632nd roll of film

came out completely clear. No numbers, film type, nothing. Funny, the first 631 rolls came out fine (well, aside from various exposure, composition and developing problems). What did I do, fix it before developing? Too bad, I'm sure that roll had 36 keepers , including a couple of my new great grand nephew.

There are such things as faulty film rolls, so I wouldn't take it personally. Chances are you just got a faulty roll.

It's always the good ones that get killed... I suspect you are correct: got the fixer confused with the developer. Didn't take me 632 rolls to do that one myself - closer to 2

Bob.

I had this happen to my recently. I'm glad I'm not the only one.

This is a mistake that I've never made, and taht you never should. It is so simple to tell developer and fixer apart. Put them in order on the table, check, double-check, and when in doubt check again.

Film is too expensive to waste through carelessness. I'm a disorganized SOB, but NOT when it comes to soupling film.

different bottles help me here

In B&W I keep developers in amber glass bottles, and if necessary, dilute into a measuring graduate before loading the film reels/holders.

I use a water bath for a stop. The film tank stays in the water stop until I put the glass developer away up on the shelf above the sink, and then I bring the plastic fixer bottles down and pour it into the (rinsed) graduate.

I also pour a small amount of the fixer - about 30ml maybe- into a little measuring cup, and drop the film leader for the film in just before I dump the graduate of fixer into the (now drained rinse water) tank.

If I am suspect of the age of the fixer, or haven't used it for a while, pouring it into the graduate first lets me check for any sulfur beginning to precipitate. If it is just silver specks (as in what occur in PE's superfix formula) I filter though a coffee filter ahead of starting the developer.

I got into the plastic bottle for fixer habbit because frequently my hands/gloves are wet by the time I get to fixing. Also when the sulfur drops out and plates to the bottle big time it is a lot easier to discard a well labelled recylced plastic pop bottle that was being used to store fix, than a hard to come by amber bottle.

I also got into it becasue I have come close to doing exactly what you have done.

I was discussing photo blunders and disasters with my daughter the other day and I had to confess that I did this once myself. It was somewhere around roll 200.

Just take a sniff of what you pour in before you pour it in...that's how I prevent this, honestly. Most developer, and definitely fixer, have recognizable smells.



2F/2F