Film not developing

pretentious7 · Jun 9, 2015

Hello,

I tried to develop Ilford Hp5+ in caffenol M, Unfortunately, the film came out completely undeveloped, ie, the white emulsion bit was still white at the end.

I developed for 7min at 28 celsius. (Using the digitaltruth temperature adjustment, recommended is 15min at 20)
Agitated by using the plastic rotation thing back and forth 5 times to begin with, and then 3 times every minute.
I didn't use a stop bath, just rinsed the film with water (in the tank, of course).
Then fixed normally.

the caffenol formula I used was the one in the caffenol cookbook recommended for medium speed films, just out of curiosity, I put a piece of exposed film in, and it blackened in a while.

What have I done wrong?

baachitraka · Jun 9, 2015

28°C is waaaay too much.

Did you measure those ingredients exactly like in the cookbook? and are you sure that you use right chemicals?

Hatchetman · Jun 9, 2015

camera malfunction?

pretentious7 · Jun 9, 2015

Exactly like the cookbook. And yep, fairly sure of the chemicals.

And yeah, I was suspecting the temperature, but even so, there should be SOME development, no?

And the camera's OK.

Thomas Bertilsson · Jun 9, 2015

pretentious7 said:
Exactly like the cookbook. And yep, fairly sure of the chemicals.

And yeah, I was suspecting the temperature, but even so, there should be SOME development, no?

And the camera's OK.

Did the film edge markings develop?

pretentious7 · Jun 9, 2015

No, nothing did, the emulsion bit was still the same dull white.

baachitraka · Jun 9, 2015

Did you develop the film just after mixing the developer or were there any delays in-between?

R.Gould · Jun 9, 2015

Sounds to me like it could be a fixing problem, if the film did not develop then when you fix it the film would come out transperent, completely clear, you would not see the emulsion, just the clear base of the film, did you use fresh fixer, and if not how much had the fixer been used,?

Thomas Bertilsson · Jun 9, 2015

Michael R 1974 said:
Even if the developer failed, the only way you'd be left with the original emulsion colour after processing is if fixing failed.

Good point! If no development had taken place, and the fixer was fresh, the film base would be clear.

Mix all chemicals fresh and try again.

baachitraka · Jun 9, 2015

Or just re-fix it and see what you get.

pentaxuser · Jun 9, 2015

pretentious7 said:
the caffenol formula I used was the one in the caffenol cookbook recommended for medium speed films, just out of curiosity, I put a piece of exposed film in, and it blackened in a while.

What have I done wrong?

Doesn't the above rule out everything except the film not being exposed? Otherwise why did the same caffenol work perfectly with exposed film?

pentaxuser

pentaxuser · Jun 9, 2015

I have just noticed "no edge markings" now. Has to be fix before developer, doesn't it

pentaxuser

MattKing · Jun 9, 2015

Welcome to APUG!

I like your user name

I would test your fix before taking any further steps. A clip test is in order: (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

There is a chance that your images might still be in there.

pretentious7 said:
Hello,

I tried to develop Ilford Hp5+ in caffenol M, Unfortunately, the film came out completely undeveloped, ie, the white emulsion bit was still white at the end.

I developed for 7min at 28 celsius. (Using the digitaltruth temperature adjustment, recommended is 15min at 20)
Agitated by using the plastic rotation thing back and forth 5 times to begin with, and then 3 times every minute.
I didn't use a stop bath, just rinsed the film with water (in the tank, of course).
Then fixed normally.

the caffenol formula I used was the one in the caffenol cookbook recommended for medium speed films, just out of curiosity, I put a piece of exposed film in, and it blackened in a while.

What have I done wrong?

pretentious7 · Jun 9, 2015

Thank you very much guys!

I will not be able to do any of this right now, since I can't access my materials, but I'll try it as soon as I can.

EDIT: Also, are there any good books where I can read the science behind all of this? As well as the making of emulsions?

Sirius Glass · Jun 9, 2015

Anyway, welcome to APUG.

Film not developing

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