Fogged and purple tinted Kodak TMY-2 400

[Ghostman]

Hi everyone.

I developed two rolls of Kodak Tmax 400 last night. They both came out fogged down the middle as a result of persistent emulsion and with a serious purple tint. The tint was not slight, but severe. I have developed several rolls without any issue, the only variable this time was the fixer. I used the following procedure:

2 minute pre-soak
Kodak HC-110(b) @ 20°
Ilford Stop @ 20°
Rollei RXA 1+9 for 6 minutes @ 20°
5 X 20 turns rinse then a further 5 minutes open running rinse
+- 30 seconds in 1:100 Wetting agent

I never bothered trying another fix. I read another thread here that states a pre soak is a waste of time and a second fix can solve the problem. I also read that the purple hue is not problematic, however this was severe purple hue with a thicker streak of fog running down the middle of the roll (120).

With the pre-soak, the soak comes out dark blue. Could there be a residual dye in the mix? I have developed a few rolls of Kodak normally using Ilford Rapid fix instead of the Rollei RXA. Could it be the fixer?

Thanks for the input.

 

[Rick A]

Possibly spent fixer, try refixing with fresh chems. In the meantime, try not to leave the negs exposed to too much light, just in case.

 

[Ghostman]

The fixer was a fresh bottle, opened recently and only used once before. It still smells like acetic acid. The negs have been in clear holders on my desk all day. Do you think it's still worth a second attempt at fixing. Out of interest, what does exposure to light do to the already fixed negs?

Also, what kind of agitation does fixing require, if any? I normally give 2 or three turns during the fixing process. Could the fogged streak have been a result of not enough spacing between the roll in the spindle? I don't think so as it happened to both rolls in two different canisters leading me to believe it's a chemical issue.

 

[Rick A]

Couldn't hurt anything. You should treat fixer like it's developer for agitation. It definitly believe it's a chemical issue, not bad film.

 

[Ghostman]

Thanks everyone. I see that I have already been making a mistake by not agitating during fixing. I was fixing and gently turning once or twice in 5-6 minutes.

I also think I'll just go back to Hypam or Rapid Fix.

 

[Rick A]

I like Eco-Pro Clearfix Neutral, alkaline fixer, works quickly and removes the purple dye in half the time as any other brand I've tried including Formulary TF-4, and is compatable with Pyro devs.

 

[Gerald C Koch]

"I developed two rolls of Kodak Tmax 400 last night. They both came out fogged down the middle as a result of persistent emulsion and with a serious purple tint. The tint was not slight, but severe."

Both these observations indicated that the film was not suffieciently fixed.

 

[jm94]

TMAX is well known to exhaust fixer quickly, and personally I find fresh fixer is needed to fix them properly, and two bath fixing helps these greatly!
Refix and post bac with your results.

 

[John Shriver]

Looking at this page: http://www.mahn.net/DL_MAHN/RXA11.pdf, you used the paper dilution (1+9) for film. Especially for T-MAX films, you would want to use the lowest film dilution, 1+4.

Fix it for 15 more minutes in the 1+9, and it should clear. Then use that fixer only for paper, and mix a proper batch for film.

You should test the strength of any fixer for film. Put a piece of the leader in the fix, agitate normally, and see how long it takes to turn clear. Fix for twice that time. When the reused fixer takes twice as long to clear film as when it was new, it's exhausted.

 

[Ronald Moravec]

Always check the film out of the fix. The clear areas must be clear not cloudy and T Max will have a blue tint to the film. Proper washing will remove the blue tint IF THE FILM WAS FIXED PROPERLY. I find a soak works as well a agitated wash to remove the last of the tint if you do the Ilford wash sequence first.

Hypo fix which clears older film fine will not clear tab grain film like Delta or T Max. Use Rapid Fix without hardener or Photographers formulary TF4 alkaline fix. Both will work fine.

No amount of time with paper dilution fix of any kind will clear these film. You must use 1:4.