Souped my first roll...some help?

[chut]

After a hiatus of 14 years, I developed my first roll again tonight. I was kinda nervous and wasn't expecting very good results. It wasn't a complete disaster, although it seems I need some help figuring out what went wrong.

I used Kodak chemicals on a roll of 135 Tri-X: D76, Stop and Fixer. I made a gallon of each. One problem I had was the fixer powder wasn't dissolving completely. Perhaps the water I was using was not at the right temperature? It was probably at 80 degrees.

Anyway, I cooled the mixed chemicals down to 68 degrees with ice and proceeded with 6 3/4 mins of development with 5 seconds of agitation every 30 seconds, stop bath for 30 seconds and constant agitation and fixer for 10 minutes with again 5 seconds agitation every 30 seconds.

I rinsed for 30 minutes, squeegeed and hung to dry. I'm pretty happy with the tones I goton the images, but there seems to be a lot of white specks and water marks on the negatives. Could this be caused by my incomplete dilution of fixer? Also, to prevent water marks, is using Hypo Clear a must? Do people use Photo Flo too?

Overall, it was great fun developing again after all this time. I'm excited to be doing it once again and I just need to tweak my process to get it right. Hope you folks can help.

Here are two images that show the white specks and water marks:

Cheers,

Chut

 

[rlouzan]

Could this be caused by my incomplete dilution of fixer?
Yes, next time use a coffee filter (but liquid rapid fixer is better.)

Also, to prevent water marks, is using Hypo Clear a must? Do people use Photo Flo too?
No, just rins in distilled water.

 

[Thardy]

I had the same problem a couple of days ago but didn't notice until I had cut the film. You can rewash the film if you notice spots. I'm going to use the directions in this site next time.

 

[paulfitz76]

I make a special bath of Photo Flo using distilled water, rinse 60 seconds in that and then hang to dry. I tend not to squeege since I over do it and scratch. But this photo flo keeps all the hard water away, and here in FL that's all we have. Use liquid developers, stop and fixer or mix chemicals and then wait 24 hours. That should make sure all is dissolved ok, and the temp will return to normal.

 

[rlouzan]

Hypo clear/Heico Perma Wash are basically pure seawater.
Rapid fixer + Perma Wash provide shorter wash times (especially with medium/high speed films.)

 

[sepiareverb]

Hypo clear/Heico Perma Wash are basically pure seawater.

Not quite, salts yes, but pure seawater? No.

I don't think we'd find Sodium Sulfite, Sodium Metabisulfate, Sodium citrate or Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid tetrasodium salt in such concentrations at the beach.
😀

 

[gb hill]

I bought some Ilford rapid fixer. I love it. It's a liquid & mixes so much easier than a powder. I also use photo flo. You don't have to use it, but you will be glad you did. Last a long time too!

 

[rlouzan]

Yes, about 14 nautical miles from the beach shore😀.

Regards,
Robert

Not quite, salts yes, but pure seawater? No.

I don't think we'd find Sodium Sulfite, Sodium Metabisulfate, Sodium citrate or Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid tetrasodium salt in such concentrations at the beach.
😀

 

[ampguy]

I don't see your example images, but I was getting a lot of specks until moving to a high salt softened water rinse. I also use some Kentmere something after the fixer, but mainly to reduce rinsing times. Be sure to dry well in a dust free area.

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

+1 on the Ilford fixer, and the Photo Flo, too.

 

[rlouzan]

HEICO PERMAWASH

Reader Jim Gupton writes from North Carolina to tell us about an old friend, the late Harold E. Ingraham, founder of Heico:

"Back in the late 1930s, Harold was a young chemical engineer living on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. Working in the Navy Photo Lab archives, Harold observed a remarkable difference between of black and white prints processed at sea and those processed at shore. The majority of prints or films processed at Pearl Harbor Navy labs discolored from residual chemicals much faster than those processed on ships."

"Comparing lab equipment and procedures, Harold found they were identical for both ship-based and shore-based labs. The only discrepancy noted by Harold was that the ship-based labs did 99% of their film and print washing with sea water, with only a final quick rinse in fresh water, while shore-based labs performed all their washing with local fresh water supples."

"It was obvious to Harold that for some reason, sea water was more efficient in removing or neutralizing residual processing chemicals in both films and prints."

"He further postulated that only ships at sea would have access to pure seawater, since harbor water would be contaminated. Thus, to be assured of obtaining non-contaminated seawater, Harold took to sea in a small boat and gathered samples of water some ten miles off the shore od Oahu."

"So successful were his experiments with sea water samples that they became his first product: PermaWash, which was originally a manufactured concentrate chemically identical to pure Pacific Ocean seawater."

Darkroom & Creative Camera Techniques Jan/Feb 1995, News & Products, p2

(c) Jim Gupton 1995

Not quite, salts yes, but pure seawater? No.

I don't think we'd find Sodium Sulfite, Sodium Metabisulfate, Sodium citrate or Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid tetrasodium salt in such concentrations at the beach.
😀

 

[charjohncarter]

rlouzan, thanks for that story. A little history never hurt anyone.

 

[Freakscene]

Hypo clear/Heico Perma Wash are basically pure seawater

These hypo clearing agents consist mainly of sodium sulfite. Seawater is a 35 ppt solution of sodium chloride, with calcium, magnesium and other salts in it - it also varies enormously from location to location.

You don't need to use HCA on film; a good wash gets all the fixer out of the emulsion. Use HCA on fibre base paper.

I filter very pure water through a 0.22 micron filter, add a tiny amount of Photo-Flo: I rinse the film in this, flick to remove as much as possible and hang to dry.

The modern Perma Wash that I've tested was not a sodium chloride solution - it was more akin to Kodak HCA. For long-term image stability, if photos are washed in a sodium chloride solution (like seawater) you need to wash most of the chloride out of the paper before drying. In my tests (using a silver nitrate test for residual chloride in films and paper) this was harder to wash out than thiosulfate - so you need to wash with freshwater anyway. If you use seawater on film you will end up with salts dried on the external surfaces in addition to in the gelatin emulsion.


You should use a rapid fix (with ammonium thiosulfate) - sodium thiosulfate doesn't fix silver iodide very well and modern papers and films have a fairly high proportion of iodide.

Marty

 

[ampguy]

very interesting

very interesting

any soft water users notice differences between Sodium and Potassium salts with regards to final rinse of films?

HEICO PERMAWASH

Reader Jim Gupton writes from North Carolina to tell us about an old friend, the late Harold E. Ingraham, founder of Heico:

"Back in the late 1930s, Harold was a young chemical engineer living on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. Working in the Navy Photo Lab archives, Harold observed a remarkable difference between of black and white prints processed at sea and those processed at shore. The majority of prints or films processed at Pearl Harbor Navy labs discolored from residual chemicals much faster than those processed on ships."

"Comparing lab equipment and procedures, Harold found they were identical for both ship-based and shore-based labs. The only discrepancy noted by Harold was that the ship-based labs did 99% of their film and print washing with sea water, with only a final quick rinse in fresh water, while shore-based labs performed all their washing with local fresh water supples."

"It was obvious to Harold that for some reason, sea water was more efficient in removing or neutralizing residual processing chemicals in both films and prints."

"He further postulated that only ships at sea would have access to pure seawater, since harbor water would be contaminated. Thus, to be assured of obtaining non-contaminated seawater, Harold took to sea in a small boat and gathered samples of water some ten miles off the shore od Oahu."

"So successful were his experiments with sea water samples that they became his first product: PermaWash, which was originally a manufactured concentrate chemically identical to pure Pacific Ocean seawater."

Darkroom & Creative Camera Techniques Jan/Feb 1995, News & Products, p2

(c) Jim Gupton 1995

 

[Freakscene]

Sodium and potassium wash out of gelatin or paper at a similar rate. It's the silver-thiosulfate complex you need to monitor.

Marty

 

[Keith]

I read somewhere recently never to use wetting agent in your tank as it builds up a residue in the corners and leaves some sort of coating on the plastic apparently. I keep an old pickle jar (the large type with the almost full width lid) full of wetting agent made with water that has been filtered twice ... I lower the film into the jar slowly letting it coil naturally, leave it for a minute and then remove it very slowly. Using wetting agent in a tank also tend to aerate it slightly and your film will always have a few bubbles on it as you hang it to dry ... most slide off but occasionally they stay and leave a drying ring.

 

[Freakscene]

The residue is mostly p-tert-octylphenoxy polyethoxyethyl alcohol which is about 5-10% of Photo-Flo. If you wash your tank and reels properly this won't be a problem. If you get sloppy it can build up.

Marty

 

[chut]

Thanks for all the answers everyone.

I will make sure to dilute and filter my chemicals for the next time. As soon as I finish this batch of chemicals, I'll try out some Ilford Rapid Fixer.

Sorry about the images not appearing. Apple's mobile me is such a disaster these days. It seems to load okay now.