White dots in Rollei Retro 80S

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freddenacka

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I just got 30 meter of Rollei Retro 80S. I have made a test roll and are in the whole satisfied.
I did developed it in a small Peterson tank
Xtol 1:2 20c 10 min at ISO 50.

Some exposures come out very nice and clean. Some have some nasty small white dots....
Black in the negative.
Any one got experience of this? Should I presoak or is it possible to avoid this in another way?


God

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Looks like specks of dust, it can be reduced by blowing your negatives with canned air before scanning/printing.

They can also appear if you have "dirty" water/use unfiltered water and/or if you keep using your fixer-bottle over and over.
- Gunk will start to collect in those bottles and as these come loose, they can be embedded into the emulsion of the film during development. This is mostly related to bottles of fixer.

You can reduce the amount of specs by using filtered water, change out or clean your fixer-bottles regularly, dry the negatives in a protected environment (some use drying cabinets, I use the shower after running some hot water in the room, steam tend to reduce the amount of dust). Store the negatives in sleeves as soon as possible, store the sleeves in "box-file-folders" that have a protective wrapping around the folder itself and then blow the negatives with canned air before scanning or printing. (blow at an angle, and be careful not to blow your negative out of your hands)
 
I will be very curious to hear the outcome of this, as the "white spots" problem has plagued me for a couple years now. In my case it mostly occurred with Efke film, which is relevant since I have been considering the Rollei 80S and RPX 25 as possible replacements for IR820 and R25, respectively. It sure would be nice to know that I don't have to deal with those darn spots anymore!

The suggestion that the fix may be the culprit is something I have heard before. Unfortunately, my efforts troubleshooting the fix including mixing with distilled water, using it one shot only, and even filtering it with a very fine filter before use, did not solve the problem. Hopefully you will have better luck, though.
 
I will try a new fixer that have not been used with other films. I use the Peterson cleaning pipe for around 30 min.
Will tell you the result.
 
Possibly fixer: if it smells like rotting eggs, then it is bad. If there are precipitates in your fixer, you can filter those out using a coffee filter. Then try fixing the film leader in the filtered fixer solution. If it does not clear within a 'reasonable' time, your fixer is bad. See here & here for more info.

It could also be due to the use of non-distilled water during the final wash.

Bests,

Ashfaque
 
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freddenacka said:
can i filter the fixer before use ore do I have to change the fixer every time to avoid this?
Click to expand...

No you don't have to change your fixer every time. After all, it is a multi-shot type of product.

I normally just use a clear bottle of 1.5L Coca Cola for my fixer.
The bottle is easy to change, and one can also observe the color and also any gunk sticking to the walls inside the bottle or floating around.

You need to run a few films trough the fixer before it starts gunking up, most likely, normally your fixer will die before the gunk builds up to a problem.

But if you re-use your bottles......well then....

On a general note, it is very common for dust to creep into the scans and prints somehow, dust is all but impossible to avoid.
If you use Lightroom to handle your scans, the specs of dust can be cloned out very easily and quickly, I cannot see anything super-critical in your examples, I get those all the time.

Using photo-flo in the final rinse is a good way to avoid drying-marks on the film (droplets of water, accumulating dust and then dries).

The dust-problem is less apparent in medium-format than 35mm (when making the same sized prints or scans), as scans and prints of 35mm enlarge a smaller area of the film, compared to 120 per same print/image size.

Best option is to be careful trough your workflow and make sure you blow the negatives with canned air before you use them.

You can actually see specs of dust on the film.
Say you have a dim-lit room, and a dark wall.
Use a spot-light type of light source directly above the negative. (you need a light-source that is a little directional for this to work)
Hold the negative in-front of you (emulsion-side towards you) with a dark-ish background behind it, directly below the spotlight.
Angle the negative, in relation to the light in the ceiling, a speck of dust, will "light up" and you can confirm if you are able to blow it away or if it's actually embedded into the emulsion.

I used to do that a lot when working in the darkroom to make prints, the most important thing here, is to have one light-source and a dark background, and then try various angles, to get the specks to "light up".
 
Denverdad said:
I will be very curious to hear the outcome of this, as the "white spots" problem has plagued me for a couple years now. In my case it mostly occurred with Efke film
Click to expand...

Well, Efke has been prone to various dodgy production "artifacts" (specs, scratches etc), so it's not uncommon to find strange stuff on the negatives. Efke is also very very soft while still wet, so avoid any contact with the emulsion-side of the film until dry. (ie. Don't use a squeegee or similar)

I am not saying that what you observe is this, all the time, but it can play a role in the grand scheme of things with films like Efke and Foma. :)
 
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