Ack! Blank Negatives!

[Sjixxxy]

Took a few photos with my Speed Graphic of happening around the house last night. Today I developed the first 4 and as I pulled them out at the end they where all blank. I hadn't touched the camera since I was shooting, and it seemd in order. Back curtain was open, f-stop was proper. And a quick fireing while observign teh ground glass showed that there wasn't some mis-synching with the flash going on. Checked the hold I pulled the negatives from, it was the grafmatic that had advanced to 6, not the one sitting at 1. This leaves my issue to thedeveloper.

I was using my usual Diafine on the negatives. First I figured that I managed to get some bath B into A last time I used it and killed the Bath A. This of course will require me to run another sheet through to verify.

Then I thought of something else that I'd like some feedback on. I know Diafine doesn't really care much about temperature, but I think I remember reading on the box (or eslewhere) that it was optimal at greater then 67°. Now, up until this batch of negatives, I was working in a basement that was heated and the roughly around 67 degrees at all times, and the chemicals where kept in the basement. However, now I'm in a different house, and I didn't even consider the temperature since it was always fairly constant for me. I just poured a bit of the diafine out of the jug and stuck a thermometer into it. 54°. Is it possible that working at this temperature is beyond the working range of Diafine?

 

[Will S]

I had the same thing happen to me yesterday. But 5 shots on one roll (120 J&C Classic 100) did come out. The rest were all blank and another roll all blank too. And I'm spiral processing so it can't be that the chemicals all went to the center of the roll

I'm guessing it is the shutter on my Fuji Gs645 only working at some speeds. You might want to check out your shutters too.

 

[mark]

I'ld say no light got to your film for some reason. Put one of the negs on a piece of paper and see if there is even a hint of an image.

 

[paul ron]

...it happens.

Did you remember to pull the dark slide? It happens.

 

[mark]

Did you remember to pull the dark slide? It happens.

Nope never happened. No one ever did this. How could you suggest such a silly thing. That is almost like loading the film emulsion side to the holder, or maybe forgetting to close the shutter before pulling the darkslide. They are all photography urban legends I tell ya.

 

[Eric Rose]

The only time this happened to me is when I accidently put the fix in first instead of te developer.

 

[Sjixxxy]

Shutter checked out. If I had forgot to pull the darkslide on any of the shots, The grafmatic wouldn't have advanced all the way to 6.

 

[Foto Ludens]

could be the temperature...could be the evil side of the moon laughing at you...

I'd shoot a test sheet and develop at a normal temp.

could it be a busted grafmatic?

 

[stephen]

Obviously I have no idea whatsoever what the formula of Diafine is, but I have seen a "substitute/equivalent" which has hydroquinone as the developing agent in solution A. If this is true of Diafine, this could be your problem as hydroquinone is only active at temperatures of 60F and above.

 

[gainer]

It's not likely that hydroquinone is the only developing agent. In superadditive pairs, that temerature cutoff is no longer applicable. Even so, a 10 degree difference is enough to double the developing time, even if it is Diafine. Everyone seems to treat the simple theory of 2-bath developing as if it is absolutely irrefutable fact. Next time, test it to see if it really will work at 58 like it does at 68. Any old piece of exposed film will tell you.

 

[Tom Hoskinson]

Obviously I have no idea whatsoever what the formula of Diafine is, but I have seen a "substitute/equivalent" which has hydroquinone as the developing agent in solution A. If this is true of Diafine, this could be your problem as hydroquinone is only active at temperatures of 60F and above.

The substitute/equivalent Diafine formulations in my collection contain two developing agents: Phenidone and Hydroquinone. Phenidone and Hydroquinone are superadditive.

According to Grant Haist "Hydroquinone developers of High pH may be used for low-temperature processing..."

As Pat Gainer suggests, why speculate? Test it.

 

[titrisol]

do you see the "labels" on the edges of your negatives?

 

[dr bob]

This is not really applicable but maybe laughable: once while landscaping, I began to set up the camera and when I locked open the lens, there was no image on the gg. I fussed with the focal plane shutter (open), no holder, no lens cap, and the shutter looked open. When I removed the lens board, I found I had forgotten the rear lens cap.

 

[Sjixxxy]

do you see the "labels" on the edges of your negatives?

Oooh. Good point. I just dug them out of the trash and scraped the macoroni noodles off of them. The "Kodak 320TXP" that normaly develops out along the edge, didn't.

 

[titrisol]

No labels on the dege... then it is a developer issue, probably is dead or it was way too cold.

Try a small piece of 35mm (exposed to light) and see if it comes black

 

[Ed Sukach]

Possible use of fixer before developer? Not that it has ever happened to me...

 

[Sjixxxy]

Got the diafine back up to 68 degrees and just did a quick snip test in daylight. The piece ran through the diafine didn't change a bit. Just to make sure that I didn't get a bad pack of film, I snipped another piece from the same sheet and stuck it into a small dose of rodinal 1:50. That one turned back in minutes.

RIP My Diafine. 5/03-12/04

 

[titrisol]

at least you got 18 months out of it

 

[Sjixxxy]

at least you got 18 months out of it

Should have been 36. Only about half of the A bath was gone.

 

[fschifano]

Next time try replensihment. My batch is about the same age as yours is and still going strong. Replenish as directed on the package.