What went wrong? Foma 200 development.

lynnb

lynnb

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I'd appreciate if anyone can identify what went wrong here - mould-like splotches all over the negs:

- 120 Fomapan 200
- Ilfotec HC 1+31 7.5mins @ 23C as per Ilfotec HC data sheet
- Agitated 6 inversions every minute
- used developer was emerald colour - a bit freaky so I filled the tank with tap water @ 25C for maybe 5 seconds then poured it out and put in the Kodak stop bath @24C

…followed by Ilford Rapid Fixer dilution 1+4 4.5min @24C

…then wash using Ilford rapid wash method with tap water @24C

Frames #5-8

50688466756_8ab84bf2a1_o.jpg


50688466951_bcab706763_o.jpg


used developer was emerald green (never seen that before), but this may be unrelated to the problem:
50688547587_b46d2fd5f0_n.jpg


Frames #5-8 were accidentally overexposed, but frames #1-4 with normal exposure were also affected, though less noticeably; #3 and #4 had only minimal visible white splotches.

Frames #1-8
50687718843_8946df6a9a_o.jpg


50688467251_9d3005e49b_o.jpg


One suggestion: film + backing paper + humidity were reacting with each other causing the negatives to turn out splotchy.

The film had been in and out of the freezer a few times, and was in the camera for months from a mild winter (18C) to warm-to-hot summer (30C).

Many thanks,
 
Yes, Foma 200 120 is very green. I always pre-soak it in water for a minute, then repeat again to get rid of most of that before developing. I use HC110 one shot so it might not be necessary but it makes me feel better about it, esp. if developing with something else.

Condensation on the backing paper might be it but if it was still sealed in the packaging the condensation should have been on that, not the film.

Do you use stop bath? I think I read somewhere that some of the Foma films can be a little sensitive to stop bath and potentially damaged by them. I just use water and fluch the tank several times.

I process Foma 200 at 1:63 for 9 minutes at 68 degrees F and it turns out very well.

Shawn
 
shawn said:
Condensation on the backing paper might be it but if it was still sealed in the packaging the condensation should have been on that, not the film.
Click to expand...

I think you're right. A box of Portra 400 had these same spots, and the lab guy at The Icon said it was condensation on the backing paper.
 
I've been shooting Arista 100 and Arista 400 sheet film, which is actually Foma 100 & Foma 400. It all has an anti-halation backing, which is what washes off as green.

Over the past six months a number of folks, besides myself, have found bad batches of Foma sheet film, in our cases the film was littered with black specks, like someone sprinkled pepper over everything. Arista/Foma has acknowledged the problem and refunded the money. From what I've read it doesn't seem like the quality control at the Foma factory is all that it's cracked up to be. They seem to produce batches of bad emulsion.

Best,
-Tim
 
I’ve had that with my old Foma stock many times. At the end - I gave it all away. It is probably related to the backing paper as already suggested.
 
Hi Lynn,


it's sad to see your film in this way.


I had a similar problem with some FP4 films (120). I think it has to see with temperature and humidity changes... but I don't know.


Here you one of my portraits:


U28593I1607329674.SEQ.0.jpg

Mamiya C220 + 80mm 2.8 + Orange filter + FP4 Plus
 
I've come to the conclusion that while I have no issue with Foma 200 (some small emulsion tears at most) with the 35mm, the 120 is in a league of its own for real problems. A friend, an Ilford Artisan Partner (serves him right you say!) will not use it despite loving the 100, because every film has had issues.
 
Thanks for your replies everyone. I've forwarded the question to the Australian Foma distributor (Chris at Blanco Negro, a very nice guy and always helpful). Don't know why I didn't think of that earlier. I'll share his response when I hear back from him.
 
lynnb said:
Here's frame #8. Besides the white spots, I've no idea what the circle is.

50690100072_2625e55165_o.jpg
Click to expand...

Lynn

Sometime ago I had two strange circles in my FOMAPAN 100 negatives

https://public.fotki.com/BlueWind/strange-marks-in-ne/negative-fomapan-100.html

I contacted FOMA and they were no sure about its cause. They considered the possibility of a manufacture error and they were willing to send me a new FOMAPAN 100 roll.

I once found similar circles in a SHANGHAI GP3 roll

I still don't know why this happened...

Regards

Joao
 
The spot is similar in position and size of a hole that's sometimes found in the backing paper of some films. I think its purpose might be related to how the film/paper is fed through a machinery in the manufacturing process.

I'm a fan of Fomapan 100 as well, rarely touch the 200 and 400.
The green anti-halation coating is only present on the 120 and large format films, not on the 135 format.
 
Joao said:
Lynn

I found that we had talked about these marks last year

https://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=167930

Regards

Joao
Click to expand...

Mr_Flibble said:
The spot is similar in position and size of a hole that's sometimes found in the backing paper of some films. I think its purpose might be related to how the film/paper is fed through a machinery in the manufacturing process.

I'm a fan of Fomapan 100 as well, rarely touch the 200 and 400.
The green anti-halation coating is only present on the 120 and large format films, not on the 135 format.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reminder! It's happened each time on the last frame in the roll. This time I still have the backing paper - I checked and there's a hole there:

50691091607_a344b7a987_z.jpg
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Those look like emulsion defects; either from production or from a defective batch.
I doubt that stopbath would cause them
 
Could this be a result of the ocean air interacting with the film? I had two rolls of film with similar issues. The only thing that I could think of was that the two rolls were loaded into my Hasselblad when I was at the beach... While the beach photos look okay, the wedding photos from one of the films were completely ruined. The rest of the wedding photos from that day were fine, the only film with issues was the one loaded near the ocean. I think I see the ocean in one of your pics, so perhaps that is what is happening?

DSCF4485 by pevelg, on Flickr

DSCF4549 by pevelg, on Flickr

DSCF4556 by pevelg, on Flickr
 
I sometimes shoot Foma 200 in 5x7 sheet film and have never seen white blotches like you are showing. I pre-rinse, (yes, bright teal color) develop in Kodak HC-110, 1 to 47, 5:30 minutes @ 68 in a tray, no stop bath, TF-4 or TF-5 fixer. I've had good results.

Just a guess, but it certainly looks like a backing paper issue, either moisture or some kind of chemical reaction with the paper/film.
 
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