Developing Ektar 100 at home

analog_aaron · Oct 8, 2016

Hello APGU, this is my first post here on the forums. I'm very excited to get the insight on the community for this issues I'm having.

I recently developed a roll of Ektar 100 using the Unicolor C-41 developing kit. Unfortunately, the entire roll came out without any images on it. The film was completely clear. Now this roll was had been shot about three months ago, and I just got around to developing it. My developing chemicals were about a month old, but they are stored in air tight plastic bottles with all of the air removed, and in a cold, dark room in the basement.

I have previously developed rolls of Portra 400 successfully with the Unicolor kit. I'm wondering if there are any special instructions for developing Ektar since it is a 100 speed film, as opposed to the 400 speed Portra? Any insights and recommendations are greatly appreciated!

Kevin Caulfield · Oct 8, 2016

It's very disappointing especially as you have developed successfully with the same kit. All C41 films are intended to be developed at the same times, depending on the particular kit, so you haven't done anything wrong in that regard.

Theo Sulphate · Oct 8, 2016

Any film id or frame numbers on the edges?

If not, then developer and fixer got swapped.

If you've got markings, then maybe no images on the film?

RPC · Oct 8, 2016

Was the developer still reasonably light colored or very dark? If it was very dark it was likely shot. Oxygen (which kills developers) can pass through plastic. Glass is generally best.

Also, you say the film was clear, what about edge markings?

Athiril · Oct 9, 2016

Does it still have the Ektar 100 edge code printed on the frames? If not your developer is dead, or you put the wrong chemical in first.

mklw1954 · Oct 9, 2016

I've developed all my Ektar 100 120 film for the last 5 years using the Unicolor 1 liter kits and have gotten great results. Because I save up 12-16 rolls and develop them all within a few days of making up the chemicals, some of the rolls had been exposed a year prior to processing (kept refrigerated) but no problems. Storing the chemicals for 3 months might have affected them (unless you used PET plastic, e.g., soda or seltzer bottles, which provides an excellent air/oxygen barrier) but not to the extent that you would get completely blank film.

Sirius Glass · Oct 9, 2016

Welcome to APUG

I use the one liter Unicolor kit and I save up 12 to 16 rolls of color print film and develop them within 2 or 3 days. That way the development is consistent and I do not have to worry about the chemicals going bad.

analog_aaron · Oct 11, 2016

Thank you for all of your great replies! The film didn't have any edges along where the frames should be. The frame numbers and coding was still on the film however. My guess is that the camera either wasn't functioning properly, or I somehow inadvertently swapped the chemicals. I will give Ektar another try with a fresh Unicolor kit.

Rudeofus · Oct 12, 2016

The frame numbers at the edges of your film are already exposed on your film roll when you buy it. If you don't have frame numbers after development, something in your dev process went horribly wrong, and a sequence mixup between color developer and BLIX is the likely cause. Your camera has likely nothing to do with this.

mnemosyne · Oct 12, 2016

analog_aaron said:
Thank you for all of your great replies! The film didn't have any edges along where the frames should be. The frame numbers and coding was still on the film however. My guess is that the camera either wasn't functioning properly, or I somehow inadvertently swapped the chemicals. I will give Ektar another try with a fresh Unicolor kit.

STOP. Wrong conclusion. We can now rule out a major processing error. As explained above, what you describe (edge markings present, no frames) indicates that there was no major error in processing. There is no way that only the edge markings were developed properly and the frames on the same roll weren't by some miracle. This leaves the following possible explanations:

The film was still fresh and mistaken for an exposed film (you said the roll was exposed three months ago, any chance that you mixed up rolls and accidentally developed a fresh one?)
The film was inserted in a camera but not fed properly into the take-up spool
The whole film was shot with lens cap on (viewfinder camera, rather unlikely)
The shutter is completely dead (should be easy to check on most cameras)

mnemosyne · Oct 12, 2016

Rudeofus said:
The frame numbers at the edges of your film are already exposed on your film roll when you buy it. If you don't have frame numbers after development, something in your dev process went horribly wrong, and a sequence mixup between color developer and BLIX is the likely cause. Your camera has likely nothing to do with this.

It appears you misread his post. He says he did have frame numbers and edge markings, just no "edges" (= picture frames, I assume)

bvy · Oct 12, 2016

Test your shutter before loading film into your camera. Clip test your developer before processing any film. These two simple tests will save you a lot of grief.

It sounds like the former in this case -- i.e. that something went wrong with you camera. Did the exposed leader develop to black?

Halford · Oct 12, 2016

Hello Aaron, and welcome to APUG!

Was this a 35mm roll, or a 120 (medium format)? I ask because I once screwed up a roll of 120 by loading it back to front in the camera, so I lovingly exposed 10 frames on the backing paper, and none on the film.

That definitely won't happen to 35mm though.

analog_aaron · Oct 22, 2016

There were a number of things that could have went wrong in this scenario. I was not the one shooting the film, I was simply developing it, so I'm not sure if the film was properly shot. And I may have very well simply developed an unexposed roll. That being said I will make sure to be more careful when developing C41 at home. I think I may have gotten a little too comfortable with at home development and started to make some mistakes. Thank you all for you insight, this was a great first experience with APUG.

Developing Ektar 100 at home

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