Evening star., 1952-08-17
Camera Angles:
Camera Angles:
Color Film Defects Usually
leoye Clue to Cause
By Alexander J. Wedderburn
Curator Of Photography
1ha Smithsonian lnstifufiong

Several weeks ago we prom
ssed q companion piece to our
article on defects In Ektachrome
transparencies due+to processing
mistakes. Today's column win
deal with trouble In Ansco color
Ktransparencies which are due
90 your own errors in the dark
xOogn, y
When we take q color trans
rarency out Of the soup and
hold 1t up for inspection we like
III blame any defects on the
manufacturer of the Aim. III
almost all cases. however. 1t
something has gone wrong and
the transparency Is spotty,
stained, or overcast with some
one color. we can fix the blame
on the one who did the process
i1g. AS we have pointed out in
gtlaer articles, mistakes made
during exposure Of the film can
cause some weird color mixups,
but II we are sure that this is
not true. then the usual cause
can be traced to faulty process
ing. Laboratory technicians
take such extreme care in the
making Of color films that it is
q rare case. indeed, when we
can honestly attribute trans
parency defects to the manufac-
turer.
II you are a user Of Ansco
color f1lm, you can check your
mishaps against the following
list. Together with this. we will
include the probable cause of
the deficiency and our sugges-
tions for preventing occurrences.
Improper Fixing
Should your transparency
come out of the fixing bath
milky in appearance, you may
correctly conclude that fixation
Is not complete. This will not
happen if you closely follow the
directions of the maker. The
Importance of following direc-
tions explicitly when working
with color film cannot be too
strongly stressed. There is little
margin for error-and in some
steps none at all. In this case
you can return the transparency
to the fixing bath and continue
6lxation and then wash the film.
II your film comes out of the
processing solutions with an
overall reddish cast, this may be
due to an incomplete second
exposure or to haste in remov-
ing the film from the wash
water before color development.
r. you go back over your
processing you will very likely
remember that you failed to
expose the film on both sides
during the second exposure, or
that the film came out of the
wash before the recommended
time had elapsed.
/ Don't forget that open con-
tanners of chemicals are apt to
give of fumes which viii seri-
ously affect a color film. Typi-
cal Of such mishap is a green
ish cast Of the transparency
that has been subjected to the
fumes of sulphur dioxide, or
others, while drying. To prevent
] Be sure that you keep all chem
icals tightly stoppered in the
room where your films are in
any stage Of processing. Should
this happen to you try rebleach-
ing the film for three minutes.
Then fix, wash and dry again.
This may or may not give satis-
factory results but is worth a
try since there is nothing to
lose and all to gain,
Agitotion Required
Ordinary human laziness is
sometimes responsible for the
loss Of a batch of color films.
Failure to agitate the film suf-
flciently during the processing
will sometimes result in an
overall blush cast to the Ansco
color transparency. This also
can be easily prevented by fol-
lowing the manufacturers in
structions very carefully as to
r. fh.aS n.,..nn.;an