Blue Color Cast to my Color Negative Prints

Slowpoke Rodriguez · 11-18-2010, 05:22 PM

Hello everyone,

I've shot Pentax digital SLRs for a couple years now, but haven't shot more than the occasional roll of film since high school (quite a few years). I picked up a film SLR off a forum member not long ago and tried shooting a few rolls of film. The first 4 rolls were very cheap Kodak 400 speed color negative film that you can buy at a drug store. The dynamic range was abysmal, but the colors were largely true. I then bought some Fuji ProH 400 from Adorama. This is higher grade film and I anxiously waited for my first two rolls to come back from a mail-order developer. When the film came back, the prints all had a very noticable blue color cast to them.

I didn't have the film a long time. It was certainly not expired, or even close to its expiration date. I didn't store it in a refridgerator or freezer, but I thought that was only necessary if you were going to store the film for quite a while. The film is daylight balanced, as I don't think Fuji makes this line in any other color balance anymore.

Anyway, here are a couple pictures. I shot them on my white desk calendar so you could see them against a background that is color neutral. The first is of fern leaves. Notice how blue-green the leaves look. The second is of a print hanging on my wall. The wall color should be off-white. That is sunlight coming in the sliding glass door that lights it. The third shot is a night photograph. It will be harder to notice a color cast in this kind of picture, but it looks awfully blue to me.

If anyone has experience with this film, or has an idea as to why I'm getting such blue looking pictures, please let me know. These are three pictures, but every one has the blue cast to it.

jolepp · 11-18-2010, 06:16 PM

Could it be that the film was fine but something went amiss with processing?

SpecialK · 11-18-2010, 09:15 PM

Or the printing.

Get a color checker/gray card and shoot that first, then whatever else you are shooting. When printing, the lab can correct the color using that reference frame.

Slowpoke Rodriguez · 11-18-2010, 09:20 PM

Jolepp,

Thanks for the reply. That would be the best possible scenario, because that means the rest of the rolls should be fine. I won't be able to determine that until the next couple rolls come back.

Wheatfield · 11-18-2010, 10:53 PM

Could you post a picture of the film itself please?

Nesster · 11-19-2010, 07:26 AM

Do you have a film scanner, try scanning some yourself.

400H sometimes does have a color cast due to incorrect de-masking during the scan, but nothing like this! I would say: processor error.

Here's a more typical cast (this is a Dwayne's scan):

Most of the time, however, I don't get it as bad as the Dwayne's, though overall I'd call 400H a bit cool and understated... most of the time.

troyz · 11-19-2010, 12:26 PM

Originally posted by jolepp

Could it be that the film was fine but something went amiss with processing?

Quite likely.

Slowpoke: Try comparing your fuji 400H negatives with your "good" Kodak 400 negatives. It's normal for the orange mask to be slightly darker on the Fuji 400H (and other fuji pro films, and Reala) than Kodak stuff, but it it's radically different it's probably bad processing.

See JOBO AG for C-41 troubleshooting info.

Last edited by troyz; 11-19-2010 at 12:31 PM.

Slowpoke Rodriguez · 11-20-2010, 12:43 AM

Thank you to everyone who has offered their thoughts. A couple folks have asked to see if the negatives look different between the Fuji film (the blue pictures) and the Kodak film (normal colors). These films were shot with the same camera and lens and sent to the same processing lab, though they were processed a couple weeks apart.

In both shots, the Fuji negative strip is on top. The first picture shows the two strips on the same desk calendar used in the pictures of the prints. This was lit by flash and I color balanced in lightroom off the desk calendar. The second picture shows them taped to my computer monitor which is displaying a plain white screen. For this shot I color balanced manually in the camera off an open area of the computer screen. The Fuji negatives do look more red than the Kodak negatives. I don't have enough experience with negatives to determine if the Fuji negatives are too red.

Wheatfield · 11-20-2010, 09:47 AM

Wow, I didn't think anyone was still using Gretag 31## series printers. The first high speed printer I ran back in the early 80s was one of those.
Anyway, your negs look pretty normal, but from looking at the pictures you posted above, I would venture that they have their under exposed printing parameter set a little light and a little off colour.
Also, frame 2a on your Fuji neg shows a bit of a light leak.

Slowpoke Rodriguez · 11-20-2010, 09:27 PM

I decided to send one more roll back to the same lab. If these prints come back blue as well, I will change to a different lab for future rolls. For now, I will assume their equipment was off the day my two rolls went through, and that it doesn't represent a persistent problem unless the next roll comes back with the same results.

I will update when I get the next roll back.

Thanks again to everyone.

11-18-2010, 05:22 PM	#1
Slowpoke Rodriguez Inactive Account Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Alexandria, VA Photos: Albums Posts: 100	Blue Color Cast to my Color Negative Prints Hello everyone, I've shot Pentax digital SLRs for a couple years now, but haven't shot more than the occasional roll of film since high school (quite a few years). I picked up a film SLR off a forum member not long ago and tried shooting a few rolls of film. The first 4 rolls were very cheap Kodak 400 speed color negative film that you can buy at a drug store. The dynamic range was abysmal, but the colors were largely true. I then bought some Fuji ProH 400 from Adorama. This is higher grade film and I anxiously waited for my first two rolls to come back from a mail-order developer. When the film came back, the prints all had a very noticable blue color cast to them. I didn't have the film a long time. It was certainly not expired, or even close to its expiration date. I didn't store it in a refridgerator or freezer, but I thought that was only necessary if you were going to store the film for quite a while. The film is daylight balanced, as I don't think Fuji makes this line in any other color balance anymore. Anyway, here are a couple pictures. I shot them on my white desk calendar so you could see them against a background that is color neutral. The first is of fern leaves. Notice how blue-green the leaves look. The second is of a print hanging on my wall. The wall color should be off-white. That is sunlight coming in the sliding glass door that lights it. The third shot is a night photograph. It will be harder to notice a color cast in this kind of picture, but it looks awfully blue to me. If anyone has experience with this film, or has an idea as to why I'm getting such blue looking pictures, please let me know. These are three pictures, but every one has the blue cast to it.

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11-18-2010, 06:16 PM	#2
jolepp Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Finland Photos: Albums Posts: 3,196	Could it be that the film was fine but something went amiss with processing?

11-18-2010, 09:15 PM	#3
SpecialK Pentaxian Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: So California Photos: Gallery Posts: 16,480	Or the printing. Get a color checker/gray card and shoot that first, then whatever else you are shooting. When printing, the lab can correct the color using that reference frame.

11-18-2010, 09:20 PM	#4
Slowpoke Rodriguez Inactive Account Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Alexandria, VA Photos: Albums Posts: 100 Original Poster	Jolepp, Thanks for the reply. That would be the best possible scenario, because that means the rest of the rolls should be fine. I won't be able to determine that until the next couple rolls come back.

11-18-2010, 10:53 PM	#5
Wheatfield Moderator Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: The wheatfields of Canada Posts: 15,981	Could you post a picture of the film itself please?

11-19-2010, 07:26 AM	#6
Nesster Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: NJ USA Photos: Gallery Posts: 13,072	Do you have a film scanner, try scanning some yourself. 400H sometimes does have a color cast due to incorrect de-masking during the scan, but nothing like this! I would say: processor error. Here's a more typical cast (this is a Dwayne's scan): Most of the time, however, I don't get it as bad as the Dwayne's, though overall I'd call 400H a bit cool and understated... most of the time.

11-19-2010, 12:26 PM	#7
troyz Veteran Member Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 389	Originally posted by jolepp Could it be that the film was fine but something went amiss with processing? Quite likely. Slowpoke: Try comparing your fuji 400H negatives with your "good" Kodak 400 negatives. It's normal for the orange mask to be slightly darker on the Fuji 400H (and other fuji pro films, and Reala) than Kodak stuff, but it it's radically different it's probably bad processing. See JOBO AG for C-41 troubleshooting info. Last edited by troyz; 11-19-2010 at 12:31 PM.

11-20-2010, 12:43 AM	#8
Slowpoke Rodriguez Inactive Account Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Alexandria, VA Photos: Albums Posts: 100 Original Poster	Thank you to everyone who has offered their thoughts. A couple folks have asked to see if the negatives look different between the Fuji film (the blue pictures) and the Kodak film (normal colors). These films were shot with the same camera and lens and sent to the same processing lab, though they were processed a couple weeks apart. In both shots, the Fuji negative strip is on top. The first picture shows the two strips on the same desk calendar used in the pictures of the prints. This was lit by flash and I color balanced in lightroom off the desk calendar. The second picture shows them taped to my computer monitor which is displaying a plain white screen. For this shot I color balanced manually in the camera off an open area of the computer screen. The Fuji negatives do look more red than the Kodak negatives. I don't have enough experience with negatives to determine if the Fuji negatives are too red.

11-20-2010, 09:47 AM	#9
Wheatfield Moderator Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: The wheatfields of Canada Posts: 15,981	Wow, I didn't think anyone was still using Gretag 31## series printers. The first high speed printer I ran back in the early 80s was one of those. Anyway, your negs look pretty normal, but from looking at the pictures you posted above, I would venture that they have their under exposed printing parameter set a little light and a little off colour. Also, frame 2a on your Fuji neg shows a bit of a light leak.

11-20-2010, 09:27 PM	#10
Slowpoke Rodriguez Inactive Account Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Alexandria, VA Photos: Albums Posts: 100 Original Poster	I decided to send one more roll back to the same lab. If these prints come back blue as well, I will change to a different lab for future rolls. For now, I will assume their equipment was off the day my two rolls went through, and that it doesn't represent a persistent problem unless the next roll comes back with the same results. I will update when I get the next roll back. Thanks again to everyone.