Had some issues with Ilford XP2 film

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MrJon

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Jon
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Not sure if this should be in the film processing thread or not, any advice is welcome :)

I have been shooting film on a Canon EOS for around 10 years and have generally had it processed in high street shops, and recently at my local ASDA. I have generally being using 200/400 film buying what ever I can find in the local shops ( in most cases Fuji). For Christmas I thought I would treat myself and get some Portra and Ilford XP2 for something a bit different, I got it processed at ASDA and after looking at the scans on the CD am a bit disappointed as to how the Ilford performed, and unsure if the error is with me, the processing of the film, or the film its self.

I need to get permission to post the full photos online but here are some crops taken from the scans to show what I mean

View attachment 3208
The first being a picture in the background
View attachment 3209

The second being the t-shirt of the subject of the photo.

While I should be able to edit out these in photoshop, any feedback would be welcome. None of these are consistant from photo to photo and I do not believe them to be due to dust on lens etc BTW the Portra film came out perfectly in comparison to this, with no signs of any of the issues I had with the Ilford.
 
It's a bit hard to tell from these crops, when you say you're a bit disappointed as to how the Ilford performed apart from the fact the it looks like they're covered in cack and lack contrast what exactly were you expecting and what is the problem?
 
Hi Jon I have to agree with Nick I cannot comment on the quality of your image but that may be just your changing to a different film and having ot get used to it, however the scans you are showing are looking very dirty. If you can inspect the negatives of these shots and see if you can detect any contamination from dirt, dust etc.
 
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It can be difficult isolating a problem if you're not responsible for the scanning but this just looks like dust on the neg. How good any scanning ends up being is largely down to how careful the operator is, maybe this one was a bit careless?
 
Sorry should have been a bit more clear, the issue is as Nick put it "covered in cack"

No easy way to get a photo of the negatives now, but they appear to be clean from anything on their surface, but what would appear to be small scratches, and in a couple there are what I would describe as pin pricks where there is no detail at all on the negative.

PMN said:
It can be difficult isolating a problem if you're not responsible for the scanning but this just looks like dust on the neg. How good any scanning ends up being is largely down to how careful the operator is, maybe this one was a bit careless?
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That was my first thought, but the other film I had processed at the same time came out fine with regards to the quality of the scan.
 
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Another thought Jon on the quality is are your developers aware this B+W film is process with C41 and not standard B+W developer?
 
At the end of the day it looks like a bad job scanning the negs. Could beworth going back to ASDA and asking them to redo the scan after cleaning the negs
 
MrJon said:
That was my first thought, but the other film I had processed at the same time came out fine with regards to the quality of the scan.
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I wouldn't use that as an absolute indicator to be honest, unless you know for certain it was the same person using exactly the same methods and with exactly the same amount of care as the other scans it really is impossible to tell.

There's no real doubt in my mind it's bits of dust on the neg that was present at the time of scanning, there's very little else it actually can be!
 
Scratches and dirt are almost certainly from the processing step. Also, the scratch/dust removal may have been accidentally switched off on the machine - high street scans usually have large amounts of dust/scratch removal applied to the images.
 
Thanks for the replies, will go back and ask them to do a rescan.
 
Well I'd be surprised if Asda staff knew how to scan XP2 properly as I wouldn't have thought it was a common film handed in. I always look at the index before leaving the store and with my Asda they are good with colour negs.
 
The C41 black and white stuff I've had done at the Edinburgh Jewel ASDA has been fine, apart from desparately over-sharpened of course.
 
MrJon said:
but what would appear to be small scratches, and in a couple there are what I would describe as pin pricks where there is no detail at all on the negative.
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air bubbles ?
 
Jon, as others have said it is hard to judge without seeing more of the full shots. What I would say about Asda processing is they do cock up some times, although rarely in my experince. I have had 58 films processed at three different Asda stores since the end of May 2013. 8 of these have been XP2, in most cases the development has been fine but on three occasions acoss the 58 films negs have come back very badly scratched with the appearence of having been dragged across the floor. Scanning is always hit and miss but I rescan in most cases myself. The point is Asda developing is cheap and cheerful and their success record with my filems has been very good generelly, indeed I havev trusted them with some important films (to me anyway). You might just have been unlick with this film, but it is worth going back and discusing with them your concerns about the XP2.
 
PMN said:
There's no real doubt in my mind it's bits of dust on the neg that was present at the time of scanning, there's very little else it actually can be!
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Exactly. Scratches in a negative would show up as black if printed or reversed during scanning. Anything showing up as white is something blocking light. In this case, dust.


Steve.
 
I think the problem is probably a 4 letter word and an anagram of ADSA... Jao's experience of 3/58 is over 5% bu99ered films - unacceptable IMO. Personally, if somewhere screwed up a film, I wouldn't use them again, especially if
on three occasions acoss the 58 films negs have come back very badly scratched with the appearence of having been dragged across the floor
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.
 
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I'm just finishing a roll of XP2 and will be running it through my local ASDA for the reasons mentioned above. Previous ADSA experiences have not been a problem but I suppose that's down to the individual members of staff.
 
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