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Negative Flaw: 120 Backing Paper Numbers on Film

2,432 views · Published 19 November 2018 · 2:57 · Indexed 29 September 2026

Channel: David Hancock · 2018 · Howto & Style

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When I first saw this issue, I thought it was reticulation. Many of these shots, the ones without numbers, were taken on Ilford PanF+. I had this issue at home with two rolls so I sent two more to Old School Photo Lab to see if they would have the same issue, and they did. That let me know this was a manufacturing problem, and not reticulation.

So I e-mailed Ilford with sample photos and asked what was going on. Ilford gave me a great explanation and stressed that this issue used to happen very rarely, less than ten times in the last 15 years. The cause was that lacquer on the 120 backing paper was applied slightly too thinly in isolated places, a few meters of paper stock, at a time on some runs. So Ilford changed their production tolerances to increase the lacquer thickness on their paper backing to prevent this from happening again.

I think that what is happening here is that the lacquer protects the emulsion from the roughness of the paper against which it’s pressed. In the samples with numbers, which came from ShangHai GP3 and Ultrafine 100, the numbers correspond to the paper against which the emulsion would have been pressed. I suspect that these patterns are variations in emulsion thickness where the paper’s texture caused permanent damage in the emulsion. That emulsion thickness variation would lead to areas of increased and reduced negative density and these image would be the logic result of that texture and density variation.

So this is a very rare occurrence that will not likely happen when a film manufacturer follows quality control protocols. And the good news is that most film makers and resellers stand behind their product. I’d like to give Ilford a huge thank you for replacing the faulty ten-pack of 120 PanF+ I bought in-kind and sending some additional film stock to boot.

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Gear I used for Filming and Editing:
Video Capture and Film Digitization- Pentax K-3 (http://www.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/english/products/k-3/) or Pentax K-1 (http://www.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/english/products/k-1/)
Secondary Capture- Sony CX330 (http://www.sony.com/electronics/camcorders/t/handycam-camcorders)
Lens- Pentax 31mm FA Limited (http://www.pentaxforums.com/lensreviews/SMC-Pentax-FA-31mm-F1.8-Limited-Lens.html)
Off-camera Audio- Tascam DR-70D or Tascam DR-60D MKII and Tascam DR-05 (http://tascam.com/product/dr-70d/ or http://tascam.com/product/dr-60dmkii/ and http://tascam.com/product/dr-05/)
Video Editing- Sony Movie Studio Platinum (http://www.vegascreativesoftware.com/us/vegas-movie-studio-product-comparison/)
Audio Processing- Adobe Soundbooth (https://www.adobe.com/sea/products/soundbooth/)

My Photography Website:
http://www.5119photography.com/

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