Thanks all for your participation in my film problem. But - I am NOT TALKING ABOUT PRINTS. It's exclusively about unsharp negs. Some of them look as if they were developed in the dishwasher along with the pots, plates, cups, knives and forks. I never order prints from negs anymore. I take photographs every day and I don't want a lot of prints. Only the best and only from manipulated jpeg's or tiff's. So its is a problem related to the film (Superia 200 most of the time) or to the developing process.
Sorry. I'm on the digest, so when responding I often get useful information after I send my reply. If you mean by developed in the dishwasher that there is a soapy film on the negatives then it could be old, dirty or overly concentrated stabilizer or dirty squeegee or dryer rollers. Ask when the last time they changed the stabilizer tanks. According to most manufacturers of mini labs you never need to dump tanks as a part of routine maintenance, which is a crock. But because in a lot of labs decisions are being made by people who don't have a background in photo finishing nor use the machines themselves, they blindly do the minimum required by the manufacturer. You might also try cleaning your negs with a good film cleaner prior to scanning. Nothing in the film development process can affect the focus end of sharpness, so if that is your problem it's not the labs fault. Weak developer can produce thin, flat negs however. Butch Each man had only one genuine vocation - to find the way to himself. Hermann Hesse (Demian)
