Good tip Ill apply it, those 30seconds are the part that stresses me out and I might be rushing when closing the lid.
3 Issues with B/W negatives after developing
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MattKing
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The issue with limiting agitation to just the rotation stick is that if that is all you use, throughout the development, you may not end up imparting enough randomness to the agitation, which can result in uneven development.
You won't have that potential problem if you limit the rotation agitation to the first 30 seconds, and use inversion agitation thereafter.
There are ways of increasing the randomness of rotation agitation, but I prefer inversion (with a gurgling and twisting component).
And speaking generally, if you feel stressed, you are worrying more than necessary.
You can be fairly relaxed about agitation - if it starts right away, is repeated at approximately the right times, and is repeated at approximately the same duration and energy each time, you will be fine. Big inconsistencies are worthy of concern, but small ones won't cause big problems.
There is a zen to developing film!
You won't have that potential problem if you limit the rotation agitation to the first 30 seconds, and use inversion agitation thereafter.
There are ways of increasing the randomness of rotation agitation, but I prefer inversion (with a gurgling and twisting component).
And speaking generally, if you feel stressed, you are worrying more than necessary.
You can be fairly relaxed about agitation - if it starts right away, is repeated at approximately the right times, and is repeated at approximately the same duration and energy each time, you will be fine. Big inconsistencies are worthy of concern, but small ones won't cause big problems.
There is a zen to developing film!
Hello again!
I developed and scanned over the weekend and wanted to share the results! I hope this serves as a guide if anybody has similar issues with Df96.
Issues are completly gone after:
1. Extending the time of the whole process (DF96) from 4 minutes to 8 minutes!
2. Switched agitation method to inversion (instead of the rotation stick)
3. Increased agitations to once (2 inversions like 5 seconds) every 30 seconds - previous was once every minute, so around 10 seconds of agitation or 4 inversions.
4. Included an extra step/wash with wetting agent diluted with distilled water,
- I tried 1:200 solution in a test roll, and it was terrible foam everywere and soappy stains almost gave up on including this step.
I reduced the proportion to 1:400 (0.5ml of photoflo in 200ml of distilled water), and got good results!
- For this step I tried removing the solution excess with finger vs. with microfiber cloth for lenses dipped in the solution, with no big differences both came out good with little to no contamination in the negatives. Ill try squeege and check if I get good results and no scratches.
End result: Clean negatives, no water stains and no weird vertical lines. I feel that they turned out a bit grainy tough... so I might try reduce time dev time a bit to see if I reach the optimum point.
Thank you all again!
I developed and scanned over the weekend and wanted to share the results! I hope this serves as a guide if anybody has similar issues with Df96.
Issues are completly gone after:
1. Extending the time of the whole process (DF96) from 4 minutes to 8 minutes!
2. Switched agitation method to inversion (instead of the rotation stick)
3. Increased agitations to once (2 inversions like 5 seconds) every 30 seconds - previous was once every minute, so around 10 seconds of agitation or 4 inversions.
4. Included an extra step/wash with wetting agent diluted with distilled water,
- I tried 1:200 solution in a test roll, and it was terrible foam everywere and soappy stains almost gave up on including this step.
I reduced the proportion to 1:400 (0.5ml of photoflo in 200ml of distilled water), and got good results!
- For this step I tried removing the solution excess with finger vs. with microfiber cloth for lenses dipped in the solution, with no big differences both came out good with little to no contamination in the negatives. Ill try squeege and check if I get good results and no scratches.
End result: Clean negatives, no water stains and no weird vertical lines. I feel that they turned out a bit grainy tough... so I might try reduce time dev time a bit to see if I reach the optimum point.
Thank you all again!
Interesting building.
FWIW I had water marks on the one and only roll of film I ever squeegeed (admittedly with my fingers) and have gone back to merely hang drying ever since.
FWIW I had water marks on the one and only roll of film I ever squeegeed (admittedly with my fingers) and have gone back to merely hang drying ever since.
Well done.
Yes the negs look nice and clean, as they should be.
If you do wish to use a squeegee then just follow the following few steps for perfect results.
Yes the negs look nice and clean, as they should be.
If you do wish to use a squeegee then just follow the following few steps for perfect results.
- Soak the squeegee in tepid water (20-30C) in a measuring cylinder with a drop of wetting agent.
- Rub your fingers gently against the squeegee blades to feel for any nicks or grit.
- Let the squeegee just "kiss" the film, no gouging. (Think of it like shaving with a cut-throat razor.)
- Squeegee in one smooth movement.
- I find it easier to run the film through the squeegee rather than the other way around.
- And repeat after me " squeegees are not the devil's spawn".
Reducing time in monobath won't change your grain -- you'd need to either agitate more (which speeds up fixing) or develop at lower temperature (which slows down development) to reduce the overall development, but I doubt that will have much effect on the grain -- it'll affect contrast more. Df96 isn't really a super fine grain soup. If you're after better grain, try D-76/ID-11 or Xtol (or a clone of one of those).
There's usually no need to squeegee or wipe if you use a wetting agent, especially with distilled water. Try without, if you get stains, you can simply re-wash.
Do not use a squeegee, not even fingers. Once the film is hung, touch the lowest corner of the film with a paper towel to draw off the excess.
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