Bummer - ADOX FB MC fogging

Eric Rose · Feb 9, 2010

I needed to do a 3 min and 20 sec exposure and the images comes out fogged. Bummer for sure. I had all the safe lights turned off just in case and still fogged.

A smaller print I made from the same neg at 1 min 20 sec's was just fine. Has anyone else run into this? I don't use the ADOX stuff to much so don't have much experience with it.

Oh well back to my stash of AGFA.

Eric

Garrett · Feb 9, 2010

I have used that paper with no fogging. With that long of an exposure, I would look closely at any light bouncing back from a wall or ceiling during exposure. I've found that walls behind and ceilings above enlargers should be black it it's a small space and prone to bouncing back enough light to fog the paper. One way to see if this is the problem is to check the borders that were covered by the easel blades. They should be pure white. If they are fogged, then you have something else going on, and it's fogging before or after exposure.

fschifano · Feb 9, 2010

First of all, it's not an inherent quality of the paper unless it's age fogged or has been subjected to truly unusual storage conditions. Adox MCC hasn't been around long enough for it to be age fogged. Prolonged exposure to elevated temperatures or exposure to fumes from sulfide toners can fog paper; so if neither of those conditions exist, there's no reason the print should be fogged even with an exposure that long. I routinely shoot for exposures of a minute, or sometimes even more if I have some complicated dodging and burning maneuvers to make, and don't have that problem. For an exposure of over three minutes, I'd be checking everything for stray reflections and light leaks, and addressing them as best I could. Chances are better than good that that's whats going on with your setup. Check your enlarger for light leaks and cover them up. Make the walls near the enlarger as non-reflective as possible. Line them with something matte black if you can't paint it matte black. Do the same with the ceiling. That should fix it.

Eric Rose · Feb 9, 2010

Thanks for the suggestions. All walls are painted black and the enlarger is baffled to eliminate light leaks. This paper is only about 3 years old and stored along with all the rest of my paper. This is the only paper I have that has this problem. I will have to try it with my condenser enlarger and see if there is any difference.

mikebarger · Feb 9, 2010

I thought it was MCC110, what paper is it??

Mike

Eric Rose · Feb 9, 2010

mikebarger said:
I thought it was MCC110, what paper is it??

Mike

Vario Classic Fine Print

Garrett · Feb 10, 2010

One note on the Vario Classic from the info sheet:

"Safelight: Dark red only. Do NOT use with OC or other safelight."

You should make sure any safelights over the sink are red and not OC.

paulie · Feb 10, 2010

hmm ive had real problems with fine print adox , i was getting lots of foging on some of the sheets, i still occasionally get problems even though the paper was replaced.

adox can be trouble

Sal Santamaura · Feb 10, 2010

paulie said:
...adox can be trouble

Everyone must understand that this comment does not apply to Adox MCC or MCP!

Eric Rose · Feb 10, 2010

Garrett said:
One note on the Vario Classic from the info sheet:

"Safelight: Dark red only. Do NOT use with OC or other safelight."

You should make sure any safelights over the sink are red and not OC.

Thanks for the advise but as I said I tried it with no lights on in the darkroom and still fogged. Pure white under the easel blades so the paper itself is not fogged.

ath · Feb 11, 2010

I would contact Mirko with the emulsion number and ask for the production date. This might simply be old stuff.

clayne · Feb 11, 2010

Sal Santamaura said:
Everyone must understand that this comment does not apply to Adox MCC or MCP!

It doesn't really apply to FPV either.

Eric Rose said:
Thanks for the advise but as I said I tried it with no lights on in the darkroom and still fogged. Pure white under the easel blades so the paper itself is not fogged.

Then what exactly are you telling us? If the paper is most likely not age-fogged, and you have pure white under the blades - isn't it most likely something in your process?

Eric Rose · Feb 12, 2010

I beginning to think the paper just doesn't handle long exposures very well.

Bummer - ADOX FB MC fogging

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