Botched Negative

[tribalista000]

Hi! I'm having problems with some of my negatives, for some reason they look "solarised". I'm using 35mm Neopan 400, D76 developer and Atlas Fixer, all of which I mix on my own. I'm not exactly sure how this happened but its happened twice already. Attached is a sample that has already been scanned. I have other examples but they're too big to be attached as of the moment.

This is pretty much how I develop my films:
>D76 1+1 at 9.5 minutes at 20C, constant agitation for the first 30 seconds then 3 inversions every minute after that.
>running water for 5 minutes
>Stock solution of the Atlas fixer at 20C for 5 minutes
>running water for 5 minutes to wash the film
>hanged to dry

I do all my developing at night by the way

One thing that I've been thinking about is the possibility that this was caused by heat. I have left the camera with film loaded inside my car for long periods of time (2-3 hrs) and here in the Philippines temperature tends to go up quickly, somewhere along 34C and higher.

Would this have been the cause for this? Or would there have been other factors involved?

Any feedback would be much appreciated

 

[tkamiya]

Your second step is too long. All you need is a quick rinse, not for 5 minutes. You can even skip this step if you want. I don't think that is causing the problem though. If you left your film in a car during very hot time of the day, that could very well be the cause of it.

EDIT:
WAIT...! You said "running water". Do you mean to say you open the canister and do this? Even if you do this at night, there may be enough light to expose the film during this 5 minutes period. I'd definitely skip this step....

 

[tribalista000]

a couple more examples

Additional info. The developer and fixer were mixed around November 2010, I'm not exactly sure if the chemicals have expired due to exposure. They're stored in glass Coca Cola bottles (1 liter) and placed in a corner of my room which does not receive direct sunlight. I'm not exactly sure if that can also be a factor

 

[removed account4]

is your tank completely light proof ?

maybe during your water-rinse, or your developing ... light snuck in through the top ...
solarization usually happens when light strikes emulsion after it has
been developed and before it has been fixed ..

next roll, don't rinse your film as long ( or get stop bath ) and process your film in less light ...

cool effect though!
john

 

[tribalista000]

Your second step is too long. All you need is a quick rinse, not for 5 minutes. You can even skip this step if you want. I don't think that is causing the problem though. If you left your film in a car during very hot time of the day, that could very well be the cause of it.

EDIT:
WAIT...! You said "running water". Do you mean to say you open the canister and do this? Even if you do this at night, there may be enough light to expose the film during this 5 minutes period. I'd definitely skip this step....

I'm using a Paterson tank for developing films. I opened only the cover but I didn't take out the funnel.

 

[tribalista000]

is your tank completely light proof ?

maybe during your water-rinse, or your developing ... light snuck in through the top ...
solarization usually happens when light strikes emulsion after it has
been developed and before it has been fixed ..

my guess is that your tank leaks light ... and your long rinse let enough in
to mess-up your film.

next roll, don't rinse your film as long ( or get stop bath ) and process your film in less light ...

cool effect though!
john

It is a pretty cool effect but not when you're trying to understand photography on your own though The tank is light proof. This might be my 10th film to be developed in the same tank.

 

[removed account4]

none of the other films before this
showed this effect ?

maybe your developer and fix are shot?
photochemistry don't usually like heat ...

 

[tribalista000]

None. As a matter of fact after the first time this happened, I was able to develop another roll without problems and then this happened again. I'm guessing it could really be the heat due to the camera being left in the car, but I'm not so sure though as I've done it before with other Neopans and a couple of HP5.

Would humidity be a factor? Out here it can get really humid especially now that we're approaching the summer season.

 

[removed account4]

maybe i am wrong, but i don't think it had to do
with your car or humidity and heat ... i have left film in a camera
in the car in very hot weather for a long time, and the film was never solarized like this ...

my guess is that when you remove your lid for your wash
you have been lucky most of the time, and then this happened.
i would wash the film for 10 seconds maybe 30 seconds then fix.
don't leave it under running water, just fill it and dump it, in low-light ...

 

[tkamiya]

I think the only thing you can really do after the fact is, not opening the tank until fix process is complete and NOT store film in hot vehicle. Either one could have done it.

 

[Ian C]

The Patterson tank uses the center core tube mated to the underside of the funnel to form the light seal. Many tanks use this system.

Is it possible that you are using the reels without the light sealing core tube? If so, than that would admit light into the tank during developing.

 

[tribalista000]

It could be a light leak , but the whole roll should show it right? Here's a couple more from the first time its happened. Mid roll, taken right after each other.

I'm really getting even more confused.

 

[tribalista000]

The Patterson tank uses the center core tube mated to the underside of the funnel to form the light seal. Many tanks use this system.

Is it possible that you are using the reels without the light sealing core tube? If so, than that would admit light into the tank during developing.

I've always used the center tube. When I use running water as a stop bath and as a wash I only removed the lid.

 

[jp498]

show the negatives to us on a light table or backlit in a window. You appear to be showing prints or reversed scans, but we need to see the negative, sprocket holes and all.

 

[tribalista000]

show the negatives to us on a light table or backlit in a window. You appear to be showing prints or reversed scans, but we need to see the negative, sprocket holes and all.

Ill post a couple later, its 12am here already. Thanks!

 

[tribalista000]

Hi! I apologize for the really late reply, had to find somebody with a dslr to shoot for me. Anyway, the negatives look like theyre overexposed badly when backlighted however they also like as if it were a slide film when theyre tilted or put against a different background

 

[Zathras]

How much film have you put through this batch of fixer? I've never heard of Atlas fixer. What is it, and what is the formula? I see you're using D76 1+1, which means you're using it one-shot, right? You may have used the fixer past it's capacity. It doesn't look like the samples you provided received adequate fixation.

 

[tribalista000]

i think ive gotten to about 6 rolls of HP5+ and about 5 of Neopan

 

[Neal]

Dear tribalista000,

Your analysis of the overexposure seems like a good one to me. I had a similar result many years ago, but only on some long exposure frames on which I overestimated the reciprocity failure.

Neal Wydra

 

[tribalista000]

yes it is overexposed, however im not so sure about reciprocity failure though causing the negative to look like a slide film, i never made a shot more than 1 sec long, by the way, the dark background is just a car window, as i understand it even if the negative is overexposed, putting it against a dark background should just make the whole negative dark not show details

would it be possible that temperature changes during development have caused this?