Need some advise on the banding

[Flack]

I scanned this photo in with my Epson 850, using the Epson Wet scanning mount, in dry mount. Its a color negative, Its Lomo 400 converted in Photoshop to B/W, if you look at the sky you can see banding in it.
It was the same before conversion to B/W, is it a scanning problem or something during development. Any advice from the knowledgeable on the forum?.

 

[Joanna Carter]

Which direction were you scanning? If it was side to side, it looks like dirt on the glass in the pre-scan area

 

[Ian-Barber]

Put the negative on a light box and with a loupe, can you see changes in density

 

[Flack]

Which direction were you scanning? If it was side to side, it looks like dirt on the glass in the pre-scan area

No Joanne I scanned it from top to bottom, and all my glass was cleaned before, just scanned another negative with the same setup, but different film and that shows no banding, I am wondering if its been something when I developed that negative.

 

[David M]

You could scan it again, but turned through 90 degrees, to see if it reccurs, but vertically. It seems too regular to be random dirt on the pre-scan area. It looks more like inadvertant contact with some part of whatever device was used to develop it. Otherwise it could be a manufacturing fault. Do you have the next sheet of film in the box to test?
I can't really say more, but might there have been some temporary cyclic variation in the input voltage while you were scanning? No idea what could cause this.

 

[Ian-Barber]

I am wondering if its been something when I developed that negative.

You can easily rule this out by inspecting the negative on the light box. If you can see a variation in density as shown in the scan then the scanning process can be ruled out

 

[Flack]

Ok did some more testing today, I tried what Ian suggested and nothing shows on the negative, or even the other negatives in the same batch.
I tried other software, rotating the negative but I still get them. According to what I read on the net, its a common thing with Epson's when the negative has bright highlights, like in the sky on my negative.

I scanned a different one in and then blew out the sky and the bands could be seen, so I need to try and get my skies better metered .
I can get rid of them by dialing down the highlights or just replace the sky if its to bad..

I even tried a wet scan on two negatives and compared them to two dry scan's, it might be my eyes but I could not see a difference between the two scan's.

Just got Ians plug-ins and liking them especially the border one..

 

[David M]

It’s hard to see how highlight density could produce this regular striped effect. Surely, it would align with the highlights? This seems to be an all-over effect. If you’re using a flat-bed, might there be a fault in the drive train. A particle of dirt on one of the sprockets, for instance, might make the scanning head’s speed vary minutely and regularly, every time it rotates.
Can Epson offer any advice?

 

[Ian-Barber]

Something else which springs to mind in a dirty calibration strip which on the Epson runs along the top of the glass close to the lid hinged end

 

[David M]

Yes indeed, that seems possible, but would that not produce stripes parallel to the direction of travel? As I understand it, these stripes run across.

 

[Flack]

Yes indeed, that seems possible, but would that not produce stripes parallel to the direction of travel? As I understand it, these stripes run across.

I forgot to mention that when I rotated the neg from a portrait scan to a horizontal scan the bands did change.

 

[Ian-Barber]

You could try this...

Place the negative (emulsion side down) directly onto the scanner glass in the centre. To weight it down, just place a piece of glass on top, doesnt have to be any special glass for this test.

I think you are using VueScan so in the settings choose Transparency 8x10 for the Mode as this uses the second lens.

 

[Flack]

Ian I am using SF, but downloaded VS trial and tried what you suggested, but it's still there, I can work around it but its a strange one.