Help! What did i do wrong?

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atlcruiser

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I was on a roll! I have doen about 15 rolls of 35 and 120 with great results now this!

These are from 2 rolls of tri x 400 in a small JOBO tank. D-76 full @ 66' for about 7.75 minutes. Used stop bath for about 1 minute then kodak fixer for 2.5 minutes. Followed that by 2 minutes wash then 3 minutes in hypo clean...more wash 5 minutes or so then ran the strips through photo flow mixed with wated; very weak solution.

I invert every 10 seconds for the first minute then once a minute after that. Stop bath was a constant agitation and fixer was the same as the developer.

What i did different this time with poor result:
I bought a real darkroom timer and followed the above

I used the photo flo

I was reusing the D-76 and fixer from last week. Both have about 6 rolls of use.

Pretty frustrated :bang:


thanks in advance
 

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It's kind of hard to tell from the images, but you could try re-fixing, 2.5 minutes seems pretty short, even if it was rapid fixer. Also, I don't know about re-using D-76. I never have, I just use once and dump.
 
atlcruiser said:
there seems to be a milky coating on everything
Click to expand...


A sure sign of insufficient time in the fixer. 5 mins would be more normal.

I mix my fixer to fill 1 litre bottles (previously C2 tea) and after 20 roll's through 1 litre I check it's activity with a bit of scrap film. Generally I'll get 30 or so roll's off film through a litre.
 
Hmmm....Being a rocket scientist I had one roll of Tri x and one roll of arista both 400 but with very different times.

What would mixing films do? Scanning the arista now to see how it lookes
 
The 2.5 minutes for fixing seems a bit short but I think your problem came about before you fixed the film...
It sounds like you mixed D-76 last week, developed 6 rolls with it and now used it again...
Normally, I use D-76 as a once or twice developer and then dump it...
If it's stock solution sitting in a bottle it should last a while...if it's working solution like 1:1, I might use it twice (developing two batches during one developing session) Once it's been used it gets dumped not put back in the bottle...
Now you can do this with your Fixer...normally you will have a bottle of working solution and can pour it back after use...
 
OK... and thanks

The upshot here is never re use D-76 and fix for longer, 3-4 minutes

Here is the Arista IIRC it is about a 10 min in d-76 so it got 7.75 and poof fixing 🙂

I kind of like it but could never replicate it!

Opinions on the lighter sections? there seems to be a band of lighter area allt he way through the roll. It is a very soft edge and, in some areas, goes away. I am thinking chemical issue again. I am not sure if thsi was the top or bottom roll in the tank
 

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I would Fix for at least 5 minutes...at that point you can open the developing tank without hurting anything and look at the film to see if it's clear (not milky) if not just leave it in there for a bit longer...

Kodak recommends 5-10 minutes for continuous-tone films...
 
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just put it back in the fix, the milky stuff will go away. Kodak Fixer (i'm assuming you used the powdered sodium thiosulfate based fixer) is not really recommended for modern films, they require an ammonium thiosulfate based fixer, also known as Rapid Fixer. Get some kodak or ilford rapid fixer and use it instead. 3 minutes in it for tri-x 5 minutes for the tmax films.
 
The light strip might be a problem with the fix also, like the tank wasn't filled all the way? Or else the tank or the film canister has a light leak? Just guesses.
 
How to determine fixing time:
When you load your film for developing cut the film leader off with scissors and save it. Take a drop of fix and put it on the lighter side of the film leader and wait a few seconds for a clear spot to appear. Then throw the whole leader into the fix and time how long it takes for the whole piece to turn as clear as the spot. That is the "clearing time". For fix time, double the clearing time.
I usually do this occasionally just to make sure the fix is still good.
 
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Thanks all! I am out this AM with a few rolls of arista. Gonna get back on the horse. WIll ost up new results tonight.

One thing I love about film is that the result is jsut there...you can touch it, feel it etc.... I can actually feel the milky coating...
 
Tri x needs more fixing time, as do the Ilford Delta films. A good tip I picked up recently is to take the scrap cutting from the tongue of the film that you are about to develope , dip it in your fixer and time how long it takes to go transparent. This will give you your fixing time, you can add on an extra minute or two as a safety factor.
 
Thanks all. I first used the fizer for 10 minutes on my first rolls. I got VERY hard neagtives. I will try to refix some this evening as well.

I guess all is not lost
 
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