Purple film?

[maitrestanley]

I develop my own bw film and I've noticed that many of them come out with a purple cast to them. Some moreso than others.

Is this normal? Or is there something I'm doing wrong?

 

[Bryce]

Lemme guess... Kodak film, right?
It is supposedly a product of an anti halation layer that is stubborn to remove. Some say fix longer, others say wash longer, still others say ignore it, that it is harmless.
I solved the problem, assuming it is one, by switching to Ilford's equivalent films.

 

[lubitel]

I have had the problem and usually either my fixer is too old or I havent fixed it long enough.

 

[40oz]

I've never had the problem, but I use fresh fixer every time, and fix for five minutes or so. I've never had any color left in TMAX in over a year of doing things that way. I haven't used anything but Tri-X for a little while now, which doesn't have any color dye that I've been able to see.

 

[mbisc]

Assuming you are using fresh fixer, 5 minutes with 15 seconds off-and-on of agitation should get rid of the pink/purple cast. If not, take a small piece of film from a fresh roll, and drop it in a cup of fixer. Whatever time it takes to clear the piece of film should be doubled for your processing.

Also, as I know from personal experience, the fixer should be at least room temperature. I had a couple of rolls recently that turned out pink/purple because in my "new" darkroom (bathroom, really) is a lot colder than my old one before I moved, and 10C / 50F fixer definitely isn't doing "its thing"...

By the way, unless the pink/purple cast is really bad, don't worry about already-processed rolls, but for future rolls definitely work on getting the color cast out, since it can mess up your printing if you use VC filters/paper.

 

[charjohncarter]

I agree with 40oz, one shot fixer, and no cast with Tri-X. I have never under fixed or cheated on washing, so I don't know what the result would be if I had.

 

[Tim Gray]

I still get a slight purple cast to Tri-X. Just did 2 rolls this past weekend, one of TMZ and one of Pan-F. Now I hear its hard to get all of the "stain" out of Tmax, but after identically fixing and washing both films (ok tmax got an extra 2 minutes of fix according to the clearing test), the Tmax came out with no coloring and the PanF is the most purple film I've ever developed.

I do Ilford Rapid fixer for 2-3 times the clearing time, wash with water (a couple fills and empties), 2 mins of HCA, something similar to Ilford washing method (5-10-15-20-25), 5 mins of running water, and then photo-flo.

I don't one shot fixer as that seems wasteful to me, but I definitely don't overuse it.

 

[maitrestanley]

Lemme guess... Kodak film, right?
It is supposedly a product of an anti halation layer that is stubborn to remove. Some say fix longer, others say wash longer, still others say ignore it, that it is harmless.
I solved the problem, assuming it is one, by switching to Ilford's equivalent films.

Yeah it's with Kodak film but not always. It kind of varies.

I'll try warmer fixer (usually I keep it around 20C) anf fixing for longer periods.

 

[anselwannab]

I do a flush with water after fixing and before the hypo wash. Might just be phsycological, but it seems to help, and does it ever come out purple. Been a few months since I developed film, I have a few rolls to develop now. Glad I bought a 5 reel tank!

Mark

 

[40oz]

you might try filtered or distilled water during the process. Beyond localized water sources, I can't really explain why some of us have never had a problem with it while others do.

FWIW, when doing a clip test with Tri-X, it comes out of the fixer pure gray, no color cast at all after only 2 minutes. I've never seen any indication of a purple dye in the film.

 

[Harry Lime]

I fix my Tri-X for up to 7 minutes, then wash and hypo for at least 15 minutes and they still come out with a magenta tint. I noticed this happening on a regular basis after Kodak moved to their new plant and changed the emulsion. And yes, the fixer is fresh.

HL

 

[nk.]

For what it is worth, I seem to have had the opposite experience in terms of Kodak v. Ilford. I never have any residual halation dye in negatives made with Kodak film. However, I sometimes see residual halation dye in my hp5+ negatives from the underfunded university darkroom which never seems to have any fresh fix and doesn't filter the water. I never see it when I process in the more professional darkroom. I think the fresh fixer, DI water, and proper washing are key. HCA can help depending on the film.

 

[Solinar]

Develop in Rodinal - you'll see a lot of purple come out with the developer and the colored base your negs will be gray.

 

[kaiyen]

There are, I agree, about 100 answers to this. I can only say what works for me:

1 - 2 bath fix. Bath A for 4 minutes, rinsse, bath B for 3 minutes.
2 - full minute rinse after fix
3 - 2-3 minutes in Permawash (even though it's not needed for my fixer). I shake it up, let it sit, clean up a bit, then shake it some more, then sit, etc.
4 - Ilford wash method, fairly vigorous.

Works for me. that's all I can say.

allan

 

[Wayne R. Scott]

I am sure that I have mentioned this in other posts but for T-Max films I do a one minute pre-soak in water before I develop the film. I dump out the water pre-soak (which has a color cast) and then begin my normal development routine. Years ago when I developed my first roll of T-max and dumped out the purple colored developer at the end of the developing cycle I just about fainted. I thought I had ruined the film some how.

Any way I agree with most of the statements above, longer fixing times, longer rinsing times, and it doesn't really make too much difference if you have a slight tint to your film.

Wayne

 

[kaiyen]

One comment - with tmax films, it's the sensitizing dyes, not the AH layer, that is causing the color cast.

allan