Cold and Films

[Peter Schrager]

Well this morning I was continuing my adventure with Mr. Gainers develoers. Needed to redo some test shots. Decided that I was doing these out the window from the house because the weather is impossible.(colder than..) Brought all the stuff up stairs and proceded to test Tri-x,HP-5 and J+C100. Didn't really wait too long for the film to defrost. After initial development of the three films the only one that did not have dichroic fog was the Tri-x. The other two crapped out on me. I guess the one to use in extreme conditions is the Tri-x. Curious if anyone else has had any experience with this??
regards Peter

 

[Donald Qualls]

Brought all the stuff up stairs and proceded to test Tri-x,HP-5 and J+C100. Didn't really wait too long for the film to defrost. After initial development of the three films the only one that did not have dichroic fog was the Tri-x. The other two crapped out on me. I guess the one to use in extreme conditions is the Tri-x. Curious if anyone else has had any experience with this??
regards Peter

I've seen lots of images shot in Arctic conditions with a variety of films, and never heard of this problem. What you might have, however, is condensation or even sublimated rime ice on the film surface leading to irridescence in the gelatin that resembles dichroic fog. Otherwise, dichroic fog is usually related to using a too-solvent developer without correct compensations for the film emulsion type (the more modern the emulsion, the more prone to dichroic fog in highly solvent developers of the older types). I don't see film temperature at exposure time as relevant; the film will come up to developer temperature in a fraction of a second when you pour in the liquid, so film temperature overall isn't relevant unless you had condensation on the film.

You don't, however, say what developer process you used -- that would say a lot more about a dichroic fog problem.

 

[Peter Schrager]

Cold

Donald-just to clarify things tihs is the first time this has ever happened to me. Of course it was extremely cold here last night and I left the film in the trunk of the car. Brought it upstairs and took the test shots. The developer is the same one I had mixed up 2 days ago with no problems. I serously doubt it was the developer. All I was really trying to question is why the two films fogged and the tri-x did not.Condensation could well have been the problem. I'll let my film defrost from now on.
Peter

 

[Ole]

The only time I've had problems with a film due to cold it was -48C. The film snapped - or rather, fragmented - in the camera as I tried to wind it on...