First time developing 120 film

[Rinthe]

So i'm using ilford hp5+ film. when i did my presoak, the water came out dark green. this happened to both of my rolls. i also use ilford hp5+ for 35mm and i don't ever remember getting green water from pre soaking. is this normal?

 

[Vaughn]

Yes, it is normal -- it is just the anti-halation layer dissolving in the presoak water. I believe the film base for 120 is different than 35mm -- or at last manufactured differently.

Generally, I find 120 film requires more agitation in the fix than 35mm -- especially TMax. So I pretty much have constant agitation for 120. Otherwise, I have gotten insufficient clearing along the edges of the film, requiring a little burning on the edges of the print to even it out. I use metal tanks and metal reels.

 

[Chazzy]

So i'm using ilford hp5+ film. when i did my presoak, the water came out dark green. this happened to both of my rolls. i also use ilford hp5+ for 35mm and i don't ever remember getting green water from pre soaking. is this normal?

It's completely normal. I hope that the negatives turned out well for you.

 

[brucemuir]

That is normal with most films but as long as we're on the subject...

I believe Ilford does not recommend a presoak? ? ? I've heard this crop up on forums but have never looked to see read their take on this.

Probably a futile question but I'd like to keep my processes consistent and I use a presoak with everything else.

 

[Jeff Kubach]

I found out that this is normal also. I hope your negatives did ok.

Jeff

 

[Rinthe]

alright thanks guys! yea my negatives turn out ok. a few marks from me loading into the metal reel but that's all

Is 5 mins of fix enough time for the 120 ilford hp5+? cause that's all i did

 

[Chazzy]

alright thanks guys! yea my negatives turn out ok. a few marks from me loading into the metal reel but that's all

Is 5 mins of fix enough time for the 120 ilford hp5+? cause that's all i did

If you were using rapid fixer, yes, that should have been sufficient. But the better procedure is to put a piece of film into the fixer (I keep a roll of cheap 35mm film just for the purpose of checking developers and fixer), observe how long it takes to clear, and double that time. Tmax films take longer to clear than conventional films. You can also test the fixer for excess silver buildup.

 

[pentaxuser]

That is normal with most films but as long as we're on the subject...

I believe Ilford does not recommend a presoak? ? ? I've heard this crop up on forums but have never looked to see read their take on this.

Probably a futile question but I'd like to keep my processes consistent and I use a presoak with everything else.

Many use a pre-soak with Ilford films without any problems. However there is just a danger that using a pre-soak might affect Ilford's recommended dev times due to the residual water affecting the speed with which the dev is taken up.

A guy called John Tinsley wrote a book on rotary processing in the 1990s and used a pre-soak with his Ilford films and then reported that he found the Ilford inversion agitiation dev times to be about right due he believed to the pre-soak whereas Ilford recommend a 15-20% decrease due to constant agitiation.

So if Tinsley is right about the effect of pre-soak then a reduction in inversion agitation times might be in order. On the other hand you could simply depart from your usual process for HP5+ and cut out the pre-soak and use Ilford times.


pentaxuser

 

[2F/2F]

Generally, I find 120 film requires more agitation in the fix than 35mm -- especially TMax. So I pretty much have constant agitation for 120. Otherwise, I have gotten insufficient clearing along the edges of the film, requiring a little burning on the edges of the print to even it out. I use metal tanks and metal reels.

Are you sure it is not overdevelopment at the edges, as opposed to underfixing? I got the same with T-Max 120 one time when doing an extreme pull development.