Strange spots white on my scanned negatives

gsgary · Feb 16, 2015

Try using Ilfosol3 for your FP4 and DDX for HP5

limr · Feb 16, 2015

timor said:
Your process is fine, agitation will have no influence on anything like that. How long do you develop. In average ? I just wonder, if it is not an effect from physical part of development. But then I never seen that before. Do you have your film from the same source ?

That was my first thought as well. But Ilford films should be okay. I've had issues with rebranded film, but this isn't rebranded. Only if perhaps you bought these from a 3rd party that didn't store them well.

If you are only seeing this on certain films, then perhaps it's something to do with a softer emulsion perhaps? Do you use distilled water?

If it were a dirty scanner, you'd think that they would show up on all the scans, not just the lower speed film scans.

Could it be a camera issue? Instead of looking at what kind of film, check what kind of images you are seeing these spots in. Is it only in pictures where you have a lot of sky? I ask because I have seen some similar spotting in a roll I took with a new-to-me camera - turns out it has pinholes in the shutter curtain.

thomasbruce · Feb 16, 2015

I usually scan at 3200. I will buy a loupe and have a closer look.

tsspro said:
These spots have always been present in my scans from any flatbed or Nikon film scanner I've used. I've always assumed they were a result of dirty film/scanner and have spent MANY hours eliminating them from my scans. What gets me, though is that I can print a hell-of-a dirty neg optically and not have any issues, oh well. My advice is to find a method in you post processing that works for you to remove them efficiently and effectively.

The spots on the negative is not dust. They are very clean and you can clearly see the differnce when dust appears in the scan.

thomasbruce · Feb 16, 2015

limr said:
Could it be a camera issue? Instead of looking at what kind of film, check what kind of images you are seeing these spots in. Is it only in pictures where you have a lot of sky? I ask because I have seen some similar spotting in a roll I took with a new-to-me camera - turns out it has pinholes in the shutter curtain.

Thanks for the suggestion, but most of my cameras have a leaf shutter

they are easier to see in the darker parts of the image in the lighter parts they blend more in. But if I du any kinds of adjustments in lightroom the get very visible, fast. It also seem like the image cant handle beeing adjusted in lightroom more than very very smal amounts before braking up and just giving me a dirty looking image with more solid grays than tonal grays.....(my english vocabulary is lacking some words to better describe what I mean here)..

tsspro · Feb 16, 2015

Could they be parts of the emulsion crystals that reflect the scanner's light source back to the scanner's eye? A glare of sorts, only very very very tiny.

limr · Feb 16, 2015

Hrm...you've presented us with a pickle! Definitely get a loupe and take a close look at those negatives.

I seriously doubt it's the scan - I can't imagine what would create those spots on one film and not another unless you are doing something very different with the scanner settings for those films.

It could be something to do with the reaction of the developer or fixer + your water chemistry + the slower films. I forgot, did you say whether or not you used distilled water?

Otherwise, it perhaps could simply be a bad batch of film.

thomasbruce · Feb 17, 2015

I'm not using sistilled water. Could it be moisture? My film should be dry. It's in a air tight (supposedly) box in my fridge with silica gels. My fridge has a bit of moisture and a fan that is probably not helping keeping things dry...