Photos come out of developing looking like bacon?!

[2wenty]

Hey guys,

Im new to home developing. I bought everything I need the other day and I'm giving it a go.

So far Ive developed one roll of 35mm and one roll of 120. Both came out of the developing tank all warped like a piece of bacon. The photos developed fine though. I can't figure out what it is. Could it be something in the chemical process or the reel?

All I know is this can't happen again or I'm gonna go crazy :bang:

Im using a Paterson Universal tank. Both were developed with the water and chemicals between 20-25ºc. One roll was developed in D76 the other in Rodinal. Im using Kodak Indicator Stop Bath, Kodafix, Hypo Wash Eco Pro and then photo flo 200.

Also following along with the Massive Dev app so I know the times are right for each step.

Any help would be great. Ive yet to be able to find anything about this online.

Thanks!

 

[coelacanth]

I don't know what the heck is going on here. I do love bacon, but I don't want my films to go bacon on me.

I have no idea how this could happen. One thought (though I have no info/experience backing as this never ever happened to me): maybe one of the chemicals you used was mixed wrong? Maybe it's like 100% strength when it's supposed to be diluted? Since you used two developers and both came out this way, I'd suspect Stop-bath, fixer, hypo or photo-flo part.

 

[Rob-F]

Looks like you have more than one problem there. The 35mm roll looks like the images developed OK, but the film is mangled. How did you dry the film?

The 120 roll does not have any images on the part I can see in your picture. I'm just guessing, but maybe the chemicals didn't reach that part. It doesn't look like it went in the fixer. And it's mangled worse than the 35mm roll. Are you hanging these up to dry?

 

[2wenty]

The only one I didn't mix down was the Stop bath since there was no dilution instructions on the bottle.

The fixer says 1:3. So I did 100ml of fixer and 300ml of water.

On the Hypo wash eco pro it says 1:19. I did 10ml of hypo and 200ml or water.

And lastly on the photo flo 2-3 drops max.

 

[coelacanth]

(on fixer I think you meant 100ml to 300 ml, not 10ml to 300ml)

Now, STOP that STOP BATH!!

It shouldn't be used straight unless you got one at working strength. The bottle I have is super concentrated. (I just use water instead of stop bath anyway)

According to the direction on the bottle I have, it should be 2 fl oz to 1 gal of water. I think the super uber concentrated stop bath was the recipe for b/w film bacon...

 

[2wenty]

Looks like you have more than one problem there. The 35mm roll looks like the images developed OK, but the film is mangled. How did you dry the film?

The 120 roll does not have any images on the part I can see in your picture. I'm just guessing, but maybe the chemicals didn't reach that part. It doesn't look like it went in the fixer. And it's mangled worse than the 35mm roll. Are you hanging these up to dry?

All the photos developed fine. I even scanned them all warped and they actually came out not too bad at all.

The 35mm was warped and curled so bad I had to rewet it after it dried to try and flatten it out.

They both came out of the reel after the final wash already warped. I hung them off a hanger in a door jam with a light weight at the bottom.

road by 2wenty, on Flickr

sandrograce by 2wenty, on Flickr

 

[2wenty]

(on fixer I think you meant 100ml to 300 ml, not 10ml to 300ml)

Now, STOP that STOP BATH!!

It shouldn't be used straight unless you got one at working strength. The bottle I have is super concentrated. (I just use water instead of stop bath anyway)

According to the direction on the bottle I have, it should be 2 fl oz to 1 gal of water. I think this the the recipe for b/w film bacon...

Thank you. I figured it was straight because there is no dilution on the bottle. **** just looked at the bottle and you have to peel the label off for the dilution info, *** Kodak. Okay I think this is the problem. Its the one that I thought might do it since its so acidic.

Thanks guys.

edit. Yes my mistake on the fixer 100ml to 300ml.

 

[Rob-F]

Well, I think the stop bath, which is a very strong acetic acid, probably attacked the film base to make it wrinkle like that. All you need is a little bit of concentrate in a lot of water!

I still don't see any images on the part of that 120 roll you are holding up. It looks like brown butcher paper.

 

[2wenty]

Just remixed all my stuff. Gonna try and blow through a roll tonight and develop, guess we'll see if this fixes the problem. Ill get back to you guys. Thanks for the help.

 

[2wenty]

Well, I think the stop bath, which is a very strong acetic acid, probably attacked the film base to make it wrinkle like that. All you need is a little bit of concentrate in a lot of water!

I still don't see any images on the part of that 120 roll you are holding up. It looks like brown butcher paper.

I was doing my best to show the warpage.

Here are some photos from the piece I was holding up.

Delta 400 shot with the light meter in my head to about 800 out of a Yashica D TLR. Developed in Rodinal 1+25 22ºc for 16:30, agitated for first min and 2 inversions at the top of every min. And scanned all wrapped to hell.

This one was hand held for what was set to 1sec at 3.5f but it was really like 1.5 to 2 sec since the thing is so old the spring is weak.
camylefour by 2wenty, on Flickr

This was about 2 min.
landscapeyashica by 2wenty, on Flickr

 

[Baipin]

This is definitely the stop bath. A friend of mine and I use undiluted stop bath specifically for this; to get mordancage-like effects on 16mm cine film. You probably don't want anything close to mordancage with your still negatives! 😉

 

[2wenty]

This is definitely the stop bath. A friend of mine and I use undiluted stop bath specifically for this; to get mordancage-like effects on 16mm cine film. You probably don't want anything close to mordancage with your still negatives! 😉

Definitely not 😉

 

[mfogiel]

Or you have developed in boiling water or you have used some war agent orange as stop bath... I suggest to forget the stop bath altogether - develop, then use fresh fixer and that's it.

 

[Merlijn53]

This looks look like mechanical damage, not chemical. Imho you caused it while forcing the films on the spool. Did you practise in daylight before starting for real?
Frank

 

[johannielscom]

...

sandrograce by 2wenty, on Flickr

Guess I should make sure my negatives get warped too, the women I shoot never look this fine...

😛😀😀😀

 

[coelacanth]

This looks look like mechanical damage, not chemical. Imho you caused it while forcing the films on the spool. Did you practise in daylight before starting for real?
Frank

I can't think that would be the case. if he forced the film on the spool that would make that level of distortion, film will be touching each other all over the place so images won't be even viewable like this.

 

[calebarchie]

There was a bacon festival on today - photographing using this 'technique' would of been very fitting! 😛

http://www.baconbrewfest.com.au/

 

[sevo]

The only one I didn't mix down was the Stop bath since there was no dilution instructions on the bottle.

Bingo. You dissolved the acetate base in concentrated acetic acid! Lucky you did not spill anything or you might now be a finger short...

 

[Highway 61]

sandrograce by 2wenty, on Flickr

This is some very nice bacon. Where can we buy some from ?

Now, a few thoughts about stop bath.

There has been a trend over the recent past years which is to advise film beginners not to use stop bath. IMO this belongs to the same strange hype trend telling about bokeh, vintage lenses color rendition, Rodinal as the best developer for Tri-X, and so on.

Stop bath is designed to stop the developing process, which cannot be seen as something bad. If developing times are precisely defined, that's not for no reason. So once you've removed the developer from the tank, the developing process will continue because of developer still being all over the film surface. Brutally stopping this with stop bath is a very useful step. It's as useful in that it will help the fixer not to get contaminated with the developer (hence a longer fixer lifetime - fixer has a cost).

How to make some good stop bath ?

White 8% vinegar which costs about $0.85 per liter at any grocery, then diluted in water at 1+1. Then you get some 4% AA.

How to guess stop bath lifetime ?

When the AA smell is gone, you have to throw it away and make some new. One liter of stop bath, if stored in a brown glass bottle in a cool place, can last for about 75 rolls of 135-36 film.

For how long have I been doing this ?

35 years.

Have I experienced problems ever ?

No.

 

[Benjamin Marks]

+1 For the 1:1 white table vinegar suggestion. I would amend the above a little and say that the purpose of stop bath is a) to stop development and b) to extend the life of your acid fixer. I can buy 5 liters of Heintz white vinegar for a couple of dollars at Costco. It is so inexpensive, I don't even both re-using it more than once or twice.

Don't get me wrong, a water rinse will effectively stop development too. But you will have a bit of carry-over into your fixer. Not the end of the world, but fixer is probably your most expensive chemical. . . when I was starting out I tried to extend its life as much as possible. Now I worry more about archival processing than pure cost.