120 Film streaking problem - help please!

[Blooze]

Something I am doing is definitely wrong. I've had this happen on the last 4 rolls of film. Mix of Tmax 100 and 400, three different cameras, and two different developing tanks (Paterson and Kindermann stainless).

I had streaks similar to this before, but a little wider and more pronounced. I ended up after drying refixing them and rewashing and everything turned out fine. I have not done that with these.

Film is developed in ID-11 1+1 and 1+3, Ilford stop, and Ilford Fixer. 30 second continuous inversions then 2 gentle inversions every 30 seconds. Even with fresh fixer at an 8 minute fix I was still getting these, if it's the fixer. Weird thing is it happened with two different tanks. I thought the Paterson was the culprit, but the example below is from the stainless tank. Then maybe not enough developer. The stainless only holds 470 mL and I'm putting 450, leaving a little 1/8" of headspace. It's a good 1/4" above the reel. It's obviously something I'm doing wrong, but I'm not sure what.

Any suggestions as I'm getting tired of cropping off the edge or cloning it out. It's on the right edge and on my calibrated monitor it sticks out like a sore thumb.

 

[Morry Katz]

Reduce your agitation to 2 gentle inversions per minute. It worked for me.

 

[Blooze]

Reduce your agitation to 2 gentle inversions per minute. It worked for me.

I'll give that a try. I'm pretty sure the streak is on the top edge in the reel. Maybe it's the turbulence from the reel wire?

 

[mfogiel]

This looks too even to me for being a generic streak - it rather looks like the edge of film touching something - do you get it in all frames, or only in one per film?

 

[Blooze]

This looks too even to me for being a generic streak - it rather looks like the edge of film touching something - do you get it in all frames, or only in one per film?

Yes, it's happening on all the frames to some degree or another. I believe it's in the developing as it's happened on three different cameras and two different types of reels.

 

[mfogiel]

I would rather bet it is in your scanner then.

 

[erik]

Pre-soak or no? This does look like an agitation issue, problem is sometimes you see the same faults with too much or too little. I would continue to be vigorous at the start, then reduce the agitation after the first minute, as recommended by Morry.

 

[Blooze]

I would rather bet it is in your scanner then.

I had not thought of that. I will check it out.

Pre-soak or no? This does look like an agitation issue, problem is sometimes you see the same faults with too much or too little. I would continue to be vigorous at the start, then reduce the agitation after the first minute, as recommended by Morry.

The last roll I did presoak for 1 minute to see if that would help. I'll check the scanner as recommended by mfogiel, then try reducing the agitation on the next roll. Need to get some more developer first 🙂

 

[mfogiel]

Agitation streaks are diffuse, have cone like shape, and are darker on one side or both. This has nothing to do with agitation.

 

[Blooze]

Agitation streaks are diffuse, have cone like shape, and are darker on one side or both. This has nothing to do with agitation.

My only concern about it being the scanner, and I'll check, is I have to flip the negatives around end to end to scan a strip of 3 6x7 and it doesn't seem to stay on the same side of the scanner. It follows the negative. I'll recheck with my loupe, but I'm pretty sure it's on the negative.

 

[Blooze]

Is it an Epson scanner? I get that on my V700 in just "empty" areas, like sky. More often on black and white vs color negative film. Many people report the same issue. It's referred to as "banding".

It is an Epson V500 and yes, it almost always tend to be in very light or empty spaces. Again, I'll check the negatives good with a loupe just to be sure I'm not confusing myself with some other roll of film.

 

[Blooze]

aperture64 seems to have hit on the problem after looking at a few banding examples. http://photo.net/digital-darkroom-forum/00PWGu

Is there any way to avoid it or fix it other than cloning? I need to get space for a darkroom, that would eliminate the banding.

 

[brbo]

Is there any way to avoid it or fix it other than cloning? I need to get space for a darkroom, that would eliminate the banding.

Make sure that film or rather the frame that you are scanning is "masked" - there is no clear light passing anywhere around the frame. On some scanners clear/unobstructed light from light source will bleed into the frame (if a particular scanner is really bad at this even unexposed part of negative could pose a problem). It will be most noticeable on C-41 and BW film.

What holders are you using for scanning your 120 film?

 

[Blooze]

I just have the stock holders right now. I'd like to get one of the betterscanning holders with the ANR glass, but I might try making my own till then.