BEGINERS ERROR IN PROCESSING BW FILM

Greetings from Croatia!

After almost a year that I was giving my negatives to a studio for development, I acquired what I needed for home processing. My First BW neg that was developed entirely by my hand. What a thrill and joy. But I made few mistakes. Some I recognized and fixed and for some I need your help. I got this vertical darker lines, uneven development, only on images that were in the middle of the film (in the middle of the tank too). Images on the edges were without lines. It is not a camera error.



My development process:


I have an old non-invertable plastic tank with a reel, Universal – Laik.

The film is a Fomapan 100/120.

The chemicals are Fomadon LQN and Fomafix.

1. 20ºC – 8 min sliding on table every 30 sec./ 5X, but as I was excited it is possible that it was with shorter intervals. Could it be that here is an error that made those vertical lines?

2. water + white vinegar 1:10 one wash

3. Fixer 1:5/ 3 min (I made mistake here. Mixture was colder than I thought, so my time was too short. I've got a milky film and I refixed it for 1min and it was fine then.

4. Wash – water + few drops of dishwashing liquid, couple of times.

I think it may be your "agitation " method. Just sliding the tank on a table top my not be enough. Did the tank come with a stem that connects to the reel and allows you to gently twirl the reel during development. Actually, I think you would be better off finding a tank that allows inversion.

Thanks bobwysiwyg
My tank doesn't have any steam, though I can make something like that if that will solve my problem.
As film users in Croatia are countable on the fingers, the only two stores that sells darkroom stuff didn't acquire any new tanks for months now. I will probably find a way to buy it from other countries.

If you try the stem to twirl the reel don't go crazy a few gentle turns one way then reverse direction. Good luck trying to find an invertable, sealed tank. That would be best in my opinion.

put all of the negative in the pic, including the edges and the other pictures that were ruined. It will be easier to make a determination then. It just may be that the film in the middle buckled and got closer to the neighboring film due to expansion and reel being a bit too tight. If the edges are not bothered, then that makes sense since the edges are fixed on the reel and do not move at all. Whenever there's less or more space for developer to get into or out of, there is a different development rate. However, much more can be determined by looking at the whole section of film strip.

silaart said:

2. water + white vinegar 1:10 one wash

3. Fixer 1:5/ 3 min (I made mistake here. Mixture was colder than I thought, so my time was too short. I've got a milky film and I refixed it for 1min and it was fine then.

4. Wash – water + few drops of dishwashing liquid, couple of times.

Click to expand...

A variation on stop is a teaspoon of citric acid in one litre of water.

If your film was milky after 3 minutes, and clear after four, then you should be fixing for a total of eight minutes - The standard advice is usually twice the time it takes for th film to clear.

Wash times depend on water temperature, but a couple of rinses will not be sufficient. Many people recommend the Ilford method which is:

• Invert the tank five times and drain it completely.
• Fill the tank again, invert it ten times, and drain it completely.
• Fill the tank again, invert it twenty times, and drain it completely.

Myself, I usually wash in running (more of a trickle) water for around 30 minutes, but then I'm using sheet films.

edit: Just found this: ilfwash.pdf - Looks like it will be worth a read later.

That style of tank originally came with a thermometer/agitator that inserted in the top and engaged the reel. I used those type of tanks in the 60's when I first started out developing. I think you either need to find something to substitute for the thermo, or buy a new tank/reel set.

Thank you all.

I'll probably buy Jobo system tank from Germany as it seems to be the most ideal way to get my negatives a good treatment.

*paul_c5x4– in the mean time I noticed few videos with wash in running water(and I will do that), but it was not for 30 minutes, it was much less time?
Fomafix have table on the bottle with this values 3 min/20ºC.
I am a bit confused with "-The standard advice is usually twice the time it takes for the film to clear."

To test for fixer clearing time, clip the leader (or other representative piece of film) and place it in the fixer without developing. Time how long it takes for the film to become clear, then double that time to ascertain proper fixing time for that film.

Rick A said:

To test for fixer clearing time, clip the leader (or other representative piece of film) and place it in the fixer without developing. Time how long it takes for the film to become clear, then double that time to ascertain proper fixing time for that film.

Click to expand...

OK. Will do

If you go on e8ay and extend your search to all European countries, you will find dozens of Paterson System tanks available VERY cheaply. They are essentially fool-proof and bomb-proof, a design tested by hundreds or thousands of amateurs. I have used them all my life and never found anything to complain about.