Ever had an opps?

[Arelia99]

Ever had one of those moments where the roll you just developed was blank? The thing is I was using a new camera, new film, new developer and new fixer...ie all variables where new to me! At this point I think I had better just chalk it up to a learning experience!

Nancy

 

[Paul Sorensen]

I think about everyone has. It has been years for me since I got nothing, but I still screw up now and again enough to get very thin negs because I shot at the wrong speed or developed wrong. One thing to check is whether you have edge markings or not. If you don't, it is developing, if you do, then it pretty much has to be in the camera. At least that will tell you something and you are more likely to learn something from it.

 

[Markok765]

i poured in the film dev, then the stop bath then the paper dev, then i noticed and saved it

 

[srs5694]

At the risk of tempting fate, I'll say that I have yet to get a completely blank roll, although I've gotten some pretty thin results when I've experimented with totally unknown (to me) film/developer combinations. On a recent roll, I miscalculated the dilution and ended up with thin, but still printable, negatives.

Paul's comment about edge markings is likely, but not certain, to be correct. Foma bulk 35mm films lack edge markings, in my experience. Foma individual rolls do have edge markings, though, so this isn't true of all Foma films. I don't know of any other film that lacks edge markings, but there may be some examples, perhaps even including individual runs that lack markings because of manufacturing problems. (I vaguely recall reading a story here a while ago about some Ilford film that lacked edge markings.)

I've heard of people getting fixer and developer bottles mixed up. That'll result in a completely blank roll. Likewise if you accidentally use a blix instead of a fixer. I keep my color chemistry on a different shelf from my B&W chemistry to minimize the risk of the latter problem. Using different types of bottles can also help; if the fixer's always in one type of bottle and the developer is in another type, you're less likely to get them mixed up.

 

[jmailand]

My oops always seam to be overexposed negatives, when I'm using old cameras that don't have meters and I'm trying to "Sunny 16" it. I just have to remember to take the Sekonic with me when I use those old cameras.

I have the fixer in a brown jug, the developer in a accordion bottle. I don't usually pull out the fixer until the developer is working. I ruined a roll once with fixer, never again I hope. A fews time I have forgot that the film is in developer and opened it up thinking it was in just in the fixer. Nothing like light streaks though a one of a kind negative.

James,

 

[vet173]

The only time I had a total blank was when I used the fixer for a presoak.

 

[f/stopblues]

The first two rolls out of my Bronica GS-1 were blank. I was a little miffed to say the least. I felt like an idiot when I realized how many great photos had been exposed on the paper backing of my 120 film. Bah..

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

I had a bit of a bummer moment a couple of printing sessions ago when I ruined an entire box of 11x14 paper. 50 sheets..... I could salvage part of the bottom of the stack, by printing to about 5x7 size (less exposure to light there), and use it, but 50 sheets of 11x14 paper is expensive...

I also did manage to ruin a perfectly good roll of Agfa APX100 by using chemistry I knew was too old. The developer was a very strong yellow color when it should have been clear. I paid the price for being cheap.

- Thom

 

[nworth]

Several times. One time I was using an unfamiliar camera and shot a full roll of film without pulling the dark slide. Another time I grabbed the sodium metabisulfite instead of the sodium metaborate when I was mixing developer. Such things happen, especiallyto the scatterbrained.

 

[Gerald Koch]

The thing is I was using a new camera, new film, new developer and new fixer...ie all variables where new to me!

If it is at all possible it is best to limit the number of variables to one in order to maintain one's sanity. And never, ever, use anything new for an important shoot. The classical example here is Leonardo de Vinci, who was tinkering with a new method when he painted the Last Supper. Less than a year later the painting was in serious condition. To put it mildly, the customer was not pleased.

 

[gainer]

Who, me? Of curse not. But some guy named Murphy lives in my house. His full name is Edsel Murphy. You may remember him as the one who found out that his bride of 3 months was unexpectedly 7 months pregnant.

 

[David Lingham]

I bought a secondhand Bronica SQA a few years ago a shot my first 2 rolls with the dark slide in place. One is excusable, two unforgiveable!

 

[John Bragg]

I have had two occasions when negatives were seriously under developed due to developer exhaustion. One with an old bottle of Ilfosol and the other with HC-110 European concentrate. I immediately changed to the syrup and syringe method and have not suffered since. It is amazingly consistent.

regards, John.

 

[bluespeedy]

Ah... and now it happens to me as well. Two 35mm and one 120 developed with what now appears to have been exhausted developer - result is three strips of celluloid in a pleasing light-lavender colour, with sprocket holes... and nothing else! A lesson learned and I vow never to repeat.... :rolleyes:

 

[Robert Kerwin]

I had a bit of a bummer moment a couple of printing sessions ago when I ruined an entire box of 11x14 paper. 50 sheets..... I could salvage part of the bottom of the stack, by printing to about 5x7 size (less exposure to light there), and use it, but 50 sheets of 11x14 paper is expensive...

- Thom

I did something like this a few weeks ago. Opened a partially used pack of paper with the room lights on. Took me a couple seconds before the realization sunk in that it was way too bright to be thumbing through a pack of paper. I was able to salvage what was left for work prints and test strips. It was just a dozen or so sheets of 8x10. Unfortunately, I can't use the standard excuse "it was late, I was tired" in this case.

- Robert

 

[DBP]

How about realizing after developing several 4x5 negatives that you should have stopped down and added the lens hood (and filter) before checking for vignetting? I felt pretty stupid, but fortunately these were all urban scenes near my house that I could reshoot.

 

[Brian Jeffery]

Quite a few years ago I managed a new development process: Fix, Stop and then Develop.

Teach me not to label the jugs.


Brian

 

[Arelia99]

Quite a few years ago I managed a new development process: Fix, Stop and then Develop.

Teach me not to label the jugs.


Brian

I am beginning to think this is what happened to me...strange this new method did not work!

Nancy

 

[Stephanie Brim]

The perfect (cliche) shot of two old men on a park bench. I composed and snapped the shot. My boyfriend waited until AFTER I'd taken the photo to point out that I had left the lens cap on.