Causes of grain

[Martin Hawkes]

Hello all,

 

I´ve recently scanned (Rank) some 16mm Vision 250D to D-Beta and the telecine has grain the size of golf balls.

 

I was unable to sit in on the scanning and asked for a graded transfer. After seeing the tape I called the lab to find out what the cause of the grain could be. They say that the exposures were slightly over and slightly under. Well that´s understandable, the subject was a girl on a scooter driving through a forest- I exposed for the shadow areas minus half a stop. But the grain is across the entire image- both the light and dark areas. It reminds me of a "film grain" plug-in. The stock has been in my freezer for a while but this looks like old Agfa high speed not Kodak Vision 250.

 

Any theories, assumptions, self-promotions would be greatly appreciated.

 

Regards,

 

Martin

[Mitch Gross]

It should be easy enough to inspect the negative to see how grainy it actually is. Perhaps poor storage or aged film would be to blame if the stock itself is grainy. Otherwise it is a transfer issue.