. If you push a scan hard enough, you'll almost always see those kinds of lines if the whole image doesn't blow out first, just like if you push a raw file from a lens cap shot hard enough you'll always see grid pattern read noise. \$\endgroup\$
    – Michael C
    Commented May 4, 2021 at 16:52
  • \$\begingroup\$ i see thank you for your feedback! I'll try to scan the negatives in different labs. \$\endgroup\$
    – poplarbeargi
    Commented May 5, 2021 at 12:02

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.