Field guide
What a film rebate actually is
The rebate is the area of film outside the exposed image: perforations, frame lines and manufacturer markings. It is evidence of a capture medium, not merely a rough black border.
01
Thirty-five millimetre perforations have regular pitch and sit outside the image gate. Randomly spaced holes or marks inside the picture read as decoration rather than film structure.
02
Frame numbers and stock codes belong to the film edge and repeat across a roll. Copying a famous stock label onto unrelated imagery can imply a process that was never used.
03
Scanner borders vary because holders crop differently and film can sit slightly rotated. A perfectly identical rebate on every image looks more like a template than a contact sheet.
04
Use the treatment as an explicit visual reference, not documentary proof. Preserve an unbordered export when the photograph's actual capture history matters.