Anyone knows what happened here ?

[freax]

Hi,

Does someone knows what happened to this roll ? It happened a few times and it's not the camera because it happened with different ones.

Look at the bottom of the image. It shows some of the sprockets holes and I am suspecting that there is a light leak in my Paterson tank.

Any hints ?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Phil_F_NM]

Contaminated reels or maybe bromide drag. That's what I'd say. If you dip your reels in photo flo then that is very possibly the cause. You'll have to put them into a dishwasher or somehow clean them completely free of photo flow. If it's bromide drag then it can be a bit more tricky. More agitation, less development time, keep your developer very fresh.

Good luck!

Phil Forrest

 

[Lord Nikon]

The symptom of light and dark bars that line up with the sprocket holes* pretty perfectly is usually caused by excessive agitation.

See here, under the heading "uneven development"
Click Link

A very gentle movement of the tank every 30 sec (or however often you decide to do it) is all it takes. Tip the tank on its side, spin it half a turn or so, tip it back upright, and set it back down firmly. That's it.

*I cant see any sprocket holes in your scan.

 

[ChrisN]

The symptom of light and dark bars that line up with the sprocket holes* pretty perfectly is usually caused by excessive agitation.

...

Or by insufficient agitation, especially with stand or semi-stand development.

Tell us about how you developed this film - what developer, what dilution, development time, method and timing of agitation.

 

[freax]

Thanks to all.
I will wash better the remaining photo-flo from the reels but maybe the real problem could be the excessive agitation. In last few weeks, was thinking I was not doing enought vigorous agitation, so this could be the reason.

I was almost buying a new tank so I must give thanks again and will see how it's going.
[]'s

 

[freax]

Sorry bringing this topic alive again but I still have the same problem and can't find what it is. It is driving me crazy !
I wash every part of the tank and reels and today developed one TRI-X 400TX at 800 (11 min) and another at 400 (9.5 min) with ID-11 1+1. A little photo-flo at the end but can't be that as it happened without it.
The 800 went perfect, but the 400 roll from the first photos went very damaged.
Also tried to change the camera, film and tank ... Help ...

 

[celluloidprop]

I had a similar pattern years ago on a roll from my Leica that I opened without rewinding, so I'd suspect light leak somewhere in the chain.

 

[ChrisN]

Might be exhausted fixer - see www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=108331.

Exhausted fixer is sometimes a means to highlight an underlying problem with other causes.

What sort of tank did you use with the roll exposed at 400? What was your agitation routine?

 

[sdotkling]

Wouldn't a light leak show up as lighter areas on a print? They'd be darker on the neg, of course. I think the culprit is in the film developing. If it isn't excessive agitation (my first guess, too) maybe the reel is stored somewhere very warm, making the developer warmer at just those points? I'm reaching, I know.

 

[timor]

I would rather agree with Chris. There is something wrong with your work flow when developing. Both of the pictures look washed out. How looks unexposed part of the film (around sprockets holes) ? Is it fogged ? Bromide drag does not go both directions and the second picture shows problems from both sides. Are you sure you loading the tank in total darkness ? It looked a bit like fogged with distant red light.

 

[freax]

Could not be the fixer because I used the same bottle today (older now) on the 800 roll from a Olympus XA (photo down) without problems. Tomorrow I will check my M6 but I doubt again because it happened also with a new Voigtlander R2M and a revised Zenith 11.

 

[freax]

Thanks for the help. The reels were stored today at 18ºC and used a Paterson tank (size for 2 reels) with continuous agitation first 30 seconds and 3 agitations per minute. Every time the same routine. The space around the sprockets looks fogged.
I'm thinking if it is not due to soft agitation because the only difference I did on the 800 roll was doing with more vigorous agitation.

 

[Freakscene]

It is your agitation - it is non-random. You are getting flow patterns around the sprocket holes in your film that is causing surge marks from localised over development.

You can get this from too little, normal, or too much agitation if the agitation causes the same flow each time you agitate. Take a look at Kodak or Ilford's instructions and concentrate on agitating the same way each time you develop.

Marty

 

[colyn]

I suspect due to the sprocket issue that your problem could be you are not filling the tank above the reels. This is common when developer/fix flushes down through the sprockets when not enough chemical is used.

You may also want to check your developing time/temp..

 

[newtorf]

Do you bulk load your film? I once accidentally opened a bag of ilford hp5 bulk film because I did not realize that the ilford bulk film is directly put in a dark plastic bag without a metal tin! I quickly put it back into the plastic bag, and loaded it into my bulk loader. The first several rolls have the same pattern as yours.

 

[freax]

After some tests it looks the problem was the fixer after all. It is more sensitive than my wife 🙂
Thanks to all !

 

[taskoni]

Might be exhausted fixer - see www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=108331.

Exhausted fixer is sometimes a means to highlight an underlying problem with other causes.

What sort of tank did you use with the roll exposed at 400? What was your agitation routine?

+1 Try to agitate the fixer more often (let say 5 inversions per 30sec. - same as developer) and fix for 10-15 min...