Help scanning negatives maybe.

[seanghatch]

Hey, I've been shooting some exposures with my Minolta SRT-101, on agfa ISO400 film, then I develop it in my basement with d-76, and then the other day for the first time I scanned them with a HP ScanJet 7400

they look like crap.

But I don't know where the problem lies. I've shot some color film through before and had it developed at a store, and the prints came back pretty nice. But there is a possibility that the 30+ year old meter battery is dying and throwing off exposure. I could be underdeveloping it, but I'm following instructions, and when I look at the negatives, they look decently sharp, dense, but I could be wrong. Would a film scanner make a little difference, or a big difference? any hints on finding the problem? I'll put up a raw scan of one of the images in just a sec.

Thanks,
Sean


http://www.msu.edu/~hatchsea/intersection.jpg

ps: they all seem to look like this, none of them seem to appear underexposed.

 

[ksmattfish]

I typically find that scanning reduces contrast, and softens the image, but it still looks better than what you have here. I don't know that it's possible to determine whether the problem is with the negs or the scanning from what you have posted. Take the negs to a decent lab, and have them printed as 4"x6"s. What do they look like?

 

[binglemybongle]

I think you may just have to go through a process of elimination.

Change one thing at a time:

Film,
Processing,
Scan options,
Developing,

and change that battery, it can't be good.

If all else fails shell out for a very high resolution film scanner!

 

[BernieSC]

its hard to say looking at the sample you posted. If that is exactly how the neg looks and I was looking at that neg in person and it looked like that scan then it is your development. Your edge markings should be clear with the exception of the pre exposed frame numbers and in that scan they look gray or opaque. Whats your development times from what I remember common times are like 6 or 7 minutes at 68 degrees. and fix for twice the development time.
Looks like possibly you underdeveloped the film or exausted or too diluted the developer.

Thats just a guess

 

[ksmattfish]

You should fix for twice the clearing time, which is how long it takes a piece of the film (like the leader that is usually cut off) soaking in the fixer to turn clear.