Advice on my negatives - dark marks

[pauldc]

I used xtol 1+1 with Delta 100 (EI 100) for the first time today. Very nice but many of the negatives have marks on which I have never had before with other developers (mainly rodinal and aculux).

I attach a couple of examples - the first has dark spots all over and the second has marks near the edge in the sky.

Does anyone have any thoughts about what might have caused these 2 problems? Any advice most gratefully received!

I used a water stop and 10 minutes in Paterson fix 1+7.

Thanks

 

[NikoSperi]

The first one looks like you had a bubble trapped, preventing the developer to reach the film... unless that's not the side of the film which was on top. For the second... wow, that's a mess! Sorry, no idea.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

The first one looks like you had a bubble trapped, preventing the developer to reach the film... unless that's not the side of the film which was on top. For the second... wow, that's a mess! Sorry, no idea.

The second one looks like some kind of water spotting. What format film are these? 35mm, 120, 4x5?

 

[srs5694]

My only guess is air bells, at least for the one with the spots all over. The big half-circle in the other one looks like a water mark from bad drying, but I'm not sure if that's what you're asking about.

BTW, I read your subject and the first thought that came to mind was that Lord Voldemort was involved.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

My only guess is air bells, at least for the one with the spots all over. The big half-circle in the other one looks like a water mark from bad drying, but I'm not sure if that's what you're asking about.

BTW, I read your subject and the first thought that came to mind was that Lord Voldemort was involved.

I'd disagree with the air bells assessment - those spots are too unevenly shaped to be air bells. They look like some kind of drip mark or chemical splash.

Did you clean and dry your reels between uses? (I'm assuming rollfilm here). If not, that could explain the splotches on the negative - chemistry from a previous batch dripped off the reels onto the frames while you were loading them.

 

[winger]

In the second, they look like some sort of oil was preventing development in those spots. Do you do a prewash?
I agree on the air bubble for the first.

 

[Jim Jones]

The second looks like air bells to me.

 

[pauldc]

Thanks everyone.

The format was 35mm by the way. As far as I know my tank and reel was clean and the previous 3 films I had developed were also with Xtol. The only things out of the ordinary I can think of having racked my brains is that a) the developer solution looked a bit more frothy than usual when I poured it out b) I used the tank with pyrocat HD for the first time last month.

How do people generally clean their tanks and reels - with just hot water or something else?