Am I drying improperly?

Darkhorse

Darkhorse

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It's not as obvious on the actual neg, but this is a decent representation of the problem I'm having(it's only really evident in the skies). Something similar is happening on my 35mm negs as well (I thought I had solved the problem but something similar occurred again on some 35mm negs last night).

Could I just be hanging them wrong? I clamp on some clothespins (plastic) on a wire hanger on the shower curtain bar in my bathroom. I DO use photoflo (I don't measure dilutions for it though, I just toss a bit in) AND I use distilled water when giving my negs the final rinse. I sort of shake off excess water when I'm done with them.

This contrasts sharply form earlier negs I processed where I only used tap water and wiped off the negs with my fingers, and I also pinned up my negs on a door frame to try. I didn't have this problem then.

I looked online for some solutions to get out this streaking but nothing seemed to work with rewashing a frame I wasn't too keen on to test with.

What am I doing wrong? I would've liked to have enlarged the above picture since I kinda liked it.
 
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It's a streak on the top right in the sky of the negative image. It shows up on a few of the negs, particularly the ones hanging closer to the the bottom of the roll whilst drying.
 
If there is indeed something wrong with the drying then you can rewash and try again. Just a few drops of Photoflo per liter is plenty, so maybe try cutting back on that if you're overdoing it.

That said, it's very hard to tell from the image what is going on. It could be any number of things. If you look at the surface of the film at an angle can you see anything on the surface (ie. residue of some sort?)
 
Like I said I tried rewashing to no avail. It doesn't appear to be residue. Sorry I can't provide you with better images but it's a subtle problem. Just that line streaking down in a few shots. Hmm.
 
I had a strange experience recently with my Iskra ... there was a line coming in at the top of several frames, but not all, for a centimeter or so. Turned out to be a fine thread or hair hanging down from where the bellows attach to the camera body. 😛

You didn't mention what camera this was from?
 
Try this...get a roll of what ever film you're having problems with and have it developed at your local lab (don't let them cut the film)...then when you get it home...soak it in water, then in your Photo-Flo...hang it to dry and see if you get this mark...
Check the roll of film first to make sure nothing's wrong with it from the lab...if you see the mark then it's not your developing but maybe the camera...
 
Look at the negs after wash, but before drying. Streaks are from camera or an agitation
problem in developing.

If you dry with steam distilled water, a drop or two of photoflow is ok. If you use tap water, filter it through cotton wool and use 200:1 per instructions. In my experience, cutting back to a small amount of photo-flow will cause streaking.

It may help to let water drain off edge wise on the reel, then shake it, then hang.

Streaks from developing are most certainly from insufficient agitation in the developer.
 
I did a test roll this evening and still noticed this streak appearing in the center of the image. It's giving me much consternation. However it's somewhat less noticeable than last time. Here's an image of the scanned neg, then enhanced to show the streak, and then the positive image. not too noticeable but it's still a problem.

http://formerairline.com/wp-content/gallery/random-stuff/streak.jpg

This time around I used a more dilute and measured solution of photoflo. I also hung the negs diagonally.

I'm going over the list of things in my mind that I could be doing wrong.

Could I not be washing the negs enough after the fixer (it's fixer + hypo)? I give it a little rinse afterwards then pour in the photoflo and let it sit. Should I wash it longer and agitate the photoflo solution?

Plastic clothespins? Are they problematic?

Could it be that the film is coming off the reel and pressing against the film in the tank? I've noticed my film has been coming loose on my Hewes reel lately. I must remember to clamp it in better.

These marks aren't really uniform, so I don't really see how the camera could be causing the problem.
 
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I think this is too even to be a streak, it might be a very small light leak somewhere. To get rid of the streaks, use this strategy, which I have learned from matt alofs, another rff member:
add about 10% of alcohol into the last distilled water bath with a few drops of photo flo, and after hanging the negs, pour the liquid remaining in the tank down both surfaces of the negs, finally, and this is a twist learned from Roger Hicks, pull the bottom of the negs away from the vertical, so that the water flows down along the edge of the negs, rather than in the center. After half a minute or so, just leave them to dry.
 
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I don't think it's a lightleak. I've had a similar problem happen with my 35mm negs as well. The streak doesn't occur between the frames either, just a very subtle irregular line that occurs in a bright field (sky). If it were a light leak it would have to be the teeniest tiniest light leak ever.

I think it might be my washing. I may not be getting all the fix off for instance - or SOME chemical might pool on the film and darken it on the neg somehow.
 
That really doesn't look like a watermark to me. Have you inspected the camera thoroughly to make sure there's nothing contaminating the pressure plate that could be marking your negs, or anything at back of the lens (like a hair). I had a similar issue with my GR1s where it turned out to be a tiny hair-thin fibre sitting across the back of the lens. Might be worth going nuts inside the camera with a Rocket-Air.
 
I tried re-washing some negatives but to no avail - the streaks remained.

This evening I thoroughly examined my Autocord and saw no hairs. I did see a couple of strands from the light seals but I don't think they were the culprit - but they were singed off anyway.

I shot another test roll tonight. I did a few things differently - one thing was unintentional: I made up some one-shot and thought I had filled up the tank with a suspiciously large amount of developer to spare, so I dumped it... but it was an air bubble holding things up in the tank so I added more water further diluting the developer. I added an extra minute or so to the development time.

I also didn't have a pre-soak, let it sit in the fixer for a while longer, rinsed with tap water for a good 10 minutes, and agitated with the photo flo solution for 30 seconds. I also dried diagonally. Despite being apparently underdeveloped, the negatives came out STREAK FREE upon close inspection.

One caveat: after the wash I unravled the negatives and hung them up. I noticed what looked like little tiny bubbles on the surface - so I rinsed them off further with a dash of some distilled water but to no avail. Upon scanning it looks like there's an unusual amount of debris/dust. I think this may mean my stop and/or fixer is filthy? But to be on the safe side, I think in the future I think I may use a plain distilled water stop bath.

And just for fun, here are some of the test shots. From yesterday:

streaktest1.jpg


And from today:

streaktest2.jpg


streaktest3.jpg
 
Well, generally speaking, if you use a developer that works in more than 6-7 minutes, you might as well forget the stop bath. Some even say, that if you use non solving developers (e.g. rodinal) the stop bath is actually redundant as it can reduce the acutance effect, don't ask me why... Then, if you are not using a one shot fixer, then start doing it, as fixer is cheap, and even if you dilute it with tap water it will work fine every time, so you will eliminate a potential source of troubles. Use the demineralized water just for the developer solution and for the last rinse.
 
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