Help! what do these stripes mean?!

[jamin-b]

I wuld appreciate the benefit of your experiience and insights:

I just developed my first roll of T-Max 400, using HC-100, dilution H. Besides not being thrilled with the results, all of the negatives exhibit these stripes:

Sept16_100_TMY400_HC_ZXL_3 by Ben Sandler, on Flickr

with the lighter lines corresponding exactly to the sprocket holes on the edges of the film. I have had a similar phenomenon in the past but attributed it to uneven development using rodinal in stand or semi-stand development and/or a leak in a reusable film cartridge when I have used self-rolled film. However, this is a factory sealed film cartridge and for a change I used a higher dilution with an inversion or two each minute.

Anyone have any idea what might be causing this?

 

[Highway 61]

Uneven development caused by a lack of inversions (what others will call "agitation").

The rule is : continuous inversions during the first minute followed with some cycles of 5-6 inversions each minute, all followed by tapping the tank bottom on the table.

 

[jamin-b]

That's a lot more than what I did - I guess I have the stand development mindset to overcome. I will try next time as you suggest. Thanks!

 

[jim_jm]

Definitely looks to be an agitation issue. Although for TMax film, my agitation scheme is slightly different in HC110 than for other films. Never had any problem with surge marks.

TMax 400 in HC110 Dil:H at 20c
- total dev time 12 mins
- initial agitation for 5 sec only
- agitate for 5 sec (3 inversions) once every 30 sec
- after 5 mins, agitate for 5 sec once every minute

I try to keep my agitation motion relatively gentle, rolling and inverting the tank at the same time. The TMax 400 data sheet specifies agitation for the first 5 sec only, not 30 sec or 1 min like some other films.

 

[NeeZee]

Could also have to do with the speed of the inversions. I once got something similar when I was trying to do the inversions really slowly. I guess that way there's much more developer flowing where the sprocket holes are and so these parts develop more quickly.