# Help figuring out a photography issue **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 21, 2005, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-figuring-out-a-photography-issue/318005 "2005-08-21T18:10:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-figuring-out-a-photography-issue/318005/1 "2005-08-21T18:10:20Z")
Hey guys. I just got ten rolls of film back from a trip to Europe. On a lot of them, there are ‘stripes’ through the bottom portion of the shot, [some of which you can see here](http://www.theromanceofparis.com/nate/photoissues/help.htm). I don’t know what caused it. It happened on all rolls of film, but not on all shots. It seems that they didn’t show up on high shutter speeds (500 and 1000). Any takers? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-figuring-out-a-photography-issue/318005/2 "2005-08-21T18:17:56Z")
It looks to me like those splotches are through the entire shot, not just the bottom portion. I’m gonna guess it’s the developer’s fault, but I don’t know for sure without any further information. Are they all different kinds of film? Did you pack the film in carry-on, or did you send it through the cargo baggage? Have you shot other rolls with the camera since and developed them? ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-figuring-out-a-photography-issue/318005/3 "2005-08-21T18:23:29Z")
My vote is for the processing. It’s possible you could have a light leak in the camera but it seems unusually consistent. What kind of camera is it? 35mm SLR or point & shoot? Have you examined it for any possible damage – possibly a torn shutter curtain, or bashed hinge? I’m not totally sure I believe your 500th/1000th of a second hypothesis. You’ve clearly got the lines on some very brightly lit outdoor shots that I would expect to have been taken at 1/500th at least. Have you looked at the negatives to make sure that the artifacts don’t appear just on the prints? ---
**Author:** ![jasonh300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/46a35a/32.png) [@jasonh300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasonh300)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-figuring-out-a-photography-issue/318005/4 "2005-08-21T18:32:16Z")
Did the film get X-Rayed at the airport? I’ve only had film ruined once like that, but it does occasionally happen. I don’t remember exactly what the developed pictures looked like, but they were obviously messed up. Walgreens didn’t charge me for that roll and the guy who was developing the film told me it looked like X-Ray damage. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-figuring-out-a-photography-issue/318005/5 "2005-08-21T18:42:29Z")
Hm. Actually, it seems like maybe this is the ‘fault’ of whatever the photo shop did to get me digital copies of my prints. I hadn’t looked at the actual prints, and neither the prints or the negatives seem to show that streaking. I guess I ought to bring them back the negatives and have them try again as far as scanning them or whatever they do. Speaking of which, what do they do? Scan the negatives? ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-figuring-out-a-photography-issue/318005/6 "2005-08-21T18:43:54Z")
And, the answer the other questions, even though I guess they’re probably not relevant anymore, I brought the film carry-on. The camera is an OM-1 from the mid/late 70s. ---
**Author:** ![jasonh300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/46a35a/32.png) [@jasonh300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasonh300)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-figuring-out-a-photography-issue/318005/7 "2005-08-21T18:47:31Z")
Duh! :smack: Crappy scanner probably. I had a scanner that put a light streak down right down the middle of the flatbed. I’d have to arrange the pictures I was scanning so that they weren’t in that area. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-figuring-out-a-photography-issue/318005/8 "2005-08-21T19:34:43Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > And, the answer the other questions, even though I guess they’re probably not relevant anymore, I brought the film carry-on. The camera is an OM-1 from the mid/late 70s. Yeah, it’s probably the scanner then. Have a looksie at your negs. I don’t know how well you can “read” negs, but if it’s an issue with your film, you should see those streaks through it as well. You don’t need to worry about x-ray damage with the x-rays they send carry-on through. I’ve send 3200 speed film through multiple passes without any damage. Now, it is true that the strength of x-rays vary from country to country, but a photo magazine (I wish I could remember which) did a test in which they sent sensitive film 100s of times through carry on x-rays with no measurable ill effect. I trust them enough that when I used to shoot film, I sent assignments that paid thousands of dollars through carry-on x-ray without any worry. Never had any problems. Baggage x-rays are another issue altogether. They are much stronger, and I have had a roll of 3200 film fogged that way, although it didn’t show such consistent markings as yours. ---
**Author:** ![JohnM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/848f3c/32.png) [@JohnM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnM)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2005, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-figuring-out-a-photography-issue/318005/9 "2005-08-22T00:31:21Z")
Another vote for scanner. If there is dust in the scanner calibration area, then you can get this kind of linear artifacting. Take it back to your processor and try again. ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2005, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-figuring-out-a-photography-issue/318005/10 "2005-08-22T13:37:10Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > Speaking of which, what do they do? Scan the negatives? After the chemical development of your film, the negatives are scanned and prints are made from the digital files. I don’t think anyone does commercial/consumer optical photo printing today. If you don’t have these imperfections on your negs, then bring them back to the lab. They’ll need them for the rescan.