Neopan 400 uh oh

[John Bragg]

I really like Neopan 400 in Rodinal. I hope you find out what caused your problem so you can avoid similar occurances in the future. It is a winning combination for me and I hope you enjoy using it as much as I do.

John.

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

Actually, I'm glad this thread came back--a Fuji tech CALLED me on the phone and talked to me for fifteen minutes about the problem! He led me through my whole process, and we figured out that I'd done one particular thing differently from usual--I pre-soaked the film for a minute in tap water. I don't usually do this, but I do when I develop C41, because I like to get the film up to temperature before I pour in the dev. And I had been souping C41 the same week, and so automatically did this to the Neopan.

Anyway, we have a potassium-permanganate-based well water treatment system, and it's possible that the tank had just recycled, and there were traces of the chemical in the water. This doesn't explain why the images themselves weren't flaking off, but it is the only thing I did differently.

Next roll, I won't soak, and I'll see what happens.

 

[MartinP]

Good marks for Fuji. It still sounds like really strange symptoms, regarding the bits of the film which were affected and which were not.

I suppose on the leader, none of the silver-halides are fixed out because it is all turned to silver - but then again, the problem effect was with the emulsion layer flaking ? With C41 film, there is no silver left in the emulsion afterwards, so that could be a reason for a difference between the two sorts of film when you have been developing them in basically the same water-supply . . . weird.

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

Yeah, it is odd. I told the guy I was surprised he was willing to spend so long addressing a film problem. And he told me pointblank he doesn't get too many film questions anymore, and misses them.

In fact, I will recommend him by name: Pat McCarthy. Email him with your film Q's, PMCCARTH (at) fujifilm (dot) com

 

[Bob Michaels]

Fujifilm is roughly the size of Kodak. What we consider "photography" is in the smallest of 3 divisions. And consumer photo film is a very very small part of that division. And Neopan is no more than "other" in the consumer photo film group. I doubt if the head guy at Fujifilm would recognize the brand name "Neopan"

However, I have found the people at Fuji pro services in CA to be very responsive when I called. They once told me some things about film availability / competition / pricing / distribution that I am sure was not for the general public information.

If you need them:http://www.fujifilmusa.com/gateway/usa/index.html They are the group in Cypress CA.

I have been shooting Neopan almost exclusively for about five years, including much developed in Rodinal. And I have yet to find the first QC problem with the film.