What's going on with my developed film?

[mgilbuena]

When I developed my first roll of Arista Premium 400 (Tri-X), I experienced central fogging through nearly the entire roll, with the bulk of the fogging toward the front of the roll, decreasing and disappearing toward the end. Since I was running it through a modded Holga, I thought I didn't block the red film counter window correctly.

Today I developed a roll each from my Leica M6TTL and my Nikon N80; each roll has the same exact fogging characteristic, with stronger fog in the center of the film strip toward the front of the roll and it decreasing and disappearing toward the end.

Is there something wrong with my chemistry? Developing technique? Or possibly something wrong with this batch of film I've ordered from Freestylephoto?

Let me know your thoughts. Thanks.

Attached photo was shot during the water rinse. I can scan when dry if further analysis is needed.

 

[Alpacaman]

Hmmmmm, how are you agitating these when you develop them?

 

[mgilbuena]

9.75 minute development time; 1+1 D76 concentration.

Two rolls in one tank, with 10 second slow inversions every minute.

My medium format film is not exhibiting this, but I am currently shooting with Fomapan 400.

 

[alfredian]

Fixer fix?

Fixer fix?

How long are you fixing? Stuff, especially the dyes or antihalation coating are removed by the fixer. Edges tend to get reliably fixed/fixed first. The first pictures on a roll are loaded onto the reel first, putting them in the middle of the spiral, putting those negs farthest away from the liquid. Fix longer and/or agitate more, or make a fresh batch of fixer. Check your times anyway - some times are given with Rapid Fixer in mind - regular fixer takes about twice as long. If you've kept the negs in the dark so far, you can re-fix, re-wash and be good to go. Hope this helps.

 

[nimcod]

is this stronger towards the centre of the dev reel? if so check for cracks/gaps in the centre column of your tank...i had an odd light leak that i couldn't pin down until i saw my centre column was cracked so if i was lazy and took a long time with the lid off the tank i would causes a leak, just my 2cents of another thing to tick off the list

 

[mgilbuena]

I hadn't considered that the fixer may be the culprit. I am doing a leader test now as well as placing the fresh rolls back into the fixer to see if that was indeed the problem.

Thanks

 

[Roger Hicks]

Poor fixing. I'm not saying I'm right, but I'd be quite surprised if I were wrong.

Cheers,

R.

 

[mgilbuena]

Thanks everyone

It was definitely the fixer. It seems this batch has exhausted more quickly than I've anticipated.

I've placed the roll back in for more fixing and the center fogging has disappeared. Time to stick this into my lessons learned pile.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Test your fixer periodically: http://www.rogerandfrances.com/subscription/fixer exhaustion.html

Cheers,

R.

 

[nikon_sam]

I would have to say that most likely everyone whose developed their own film has had/seen this problem...

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

I get good/economic results by:

Using fixer mixed 1+4, and an amount enough to cover one roll (close to 0.5 l), I use it for three rolls if they're developed the same or next day. 5 minutes for the first one, 7 for the second one and 9 for the last one. Maybe shorter times work, though...

Cheers,

Juan

 

[rover]

Is it possible to over fix film?

I have used my fixer as a one shot item and fix for 7 or more minutes. Needless to say, I have never had issues, but is there a point where I may be over doing it?

 

[brandonmsweet]

Yes it is possible to over fix. Over fixing will usually cause bleaching of negs as well as other things. I would drop those back in some fixer for a few minutes. All should be good 🙂

 

[xwhatsit]

I get good/economic results by:

Using fixer mixed 1+4, and an amount enough to cover one roll (close to 0.5 l), I use it for three rolls if they're developed the same or next day. 5 minutes for the first one, 7 for the second one and 9 for the last one. Maybe shorter times work, though...

Cheers,

Juan

Jesus -- that's economic? Did I read you right: you do a max of 6 rolls per litre of 1+4 working solution?

Even Ilford's Rapid Fix fact sheet -- which errs on the side of caution as far as (a) my basic clearing time tests, and (b) residual silver tests by members of APUG etc. -- states the following:

------------------------------------------------------------
Material                Dilution        Capacity/litre
                                        of working
                                        strength fixer
------------------------------------------------------------
General purpose film    1+4             24x135-36
------------------------------------------------------------
RC paper                1+4             80 sheets of
                        1+9             20.3x25.4cm
                                        (8x10in)
                                        4m² (44ft²)
------------------------------------------------------------
FB paper                1+4             40 sheets of
                        1+9             20.3x25.4cm
                                        (8x10in)
                                        4m² (44ft²)
-----------------------------------------------------------

So, if you're using Rapid fix, you're basically throwing out (at the very least) 75% unused fix. Unless of course you've done your own tests and found residual fixer levels to be too high.

Another point to note, is that if people are worried about extra time, 9 minutes in Rapid Fix when it's hardly used seems quite high. My clearing times are normally max 90 seconds. So three times that, as the rule normally goes, is 4.5 minutes. 6 times or more clearing time seems excessive, although, overfixing would probably not take place until a bit later still.

Never mind the environment... wasting consumables is hard enough on my wallet!