Author Topic: Weird Development Issues??!  (Read 1495 times)

inksmelladdict

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Weird Development Issues??!
« on: August 30, 2017, 09:35:25 AM »
Hello guys,

I have a mystery. Last night my partner developed a roll of TMax 400 for me that i'd shot that day with film I bought a few weeks ago and the development has done something really weird.
He does everything the same whenever he develops film and I've never seen it do this before. His method is to agitate for 10 seconds on the minute, developed for the massive dev recommended amount of time and to fix for just over 3 minutes, again agitating for 10 secs every minute. Our chemicals were on their fourth development, again, not something I've ever had a problem with before.
He had just developed a roll of film before this one and it came out perfectly. When he did mine he used the same tank but a different spiral and he says the tank might have been slightly wet but he does a 10 minute rinse after the development inside the tank so it was only water.
Anyway, I'll leave a few images below, one that seems to have come out okay and several that obviously haven't. Although not included, most of the manufacturer information on the top and bottom of the film was slightly faded and in some places faded completely and there were tiny bits of pink left on the top and bottom in places (though not many) which I assume is the emulsion. These were minuscule though.
Apologies for the essay and any opinion on what went wrong is much appreciated.








MacArron

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Re: Weird Development Issues??!
« Reply #1 on: August 30, 2017, 01:45:05 PM »
Hi,

What camera did you use? I am wondering whether these issues are more "camera" than development related. Maybe you were using a camera featuring a leaf shutter with sticky blades... I do not know.

Pinky stains along the film edges are related to fixer as far as I know.

Let's hear more experienced users' opinion  :)
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Francois

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Re: Weird Development Issues??!
« Reply #2 on: August 30, 2017, 01:59:52 PM »
The Pink stain is part of the a.h. layer. Just rinsing longer will fix that. If you fix for double the clearing time, there's no problem there.

As for the weird blotches, it looks like some contamination...
Do you use soap or something to clean the tank?
Francois

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Bryan

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Re: Weird Development Issues??!
« Reply #3 on: August 30, 2017, 02:33:02 PM »
It looks to me like there was a problem loading the film onto the spiral causing the film to touch in a few places.  That would also cause the A. H. layer to not fully wash off and cause insufficient development and fix.

inksmelladdict

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Re: Weird Development Issues??!
« Reply #4 on: August 30, 2017, 02:48:20 PM »
I used a Canon EOS 1V which I'm pretty certain isn't the problem. For one thing, I've had a camera with shutter issues before and it led to a very uniform looking issue on the film. These marks are much more like some kind of liquid. 

inksmelladdict

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Re: Weird Development Issues??!
« Reply #5 on: August 30, 2017, 02:49:21 PM »
Oh and in terms of contamination, I guess it could be wetting agent in the tank or some other kind of chemical contaminant.

jharr

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Re: Weird Development Issues??!
« Reply #6 on: August 30, 2017, 04:18:51 PM »
It looks to me like there was a problem loading the film onto the spiral causing the film to touch in a few places.  That would also cause the A. H. layer to not fully wash off and cause insufficient development and fix.

This was exactly my thought when I saw the images. I have had this very thing happen especially with very thin films that are hard to load on "easy load" reels.
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Francois

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Re: Weird Development Issues??!
« Reply #7 on: August 30, 2017, 09:07:27 PM »
I would just make sure everything is properly rinsed and that the reels are dry before processing.
I know some people have had problems with photo-flo, but it was mostly related to sticky reels.
I use my photo-flo in a spray bottle and it works just fine. I spray it on the unreeled film.

Also, things go so much more easy when you notch the film corners...
Francois

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jharr

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Re: Weird Development Issues??!
« Reply #8 on: August 30, 2017, 10:21:55 PM »

Also, things go so much more easy when you notch the film corners...

Francois, do you mean "taper" the film corners? I usually cut the leading corners off at a gentle angle and that makes loading a lot easier.
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Francois

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Re: Weird Development Issues??!
« Reply #9 on: August 30, 2017, 11:07:02 PM »
I just cut a bit off at an angle (30°?) on both sides making sure I don't leave a sharp edge that could jam in the reel.
So you're doing it right.
Francois

Film is the vinyl record of photography.

imagesfrugales

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Re: Weird Development Issues??!
« Reply #10 on: August 31, 2017, 05:20:48 AM »
It looks to me like there was a problem loading the film onto the spiral causing the film to touch in a few places.  That would also cause the A. H. layer to not fully wash off and cause insufficient development and fix.

This was exactly my thought when I saw the images. I have had this very thing happen especially with very thin films that are hard to load on "easy load" reels.
After seeing the samples and before reading any text I "knew" immediately that this is the one and only explanation.

inksmelladdict

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Re: Weird Development Issues??!
« Reply #11 on: August 31, 2017, 10:50:03 AM »
Thank you so much everyone. From your comments I'm deducing that it must have been a problem with the way it was loaded onto the spiral. Phew. More care in future!

Francois

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Re: Weird Development Issues??!
« Reply #12 on: August 31, 2017, 01:59:34 PM »
Or go to stainless reels.... They're not really harder to load, they just make you swear more in the beginning ;)
Francois

Film is the vinyl record of photography.