Good info on color developing problems

[dfatty]

After a year of fairly successfully developing C-41, my last dozen or so rolls have been horrendous. Super low contrast, very cloudy, completely blown highlights. I'm still trying to figure it out but it seems to be happening across many different bodies, including bodies that recently have been CLA'd that presumably have accurate shutter speeds. It seems to have coincided with a new batch of chemicals, but I've made a fresh batch (Rollei C-41 with leaky bottles and all) and it's still happening. It's a challenge but I'm hoping to figure it out by changing one variable at a time and I definitely will be double checking my metering.

Anyway, I'm not so much looking for suggestions (though any are certainly welcome) as much as wanting to share a site I ran across, which has some very helpful information that you other color home developers may find useful.

http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/photomicrography/colornegprocerrors.html

Fwiw, this is a typical result I've been getting. Including the cat hair.

 

[mwoenv]

Before I bought a Rollei Digibase C41 Midi-size kit from Freestyle I was fortunate enough to read an APUG thread that said this kit's Developer Part C was prone to going bad - it turns purple when it's bad and it should not be used. I had this and Freestlye replaced it.

Maybe your Developer part C was bad (purple)?

As far a spots or other debris on negatives, air dry anything that will come in touch with the film (reels, inside of tanks); drying with a cloth towel can leave lint on the reel or tank that will be a problem the next time you use them. I also filter all solutions after each use, using coffee filters, as debris (silver removed from the film) can cause spots on the negatives.