Fixer test strip clears, film in tank doesnt

I got a sealed can of Kodak Linagraph pan, expired 1960, pretty positive it was still factory sealed. I am testing short rolls of film for EV. Both of my tests so far have come out with negatives so dark they look totally black from 2-3 feet away (from a few inches they're not nearly so bad). I fixed for 4-5 minutes in the tank. Each time I also tore off a scrap of leader and put it in some of the very same batch of fixer that I developed the film in, and the leader cleared in about 1 minute. I am baffled. The only difference between the leader test and the film in the tank is that one went through developer and the other skipped the developing process (R09 1:100 stand) - is the developer affecting the old film so it doesn't fix? Even the sprocket edges of the film out of the tank is dark, without clearing.

Extreme fog? You're not seeing it in the test scraps because they aren't being developed.

Try developing unexposed film and then fixing it.

IanPhoto said:

is the developer affecting the old film so it doesn't fix?
Even the sprocket edges of the film out of the tank is dark, without clearing.

Click to expand...

No, the film is severely fogged, as is to be expected. You're developing that fog.

It has nothing to do with your fixer.

- Leigh

I'm not an expert so maybe someone else can chime in but Rodinal and very long development times is probably not a good combination for dealing with fog.

Something like HC-110 would be better and you'd want a low dilution for short development times. Maybe try adding some potassium bromide too.

Overexposing 5-6 stops (1 stop per decade) and a different developer might yield somewhat usable images.

IanPhoto, if you are trying to "test" things such as EV or almost anything else I can think of then as you have learnt from your experience 57 year old film is not the best material, fine as it might be to try and get something from such very old film.

pentaxuser

Thanks for the quick responses! I just developed some unexposed film in a tank with some unexposed normal film and yep, the problem is the film. An even shade of darkness, maybe "zone 7", so quite dark. Well, I wanted to try expired film for some low contrast scenes!

After spending $45.00 on 100ft roll I'm not sure I want to sink any more money into it with HC110 or the potassium bromide - I know they help but if it's just a slight difference I'll stick with the R09 and maybe "push" it a bit instead of stand develop.