thin negatives

[butch]

Last week-end I ran a roll of TriX 400 and two rolls of HP5+ through Diafine. Used the same chemicals with fixer and rinse aid of recent mixture. Two rolls from the same camera came out fine. One roll (HP5+) came out so thin that it almost appeared unexposed in most of the roll. My procedure is :
1. At least 3 minutes in A also B. Hardly any agitation.
2. Fix 6 to 10 minutes with a little stirring to start and inverting every few minutes. (Ilford Rapid Fix)
3. Wash with a soap mix whose brand I can't recall right now, for a minute with gentle stirring. Then for about 10 minutes in running water with film loose in a large Tupper ware container with intermittant hand stirring.

The bad film came from a newly aquired Nikon S so I first thought that I had a shutter or metering problem, but a quick roll of color print to the one-hour Wal-Mart took care of that notion. I also suspected my rinse aid since B-H substituted it in my last order for the mix I had been using, but as I said the other rolls came out fine. Maybe I got too agresssive in the way I agitated the rinse. Could that cause the problem? You guys are my only mentor. Any suggestions?

 

[ed1k]

I don't know what soap mix you're talking about, just running water is good enough for me. I guess you washed all three rolls in the same manner. I suspect you missed bath B for this thin roll - this looks more likely to me.
Eduard.

 

[wdenies]

Your problem occured before fix and rinse.
A contaminated with B? B before A?
A normal rinsing process is unable to produce this problem.
Stay away from soap coktails, use pure water.

Wim

 

[f/stopblues]

HP5+ tends to be a slower film than Tri-X. You may try rating it at ISO 320 next time to get a full range from the negs. From the sound of it, they may be thin enough to increase developement times also. I don't know the ins and outs of Diafine though, so I'll leave that to those experienced with it.

 

[f/stopblues]

A couple quick afterthoughts..

Is the soap mix you're referring to the wetting agent? Like PhotoFlo? That just requires a quick dunk at the end, not the whole wash. That shouldn't have an effect on density though.

Also, the way you're washing is probably adequate, but you may want to pour and refill your container a few times during the process to get fresh water in there.

 

[RObert Budding]

Are the shadow areas devoid of detail or are the denser regions of the negs thin?

Lack of shadow detail is probably underexposure while thin highlights indicate that you need longer development.

 

[butch]

I think the "soap" is Ilford wash aid. I think the instructions say 5 minutes in running water , then 5 in the solution and 5 more in running water. I shoot HP5+ at 800, per Diafine instructions. I think the fault must lie in a contamination of the Difine. I've been known for doing klutzy things, before. I cannot for the life of me imagine how I would have mixed them up. I keep the two parts in seperate cabinets and make a point to never have but one out at a time. Both bottles are Magic Marked as "A" and "B". I probably will never know. I'll dump the mixes I have made up and start afresh. Upon your advice, I will go to a plain water rinse.

Some times upon reading of the stringent controls of times and temperatures that you guys maintain, I feel that I am in some way "cheating" when I use Diafine. But I've been very pleased with my results in the past. I only scan and inkjet and more often just scan and view my results on the monitor so my expectations don't go very high. If the roll I'm shooting is of importance it's going to Fuji or A-I. Thanks for ya'll's comments.