This is catastrophy! Blue line on all 5 rolls!

Post by **Super-Swede** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 8:06 am

I know this has been discussed before and I wrote it yesterday but I want to give you all my details. I shot 5 rolls with my Canon 1014 autozoom, got them back the other day, happy to watch the result. The film was brand new, latest batch from Kodak. And what do I see? The same line in the film on all 5 rolls. The indoor scenes line look more blue than the ourdoor scenes whose line are more black. It follows the same pattern, first it goes straight, then it makes a strange curve and goes back to be straight again. This goes on and on and on for 75 meters of film

I have shot 30 rolls with that camera and never had problems before. These scenes were very important and looked otherwise beautiful. Do you regognize this problem?

Post by **S8 Booster** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 8:16 am

cant really tell but from your description i would believe it is a scratch due to the processing. if it was the cam the lines should not move and if you have not used the cam since you should inspect the gate/film path for particles anyway.

is is a constant thin line/scratch or a thicker "spray" like "fogged" pattern?

are you in a position to post a diy transfer sample clip?

s

Post by **matt5791** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 8:59 am

I had a similar thing with some Vision film about a year ago and it came down to processing (Film and processing duly replaced by Andec/Widescreen)

This was blue lines on the edge of the frame often pulsing. Apparently it was a pressure mark from the processor.

Matt

Post by **Justin Lovell** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 2:28 pm

I've seen this problem before as well.

I have a sample clip, but the ftp is down at the moment.

I've found that when you do have this problem, it seems to be most prevelant in DARK or slighlty underexposed scenes.

And mine ran right down the center of the frame, wiggled to the left a little, then back to the right.. not a dead straight scratch.

justin

Post by **stianw** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 4:42 pm

Same with me, i got my film some weeks ago and a light blue straight line goes all the way true my film, even when i toucht the film i feel the line so well, its very deep :!: but the unknown 2 frames you get with had nothing.

Alex · Post by **Alex** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 9:41 pm

A good troubleshooting technique is don't send all of your film in on the same day.

Send three cartridges in one day, wait a couple of days, then send the other two. If all five still have the scratch, perhaps the problem happened when the film was originally spooled onto the carts.

If all three from one day have the blue scratch but not the the two from the other day the film was processed, then it most definitely would be the lab.

Post by **hassan** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 12:53 am

According to Dwaynes...

Q. Why do I have a line of blue streaks down one side of my film?

A. The blue streak is a result of static fog. This film must be fogged before it enters the developer in the Kodachrome process to show this characteristic blue color. In the past the cause of this fog has been the super 8 cartridge. The cartridge does not allow the film to run smoothly through the camera and static is processed. The static produced a spark of light that fogs the film with blue light. When the film is developed the fogs is revealed as a blue line down one side of the film. I suggest using film with a different expiration date to avoid getting a bad cartridge.

Post by **MovieStuff** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 1:03 am

Alex wrote:A good troubleshooting technique is don't send all of your film in on the same day.

Send three cartridges in one day, wait a couple of days, then send the other two. If all five still have the scratch, perhaps the problem happened when the film was originally spooled onto the carts.

If all three from one day have the blue scratch but not the the two from the other day the film was processed, then it most definitely would be the lab.

That's actually a very good idea. When doing so, I would break it up and send the odd numbered carts on one day and the even numbered carts the next, in respect to the order they were shot in. If there was something in the gate that was causing the scratch, then it might go away after X number of rolls, regardless of which day they are processed. But if the scratch alternates on every other roll, then that would indicate a problem at the lab and not the camera.

Roger

Alex · Post by **Alex** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 4:45 am

MovieStuff wrote:
Alex wrote:A good troubleshooting technique is don't send all of your film in on the same day.

Send three cartridges in one day, wait a couple of days, then send the other two. If all five still have the scratch, perhaps the problem happened when the film was originally spooled onto the carts.

If all three from one day have the blue scratch but not the the two from the other day the film was processed, then it most definitely would be the lab.
That's actually a very good idea. When doing so, I would break it up and send the odd numbered carts on one day and the even numbered carts the next, in respect to the order they were shot in. If there was something in the gate that was causing the scratch, then it might go away after X number of rolls, regardless of which day they are processed. But if the scratch alternates on every other roll, then that would indicate a problem at the lab and not the camera.

Roger

Good idea on alternating all of the cartridges, that's like a test within a test within a test.

Post by **lord_rover** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 8:00 pm

Hi,

just received one of my 200ft rolls of Kodachrome25 back from Switzerland and disappointingly it showed a blue streak too

On the positive side the images turned out to be absolutely stunning, I just have to use the superdrive on a more regular basis. Guess I will do some negative shots too

Alex

Post by **John_Pytlak** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 8:13 pm

Blue lines are most often due to a pressure mark. Static may produce blue marks, but not usually as a straight line.

Post by **lord_rover** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 8:37 pm

John_Pytlak wrote:Blue lines are most often due to a pressure mark. Static may produce blue marks, but not usually as a straight line.

Hmm. might be true. On closer inspection of the built-in Pressure plate of the Beaulieu Superdrive, I noticed some "gum" which when wiped off turned out to be yellow/brown. So obviously film emulsion had been rubbing off What I do not quite understand is that the emulsion is facing away from the pressure plate!?! Could it be that the emulsion got too moist, sticking to the acetate base on the prewound film roll?

If so, has anyone any idea how to treat film taken out of the freezer (as that's where it came from) to avoid condensation?

Alex

Post by **John_Pytlak** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 8:52 pm

lord_rover wrote: If so, has anyone any idea how to treat film taken out of the freezer (as that's where it came from) to avoid condensation?

Alex

Storage and handling of unprocessed film:

http://www.kodak.com/US/en/motion/suppo ... cond.jhtml

http://www.kodak.com/global/en/service/ ... 5202.shtml

Always let film warm up so there is no condensation on the package before opening the package.

Post by **super8man** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 9:52 pm

Hey John,

Can you please change the link on the Tips and Links section of the Kodak Super 8 website to point to my site (see my signature line). The http://www.super8filmmaking.com link has been dead for over a year now and my site is better than some of the other sites are dead on there as well.

Thanks,
mike

Post by **odyssic** » Mon Aug 22, 2005 6:35 am

Just name the film thin blue line and you've got an avant garde hit!

Steven

Filmshooting

This is catastrophy! Blue line on all 5 rolls!

This is catastrophy! Blue line on all 5 rolls!

Line