Blank negatives and I don't know why

Christopher Colley

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i developed 2 really old rolls that had been laying around for a while yesterday, Ilford PanF.. developed in the same tank at the same time. one roll came out fine as expected, the other roll came out with no edge markings.. there was some evidence of 2-3 slight underexposed exposures on the 'blank' roll.

dont know how this could have occured... poorly coated film? .. both developed in a full 2 reel container.. one was fine, one blank..

dunno what happened to you...

just thought to share what happened to me!
 

Leigh B

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mfratt said:
As for the developer, I mixed 100ml of developer with 300ml of water...
Click to expand...
I'm inclined to think you mixed 100ml of WATER with 300ml of water.

For whatever reason, you did not develop the film. Film doesn't lie.

- Leigh
 

tkamiya

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Then a question is.... where did 100ml of developers go? I hope it's still not in the frig....
 

Monito

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This is a real mystery!

Was the blank one the top reel or the lower reel? What was the developer and the agitation?
 
OP
OP

mfratt

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So I did a test with an exposed piece of film, this time with only 1+1 dilution... turns out the developer was shot. I'm not sure if it was contaminated or what, but I was sure to thoroughly rinse the bottles I used before filling them. It was kept in a full 1L glass bottle and only about a week old.

I tried another bottle and it was fine.

I've read about XTOL failure... and I'm a bit scared of this happening in the future. Given the circumstance, it seems more likely that it was contaminated with fix or something, but if XTOL is gonna kill my pictures, I may need to go back to HC-110.
 

hpulley

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Fixer in HC-110 will also be bad news. Using HC-110 from syrup like I do does remove the possibility that the stock solution will go off which is one reason why I use it.

The best thing you can and indeed should do before every session when using any stock solutions is clip tests. Developer AND fixer need to be clip tested before the session, if not before every tank. Test the developer to make sure it reaches appropriate D-max (either throw it out or adjust times if it comes out lighter than normal) and the fixer to make sure the clearing time is sufficiently fast (fix for twice as long as the test clip took, throw out if it takes twice as long as when fresh is common advice). If you'd clip tested, you wouldn't have ruined your film. It does take as long to clip test as to develop and fix your roll of film but if you can't go back and re-take the photos then that is time well spent!
 

removed account4

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xtol failure doesn't happen very often.
it used to happen more when they used different packaging
and suggested people use extreme dilutions
because sometimes there wasn't enough developer in solution to develop the film ...

you might invest in a dark green safe light filter, a bullet style safelight and a footswitch ... and pull your film out of your developer and inspect it before
you stop+fix it. you won't be "developing by inspection" like many people do
( http://michaelandpaula.com/mp/devinsp.html )
but just making sure your film is being developed.

good luck
john
 

TareqPhoto

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OK, i had another similar issue, the last 3 films of TMAX 400 @ D-76 all came out blank roll of film, with one roll has that wavy strike, and all have the edge marlins, what do you think is the problem?
Good i stopped to develop film since that issue, D-76 run out already anyway, but i bought new developer to start later and see what i will have, but the problem that i really want to avoid is, how can i tell when the developer is exhausted let's say after 5-8 months? and what about the developer which comes as a liquid in bottle so i just mix the amount of liquid needed, how long that liquid remain fine if i open the bottle?
 

moose10101

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TareqPhoto said:
OK, i had another similar issue, the last 3 films of TMAX 400 @ D-76 all came out blank roll of film, with one roll has that wavy strike, and all have the edge marlins, what do you think is the problem?
Click to expand...
The film was severely underexposed, or not exposed at all. The presence of the edge markings indicates that the developer was fine, but there was nothing there to develop.

TareqPhoto said:
how can i tell when the developer is exhausted let's say after 5-8 months?
Click to expand...
5-8 months is a long time for most developers. You can do the "clip" test already mentioned a couple of times in this thread.

TareqPhoto said:
what about the developer which comes as a liquid in bottle so i just mix the amount of liquid needed, how long that liquid remain fine if i open the bottle?
Click to expand...
Depends on the developer. Rodinal will last for years.
 

Sirius Glass

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Similar results can occur with the following scenarios:
  • You mixed 100ml of vodka with 300ml of water.
  • You mixed 100ml of gin with 300ml of water.
After all, by your own admission, it was 3 AM.

Steve
 
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