Disaster with Fomapan R100.

Gentle fellows,

so far I never had problems developing Foma R100 reversal film with Foma's kit, it is usually an amusing and trouble-free task.

Yesterday, however, I worked on the first roll of a new batch and at the end of the process the gelatine was so inconsistent that the softest touch would totally wipe off the image. Had I squeezed the film with a squeegee, the whole layer would have peeled off.

Fortunately, when the film had dried up, the emulsion hardened and gave a (to some extent) projectable film. Quality will obviously be atrocious, but at least I will have some (scratched) memories of this summer's holydays.

Now, as I have other three films to develop, I'm trying to understand what could lead to such a disaster. The only different thing in respect to my previous development of R100 is that it's terribly hot right now, so tap water is at 26 degrees. I reduced the first development time accordingly, leaving all other processing times untouched, as I believe they are performed to completion. I had the first signal that something was going wrong after the clearing bath: at second development the developer came out of the tank awfully darkened by a black precipitate, which I now understand was silver released by the inconsistent gelatine.

Still, it is hard for me to believe that processing at 26 degrees rather than at 20 could make such a horrible difference. Many films HAVE to be processed at high temperatures and their gelatine doesn't dissolve, and 26 it's not such a "high" temperature after all, the liquids still feel to the touch reasonably "cold". Also, if 6 degrees make such a terrible difference, I suppose Foma could have added a line to alert end users in their papers.

Anyone has thoughts on what could have happened? Any of the bath (bleach, clearing, fix...) that may have caused the issue?

I have other three rolls to develop and for the first time in my life I awe to touch them...

Definitely an issue of the temperature, coupled with the strong permanganate bleach....I've seen it happen with home-brewed reversal chemicals. Don't think you can blame Foma when they say 20 degrees....six degrees is actually quite a difference.

With films that have to processed at a high temperature both the emulsions and the processing chemicals are designed for the purpose.

Mmmh... All right, I suppose it's "no fly zone" over 20 degrees then. Thanks for your insight.

I do not "blame" Foma, however I still think that a line stating that 20 degrees are absolutely not to be exceeded was mandatory on their part. Home processing from 15 to 25 degrees in black an white is perfectly normal, and it's hard for me to believe they don't know it. Their directions sheet is pityful and also plain wrong, as in the diluition of B1 and B2 that makes more than one litre of solution, as well as what concerns the 30 mt of 135 film that obviously can't require the same amount of solutions than 30 mt of 16mm film as stated.

Also, I read on the internet that permanganate-based bleach is considered well outdated by most, and now I can clearly see why.

If you consider that R100 is a film used in cinema projection, with all the mechanical stress that cinema projection implies over the emulsion, I think they could really devise a better kit and also a much better brochure. Foma is a nice little factory with nice niche products, but should care about its end customers better than this. It doesn't take much after all.

Marco Gilardetti said:

Mmmh... All right, I suppose it's "no fly zone" over 20 degrees then. Thanks for your insight.

I do not "blame" Foma, however I still think that a line stating that 20 degrees are absolutely not to be exceeded was mandatory on their part. Home processing from 15 to 25 degrees in black an white is perfectly normal, and it's hard for me to believe they don't know it. Their directions sheet is pityful and also plain wrong, as in the diluition of B1 and B2 that makes more than one litre of solution, as well as what concerns the 30 mt of 135 film that obviously can't require the same amount of solutions than 30 mt of 16mm film as stated.

Also, I read on the internet that permanganate-based bleach is considered well outdated by most, and now I can clearly see why.

If you consider that R100 is a film used in cinema projection, with all the mechanical stress that cinema projection implies over the emulsion, I think they could really devise a better kit and also a much better brochure. Foma is a nice little factory with nice niche products, but should care about its end customers better than this. It doesn't take much after all.

Click to expand...

Since we are talking about the motion picture world I have to tell you that the film development at the lab is precisely controlled and a standardised process is beeing used. Kodak and all the others MP Film manufacturers give very precise informations on how their film should be handled and developed at the lab furthermore projections has nothing to do with development of the film if I mishandle a Kodak MP film the way you did the Foma the results would be the same. If the manufacturer of a MP films tells you to develop the film at 20°C you should follow their advise. Kodak advises you to keep the temp within +- 0.3°C of 21°C when developing their Double-X MP Negative Film for their Reversal stock they give even more precise numbers 24.4°C without +-.

Considering it worked fine before and didnt work fine now - with the correlation in ambient temperature being identified by you, I'd have to say its definitely the water being too hot.

Use ice cubes to regulate temperature.

Will do, thanks.