Purple film?

M

maitrestanley

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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?
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
Bryce said:
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.
Click to expand...

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.
 
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
 
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.
 
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
 
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.
 
Develop in Rodinal - you'll see a lot of purple come out with the developer and the colored base your negs will be gray.
 
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
 
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
 
One comment - with tmax films, it's the sensitizing dyes, not the AH layer, that is causing the color cast.

allan
 
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