Processed my film..what the hell did I do wrong?

[Tim Gray]

Light purple tint to Tri-X is fine. Heavy purple tint or milky look means you under fixed it.

5 mins with Kodak powdered fixer probably isn't enough. I'd personally buy some rapid fix (from whoever you want, Kodak, Ilford, etc.) and stop using the powdered fix. Then your fix times will be 2-4 mins.

I'd also hit up the Kodak website for the appropriate pdfs for your film and dev and ignore that Massive dev chart. Not that it's bad, but Kodak does have very useable times and instructions for their products.

Here's a link to some simple Kodak instructions:
http://www.kodak.com:80/global/plugins/acrobat/en/professional/products/films/bw/processChartLo.pdf

Here's a link to the Tri-X pdf:
http://www.kodak.com:80/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/f4017/f4017.pdf

Here's a link to the HC-110 pdf:
http://www.kodak.com:80/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/j24/j24.pdf

Here's other B&W crap from Kodak (including fixers, etc.):
http://www.kodak.com:80/global/en/p...ry/filmBWmain.jhtml?pq-path=13318/13629/14024

 

[dfoo]

As I think I might of said before I would stop using HC110 until you get good negatives with D76... no strange dilutions, no small amounts of measure. Use one part straight D76, one part water at about 20C and develop for 10-11 minutes (the exact amount is not as important as others would have you believe). You'll get great looking negatives against all others will be compared.

HC-110 is much more difficult to use as you've discovered. There are numerous dilutions, and the one that you've chosen to use is very sensitive to temperature, timing and the exact amount of concentrate you've added since the resulting development time is very short.

D76 is far more forgiving in all respects.

 

[Ljós]

Patrick,

your washing sequence is on the short side, and that is probably the main cause for the purple tinge of your negatives.
As for fixing: of course correctly used powder fixer is just fine. But I would recommend liquid "rapid" fixer, like for example Ilford Rapid. At 1+4, film like Tri-X or HP5 clears completely in less than 60 seconds! (with fresh fixer, that is). And it is worthwile, I think, to use two-bath (or call it two-stage) fixing: prepare your fixer, be it from powder or liquid concentrate. Instead of having one bottle, and one fixing stage before washing the film, have two bottles, marked "Fix 1" and "Fix 2" or similar. Let's say your film clears completely in 60 seconds in your fresh working dilution of fixer.
Standard procedure would be to fix for twice the clearing time. But how to be SURE your film gets archivally fixed, after a number of rolls... Two-bath-fixing to the rescue 🙂

Fix for 90 seconds/two minutes in Fix 1. Pour Fix back in bottle. Fix for another two minutes in Fix 2. Basically your Fix 1 "takes the brunt" of fixing, and Fix 2 willl remain close to "full strength", ensuring that your film gets fixed completely. From time to time, see how long film clips take to clear in Fix 1 and Fix 2. You will see soon how Fix 1 times get longer and longer, while Fix 2 times remain way better. Once the Fix 1 times have about doubled, dispose of Fix 1, and pour Fix 2 in bottle Fix 1. Mix fresh working dilution and pour in bottle Fix 2 - repeat ad infinitum.
Your film will not spend more than 4 minutes in the fixing stage, and yet you can be SURE it is completely and archivally fixed.

(Two stage fixing is even more recommended once you do darkroom work and use fiber based paper. The idea is to archivally fix the paper, but have it spend the least amount of time necessary in the fixer, because it is hard to then remove the fixer from the paper's fibers during the washing stage.)

Have fun with film! ;-)
Ljós

 

[tagheuer]

As I think I might of said before I would stop using HC110 until you get good negatives with D76... no strange dilutions, no small amounts of measure. Use one part straight D76, one part water at about 20C and develop for 10-11 minutes (the exact amount is not as important as others would have you believe). You'll get great looking negatives against all others will be compared.

HC-110 is much more difficult to use as you've discovered. There are numerous dilutions, and the one that you've chosen to use is very sensitive to temperature, timing and the exact amount of concentrate you've added since the resulting development time is very short.

D76 is far more forgiving in all respects.

I concur on this one.

D76 with 1:1 is the way to go. I did it the first time and the result were exceptionally good.

 

[raytoei@gmail.com]

Congrats on Development.

+1 to mfogie's post.

 

[PatrickT]

Many thanks for all of the help.

I do have a pouch of D76 at home, so I suppose I will mix that tonight and give it a try. I suppose for now I will stay with the regular Fixer that I have, if only because I have it and don't want to waste it. Next time I go to the photo store, I'll pick up some rapid fixer for sure. That and a few "real" gallon containers, so I can stop using milk jugs and gatoraide bottles 🙂

Again, many thanks and I'll let you all know how it turns out tonight 🙂

 

[dfoo]

Non-rapid fix is fine... its just you have to fix for much longer. Do a clear test. Drop a clip of non-fixed film into the fix and measure how long it takes to clear. Fix your own film for a minimum of 2x that.

 

[Denverdad]

Patrick, I look forward to seeing the results from your second try! 🙂

If I can stick my neck out and make a comment about the use of HC-110 though, I don't understand the reservations some people have about this developer. For my first try at development I specifically chose to start with HC-110 due its reputation as a good all-around, general-purpose (and also "classic") developer; and for what I thought would be its ease of use, flexibility, long shelf life, and great economy. So far I have to say that it has fulfilled those expectations in all respects! I obtained great results the first time, and every time. Granted, my developer experience is limited compared to many of the old pros on this forum - to date including just HC-110, Diafine, some home-brew Caffenol-C concoctions, and Xtol. But I just don't see how HC-110 can be considered any more difficult to use or less forgiving than any of the others - if anything it is just the opposite in my experience. Yes, its true you can prepare HC-110 it in many different dilutions, but so too can you with D-76 and most other developers. Why would having the option to try different dilutions be considered any kind of disadvantage? As for the small quantities, measuring and dispensing is easy if you have a "baby syringe" (which you can usually obtain for free at a pharmacy). Also, being able to mix directly from the syrup means that you eliminate the need to have a stock solution around. What could be easier?

My intention is not to start a debate about the relative merits of different developers. Rather, I just wanted to present a different opinion about the OP's original choice of developer, as I think it is a perfectly good choice.

Cheers!

Jeff

 

[RayPA]

As I think I might of said before I would stop using HC110 until you get good negatives with D76... no strange dilutions, no small amounts of measure. Use one part straight D76, one part water at about 20C and develop for 10-11 minutes (the exact amount is not as important as others would have you believe). You'll get great looking negatives against all others will be compared.

HC-110 is much more difficult to use as you've discovered. There are numerous dilutions, and the one that you've chosen to use is very sensitive to temperature, timing and the exact amount of concentrate you've added since the resulting development time is very short.

D76 is far more forgiving in all respects.

+1 on this. D-76/ID-11 and Tri-X is about as perfect a match between developer and film that there is in photography. It's also the closest there is to a 'standard' in photography.

Set the HC110 aside for now (it'll keep), mix up some fresh D-76 and try again. 1:1, 68F, 10 minutes, standard agitation. Concentrate on the other parts of the process (timing, pouring, etc). When you evaluate the negs, you can pretty much rule out the developer.




/

 

[Beemermark]

Another plus with a developer like D-76 / ID-11 mixed 1:1 is that it pretty much goes to completion. Thus if the development time is 10 minutes and you go 20 minutes you'll still get a good negative because the developer is used up. it's really hard to over develop.

And, at least for me, mixing 500 ml of ID-11 and 500 ml of ID-11 is a lot easier and more forgiving (+/- 50 ml has no effect on developing) than mixing 20 ml to 980 ml of some of the high strength developers. Shelf life is good when not pre-mixed. Recommended storage is 6 months but I routinely end up using stuff that's a year old.

 

[dfoo]

Patrick, I look forward to seeing the results from your second try! 🙂

If I can stick my neck out and make a comment about the use of HC-110 though, I don't understand the reservations some people have about this developer. ...

I started with D76 and moved to HC110 after a while so I didn't need to keep stock around when I was living in a small apartment. Now I don't, I use XTOL & Rodinal primarily.

If you look at the experience of the OP you'll see some of the things that can easily go wrong when using highly concentrated developers such as HC-110. He chose a dilution that lead to a very short development time, which means that any issue with heat of the water, amount of developer and length of the development will have an adverse affect on the quality of the final product. With D76 I doubt that would have occurred. He'd have picked 1+1 as that is "standard", and with a 10 minute development time at 20C messing up the dev a little (in terms of temp, dilution or time) will not have a terrible effect. To compound the issues with HC-110 there are two variations of the developer with different concentrations. Check http://www.covingtoninnovations.com/hc110/ for details.

 

[PatrickT]

Well, I re-fixed those negatives for an additional 10 minutes and they look a million times better. Great, in fact. The grain is greatly reduced, purple color is gone, etc. Here's a quick and dirty comparison:

Short fixing time:

Correct fixing time:

Thanks again to all 🙂

 

[PatrickT]

Aaaannnnddd.....a new one from tonight. I mixed my D-76 but was impatient and didn't want to wait for it too cool down to room temp. Since my last roll turned out fine after I re-fixed it, I decided to try another with the HC-110, this time with a roll of Plus-X. Long story short, turned out great. I fixed for 15 minutes (probably overkill). Here's one from the roll:

 

[xwhatsit]

Congratulations! Glad you've nailed it down, if you'd switched to D76 immediately and changed two variables it might've taken a while to figure out what it was. I know it would bug me for ages not knowing what it was!

Looks great. I don't know if I'd have the patience for 15 minutes in the fix, though! I get impatient waiting 5 minutes as my Ilford Rapid Fix ages -- it's not like printing, you don't get to see the picture straight after the developer >.<

 

[Tim Gray]

Yeah, there's nothing wrong with regular fixer, but there's no real advantage to using it either. It's also really not that expensive, so I'd just dump it and get some rapid fixer. Of course, if you don't mind sitting around for 10 minutes while it fixes, it's perfectly fine to continue to use.

 

[PatrickT]

Thanks! I actually bought some Ilford Rapid Fixer last night but figured I should just use the stuff I have for now and not waste it. The 15 minutes didn't bug me too much, although I can see it getting old fast 🙂

 

[Ljós]

Hi Patrick,

any plans to "adopt" an enlarger and also print your negatives "wet"? 🙂
So much analog darkroom equipment looking for new homes these days, for a pittance... 🙂
Greetings, Ljós

 

[PatrickT]

Ljós - I've thought about it, but I think I need to take it one step at a time 🙂 I tend to dive into things head first and then oftentimes get bored with them, or decide I don't want to do them anymore. I don't want that to happen with this. In time, I'm sure I'll want to print 😉

 

[benji77]

Great thread with plenty of useful information, especially for beginners like me. I am into my 5th roll in developing now, and I did encounter 'insufficient fixing'. I did that by mis-caculating the ratio of developer for two rolls of film.

The idea about using two step fixing sounds like an excellent idea, and I may try that sometime🙂

 

[PatrickT]

Souped a roll of 120 Tri-x last night and it went perfectly. Thanks for all of the advice.

Now I just have to figure out how to not get it to curl so badly (along the length...like a hotdog 🙂 ) Any tips?