bad contrast in negatives

[dario82]

hi guys

my first post here

I just started developing film and printing myself, and after 2 films i think i have a problem. im using efke kb 100 film, in id-11 1+1 at 20 C. i developed my first film at 12 minutes, and second at 10 minutes, but they both lack contrast and they show up pretty tranparent, so when i print them i have very short exposure times like 5-6 seconds at f8 or f9. Am i overdeveloping? Underdeveloping? Or maybe just out of my league? :confused:

thanks in advance

 

[ann]

thin negatives are the result of exposure.

to add contrast you would need to extend the development times.

i would suggest you make one change at a time.

try using an EI of 50 rather than 100 and see what your negatives look like..

your not out of your league, you just need to learn what to do, just as we all have

 

[mikebarger]

Get yourself one of Fred Picker's books. These have a very easy test to determine film speed and proper development time for your equipment and metering style.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Zone-VI-Worksho...oryZ2228QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

By the way, I do not have any involvement with the ad or the seller.

Mike

 

[Anscojohn]

hi guys

my first post here

I just started developing film and printing myself, and after 2 films i think i have a problem. im using efke kb 100 film, in id-11 1+1 at 20 C. i developed my first film at 12 minutes, and second at 10 minutes, but they both lack contrast and they show up pretty tranparent, so when i print them i have very short exposure times like 5-6 seconds at f8 or f9. Am i overdeveloping? Underdeveloping? Or maybe just out of my league? :confused:

thanks in advance

*****
Welcome. Can you read the frame numbers on the film edges? Provided your ID-11 is fresh; and your temperature correct, the frame numbers should appear fairly bold and dark with that amount of development.

 

[Chuck_P]

but they both lack contrast and they show up pretty tranparent

Did you accidentally overrate (resulting in underexosure) the film speed?
If I was really uncertain as to what the problem might be, then I would not change anything, I would reshoot the rolls, making sure the ISO is set correctly. Develop as per the manufacturer's recommendations; a 1:1 dilution will extend the necessary development time, double check that too.

 

[dario82]

thanks for replies all
the developer is fresh, the frame numbers apear bold and dark.
we can rule out the incorrect ISO as well, as its a dx film and my film speed selection is automatic, plus i checked it after you mentioned it, and it is at 100.

i could be underexposing, as i mostly worked with digital slr in raw format, which is perhaps too forgiving. i just might get that book mike, but i use only inbuilt camera meter.

thank you all for replying, i was surprised how quick you helped me, this seems like a realy nice online comunitiy.

 

[John Koehrer]

It doesn't matter that it's DX.
What is happening is the camera is setting for the film manufacturers film speed. That doesn't mean it's the ACTUAL film speed. You need to determine YOUR film speed(EI) Using the 50 rating stated above it will give you a much richer negative.
And as above change one thing at a time. First one being the film speed.
When you modify from the manufacturers rating ISO becomes EI.

 

[David Brown]

im using efke kb 100 film, in id-11 1+1 at 20 C. i developed my first film at 12 minutes, and second at 10 minutes, but they both lack contrast and they show up pretty tranparent,

Are you agitating?

 

[Christopher Walrath]

You also can acheive more contrast by exposing on the lower exposure zones. There is more contrast between, say, Zones III and IV than there is between VII and VIII. The lighter tones are closer in luminance than are the lower ones. After all, middle gray is ONLY 18% gray.

 

[Chuck_P]

thanks for replies all
the developer is fresh, the frame numbers apear bold and dark.
we can rule out the incorrect ISO as well, as its a dx film and my film speed selection is automatic, plus i checked it after you mentioned it, and it is at 100.

i could be underexposing, as i mostly worked with digital slr in raw format, which is perhaps too forgiving. i just might get that book mike, but i use only inbuilt camera meter.

thank you all for replying, i was surprised how quick you helped me, this seems like a realy nice online comunitiy.

Try a little experiment before doing anything:

Load some more film, click off a couple of frames with the lens cap still on so after developing there will be clear, developed but unexosed film.

Next, take a black mat board and a white mat board and place them in even, uniform illumination; place a gray card, if you have one, within the subject as well (leave it there) and meter from it (cast no shadows on the card or mat board while metering) by getting close enough with your camera to fill the frame with it, set the exposure, step back and fill the viewfinder to cover just the mat boards and the gray card.

If no gray card, then meter directly from the equal portions of white and black, this is "average" to your meter and should still expose as if you used the gray card.

Check proper ISO, expose, develop as recommended.

You can do one of two things, print the negative for the time it takes the gray card in the scene (if you used it) to match the actual tone of the gray card. Or, place one of the developed but clear negatives in the enlarger, mark the enlarger height (for this experiment, keep the same enlarger height so the printing times will be consistent), do a strip test and determine the minimum enlarging exposure time needed to reach full black. Finally, print the negative with the cards for the same exposure time determined to reach full black.

There is no reason why you should not get the proper density on the negative to print the mat boards as true white and true black. IMO, if you can achieve this, then you can feel good about your processing and the meter in your camera. It sounds like a lot to do, but really it's not. It's just a thought.

Chuck

 

[PhotoJim]

Just for the record, DX coding can fail. I had a roll of 100 read as 400 in my camera once. If the contacts in the camera get dirty, they can fail to make a clean connection.

On the cameras I have that use DX coding and permit a manual check of ISO, I always check to be sure.

I notice that you did check, and that's good - but don't think that it's a waste of time to check. It isn't.

Besides, sometimes cameras get taken off DX and that isn't fun if you forget about it!