umboody
Established
We have a basic darkroom at work which I use once a week to process a film or two. In this example, I used Tri-X 400 pushed to 1600ISO, souped in Fotospeed FD10 Developer which I had prepared from concentrate there and then.
Just about all of the other films I have processed there have had all the frames covered in scratches just like these. But they seemed to get heavier this time, perhaps because I was developing longer.
Possible problems that could be causing it:
- temperature of the chemicals is not monitored
- the water coming out of the taps is occasionally slightly murky and brown (although in this example, I used fresh water from another source)
- Fotospeed developer is s***e and I wouldn't trust it as far as I could throw it
- The fixer could well have been mixed up with its print counterpart. GCSE and A Level students are in there all the time and mistakes could have occured.
- I sometimes have issues with the film reels and getting the film onto the spirals (although I have used my own without hitch and these problems still occur).
Has anyone else come across this problem? Should I just invest in some chemicals for myself and lock them away from everyone else? If so, what would you recommend is best for Tri-X and the occasional roll of Rollei Retro 100 and T-Max 3200?
Just about all of the other films I have processed there have had all the frames covered in scratches just like these. But they seemed to get heavier this time, perhaps because I was developing longer.
Possible problems that could be causing it:
- temperature of the chemicals is not monitored
- the water coming out of the taps is occasionally slightly murky and brown (although in this example, I used fresh water from another source)
- Fotospeed developer is s***e and I wouldn't trust it as far as I could throw it
- The fixer could well have been mixed up with its print counterpart. GCSE and A Level students are in there all the time and mistakes could have occured.
- I sometimes have issues with the film reels and getting the film onto the spirals (although I have used my own without hitch and these problems still occur).
Has anyone else come across this problem? Should I just invest in some chemicals for myself and lock them away from everyone else? If so, what would you recommend is best for Tri-X and the occasional roll of Rollei Retro 100 and T-Max 3200?
Roger Hicks
Veteran
I never saw a developer yet that could add scratches and dust.
I'd back muddy water or dirty loading/filthy fixer.
Cheers,
R.
I'd back muddy water or dirty loading/filthy fixer.
Cheers,
R.