What caused this scratch?

[Jonathan Martin]

Hi everyone,

There is a wavy scratch on the latest footage I received from the lab. It's shot with a Bolex Rex5.
It starts at the first second of the file, slides around a bit towards the center of the picture, then moves to the left side, then fades away, all in 50 seconds or so. No scratch after that.

I'll clean the pressure plate anyway, but any idea of what could cause this?

 

[Joerg Polzfusz]

Hi!

It could also be some hair or dust  (in the camera or in the telecine device).

Is this defect also visible on the film? When it is also on the film, you could check whether it’s a real scratch and whether it could be some residue from the processing lab’s final wash step.

[Frank Wylie]

You should really examine the film element itself to evaluate the problem.

It could have been a temporarily hung-open vacuum squeegee on the film processor that left a water streak on the film to be baked-in by the dry box (happens sometimes when a stapled splice hits the squeegee) or it might be a physical scratch on the element itself.

If it's a water streak, you can have the film rewashed (simply run back through the processor again) and it should remove the streaking.

If it's an emulsion scratch, you can also have the film rewashed and it can sometimes improve the situation by slightly "healing" the emulsion.  The swelling/shrinking of the emulsion tends to smooth-out the rough edges of a scratch and if it's not too deep, can improve or even totally camouflage the damage, but it has to be a very light scratch...

In my experience, wobbly scratches tend to be a transport issue;  a mis-threaded keeper roller or similar problem.  Since the defect disappears after 50 feet, it suggests whatever caused the issue rectified itself within that time period.

If it is an actual scratch, you will probably never find out exactly what caused the issue, but I highly suspect that it is a physical handling issue caused during thread-up or initial transport during camera loading, processing or scanning.

Camera gate scratches tend to be dead-straight; not wobbly.

Others may disagree, but this is my experience...

 

 

 

Edited January 5, 2023 by Frank Wylie

[Jonathan Martin]

Thanks Joerg, and thank you Frank for your informative reply.

I'll make sure to check when I receive the film, but it's nice to confirm this probably did not happen in the camera.

[Mark Dunn]

30 minutes ago, Jonathan Martin said:

Thanks Joerg, and thank you Frank for your informative reply.

I'll make sure to check when I receive the film, but it's nice to confirm this probably did not happen in the camera.

If it's still at the lab, ask them to check. If they have a problem that's got past their own QC  they'd want to know about it- real quick.

It does look more like a streak than a scratch- it's quite wide, like a trickle of water on a window.

Edited January 5, 2023 by Mark Dunn

[Jonathan Martin]

17 minutes ago, Mark Dunn said:

If it's still at the lab, ask them to check. If they have a problem that's got past their own QC  they'd want to know about it- real quick.

Good to know, Mark! Will do.

[Tyler Purcell]

Can you please send a video file? We won't be able to tell until we see it moving. 

[Dirk DeJonghe]

To me it looks like a hair in the camera gate.

[Robert Houllahan]

Was this scanned on a Spirit? It could be a hair in the line scan gate.

A movie clip would be more helpful.

[Doug Palmer]

3 hours ago, Dirk DeJonghe said:

To me it looks like a hair in the camera gate.

Me too. In the third image there's also a faint one beside it, which is possibly a reflection ?

[Jonathan Martin]

Yes Robert, this is a Spirit scan. Here is a clip to get a better view:

https://vimeo.com/786946045/bbf9d547b5

Edited January 6, 2023 by Jonathan Martin

[Robert Houllahan]

1 hour ago, Jonathan Martin said:

Yes Robert, this is a Spirit scan. Here is a clip to get a better view:

https://vimeo.com/786946045/bbf9d547b5

A hair or other small object in the line scan gate on the Spirit does make a streak through the whole frame so it can very well be that is what this is, I have seen similar looking streaks on my Spirit(s) especially because how it dances so far across the frame and out of frame left.

I would just send the film back for a rescan.

[Tyler Purcell]

Yea, I kinda agree with Robert on this, the spirit because it's a line scanner, can do weird things with hairs in the gate. 

[Jonathan Martin]

3 hours ago, Robert Houllahan said:

A hair or other small object in the line scan gate on the Spirit does make a streak through the whole frame so it can very well be that is what this is, I have seen similar looking streaks on my Spirit(s) especially because how it dances so far across the frame and out of frame left.

Many thanks, everyone. Case solved!

[Mark Dunn]

On 1/6/2023 at 9:34 PM, Jonathan Martin said:

Many thanks, everyone. Case solved!

You haven't told us what the problem was! We need to know!

[Jonathan Martin]

On 1/8/2023 at 4:38 PM, Mark Dunn said:

You haven't told us what the problem was! We need to know!

Sorry Mark! I was very convinced by Robert and Tyler's hypothesis of a hair in the Spirit's gate and got a bit carried away. But you are absolutely right, I will check on the film when I receive it and will let you know here.

[Dirk DeJonghe]

A hair in the gate of the scanner would show up as white if scanning negative.