HC110 - What am I doing wrong??

C

ChipShorter

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You Go Girl by Chip Shorter, on Flickr

Hello all. I come before you in desperation. I have been having this problem intermittently for nearly a year now. I am absolutely at my wit's end. I get these crazy uneven streaks over a whole roll.. I picked this pic as an example because it was underexposed and shows the problem most severely.

I get these with HC110. This example was 400TX shot at 1200, developed with solution E for 13.5 minutes.. in a Jobo Rotary tank. I have tried the following to eliminate the problem:
stand development
hand development
(just recently) rotary tank development
distilled water
bottled water
brand new fixer
20 degrees C
24 degrees C
multiple (at least 3) different cameras

The problem does not reliably appear .. it comes and goes and it's driving me crazy! Anyone have any thoughts on what could be causing this? I thought for sure that rotary would eliminate the problem..

Thanks in advance,
-c
 
It can't be the HC110 causing this! You must have a light leak someplace. It could be in the tank, since you have tried several cameras. I thought of overagitation as a cause, but since you tried stand development, that can't be it. Try a different tank if you have one. Nikor stainless tanks are good and light-tight.
 
I have never seen that effect with HC110. The streaks associated with the sprocket holes are commonly explained as over-agitation (as Rob-F points out), but clearly not the issue here. I did see reference somewhere to a light leak associated with the film advance, and which showed up on the sprocket holes.

Is this problem associated with one camera?

Randy
 
zauhar said:
I have never seen that effect with HC110. The streaks associated with the sprocket holes are commonly explained as over-agitation (as Rob-F points out), but clearly not the issue here. I did see reference somewhere to a light leak associated with the film advance, and which showed up on the sprocket holes.

Is this problem associated with one camera?

Randy
Click to expand...

I'm with you, in fact, I have never had development streaks with HC-110 using normal agitation. This looks like some weird post camera light leak. Stand development will cause streaking; I've had that, but only with Rodinal.

Caveat: I have never done real stand development; except painfully with Rodinal (why would anyone ?), and with HC-110 only semi-stand.

So, I wouldn't do stand development (ever with roll film; only sheet film), and I would be very careful about my transfering film from the camera to your tank (ei. in the dark).
 
I've never seen it this bad, but it looks like nozzle effect from the reel sliding back and forth in the tank.

If you are only doing one roll in a big tank, are you putting empty reels in to fill the void?

A small amount of liquid in a big tank might also rush past the sprocket holes too quickly.

Can you describe your set up and agitation?
 
I am sure this is caused by light leakage somewhere.


ChipShorter said:

You Go Girl by Chip Shorter, on Flickr

Hello all. I come before you in desperation. I have been having this problem intermittently for nearly a year now. I am absolutely at my wit's end. I get these crazy uneven streaks over a whole roll.. I picked this pic as an example because it was underexposed and shows the problem most severely.

I get these with HC110. This example was 400TX shot at 1200, developed with solution E for 13.5 minutes.. in a Jobo Rotary tank. I have tried the following to eliminate the problem:
stand development
hand development
(just recently) rotary tank development
distilled water
bottled water
brand new fixer
20 degrees C
24 degrees C
multiple (at least 3) different cameras

The problem does not reliably appear .. it comes and goes and it's driving me crazy! Anyone have any thoughts on what could be causing this? I thought for sure that rotary would eliminate the problem..

Thanks in advance,
-c
Click to expand...
 
For this specific example:

2 rolls were shot on 2 different cameras (same film.. 400TX) and put onto plastic reels in a changing bag. It's the 2-reel tank, so they were pretty stationary. Whenever I do 1 roll I'm sure to put the extra empty reel in. I used the Jobo CPE2, continuous agitation, for 13.5 minutes. The developer was HC-110 E dilution from syrup.

The more I think about it, there seems to be one common denominator: the changing bag. I thought I had been careful with it (I did all the work in a walk-in closet that was out of the path of direct light)


Larry H-L said:
I've never seen it this bad, but it looks like nozzle effect from the reel sliding back and forth in the tank.

If you are only doing one roll in a big tank, are you putting empty reels in to fill the void?

A small amount of liquid in a big tank might also rush past the sprocket holes too quickly.

Can you describe your set up and agitation?
Click to expand...
 
For this particular batch, yes. I was pushing the 400 to 1200, which is why it's longer than normal. Also, I had read somewhere that this issue may be caused by 'bromide drag' from the developer sitting for too long. I thought that the continuous agitation would clear it up.. obv it didn't 🙂

colyn said:
Am I reading this correct? You do continuous agitation for 13.5 minutes??
Click to expand...
 
I have to concur with the others and point to some form of light leak. I do all my b&w development with HC-110 dilutions B and H and I have never seen such a thing.
 
you have a light leak in your camera comng from the bottom plate upward. Its causing light to strike the film while the film is engaged in the teeth of the film advancement. so, by default, its located on the baseplate on the far right as you are viewing the camera from the back.
 
Since you have used more than one camera I'd have to say the problem is as others have stated a light leak. You said you used a changing bag...that's one area to look into but I tend to believe it is the tank where the light leak is coming from based on the bleed through the sprocket holes..

I would try another tank but instead of a rotary tank use a 2 reel stainless or plastic Paterson tank..
 
So I just developed another roll (out of the same camera) using a steel tank. The negatives are still drying but I can tell that the issue did not show up.

I will have to investigate the rotary tank closely to see if there's a light leak there.

Thanks everyone for your responses!

-c
 
I had the same issue, I was told in the fix it sub forum that this was from using exhausted fix. I haven't processed anything since to confirm this.
 
ChipShorter said:

Scan-120601-0002 by Chip Shorter, on Flickr

Here's the whole negative
Click to expand...

Chip, is that a scanned as a positive or as a negative? Looking at the negative, isn't the "Kodak Tri-X 400" black on a clear base?

Looks like you've scanned this as a negative. We are areas of less dense negative emanating from the sprocket holes. Wouldn't the usual "flow through the sprocket holes" produce more dense areas emanating from the sprocket holes?

Gets stranger and stranger??
 
ColSebastianMoran said:
Wouldn't the usual "flow through the sprocket holes" produce more dense areas emanating from the sprocket holes?
Click to expand...

I think the edges of the sprocket holes must be scattering or blocking the light from reaching past them. I imagine the light was coming through the very end of the tank, edge-on to the film. It seems to be about light, not about liquid flow.
 
Chip, just looking at the negative, it looks like this, right?

120602-StrangeTriXPattern.jpg
 
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