David_Manning
Well-known
Chalk up another gaffe to rushing.
I forgot to install the black, center spindle into the Paterson System 4 developing tank while souping two rolls yesterday.
Voila! The opaque film reels let light in!
The first third of both rolls was basically black, the remainder showed huge edge fogging, and all the frames which survived are dark, with little contrast.
I was tearing my hair out trying to figure out what the pattern was. The M6 body is solid, the film was loaded in the dark. My personal red herring? Xray from airport scanners (I'm an airline pilot...I put the camera and film through the scanner once a day every trip--I'm a multiple-zap kind of guy).
What didn't make sense to me was that my C-41-based film didn't get fogged by the same exposure to xrays.
I had a hunch it was my handling during the developing. I thought I maybe over-developed (6:45 at 22C in HC-110 B), but even the film edges were affected. Then I thought maybe bad stop or fixer (the developer was new).
I sat there with two rolls in my hands, looking for patterns...then it hit me. I remember looking down into the dev tank seeing the white interior thinking, "funny...I remember it looking all black." The portions of the film closest to the leader were fogged almost totally black...it was the part loaded first onto the reels, closest to the opaque white plastic.
A true "duh" moment.
I swear, posting here is like going to confession!!!
I forgot to install the black, center spindle into the Paterson System 4 developing tank while souping two rolls yesterday.
Voila! The opaque film reels let light in!
The first third of both rolls was basically black, the remainder showed huge edge fogging, and all the frames which survived are dark, with little contrast.
I was tearing my hair out trying to figure out what the pattern was. The M6 body is solid, the film was loaded in the dark. My personal red herring? Xray from airport scanners (I'm an airline pilot...I put the camera and film through the scanner once a day every trip--I'm a multiple-zap kind of guy).
What didn't make sense to me was that my C-41-based film didn't get fogged by the same exposure to xrays.
I had a hunch it was my handling during the developing. I thought I maybe over-developed (6:45 at 22C in HC-110 B), but even the film edges were affected. Then I thought maybe bad stop or fixer (the developer was new).
I sat there with two rolls in my hands, looking for patterns...then it hit me. I remember looking down into the dev tank seeing the white interior thinking, "funny...I remember it looking all black." The portions of the film closest to the leader were fogged almost totally black...it was the part loaded first onto the reels, closest to the opaque white plastic.
A true "duh" moment.
I swear, posting here is like going to confession!!!
