Noticed some debris on a recent Fomapan roll (35 mm) when examining the film after drying. It was on the back side (non-emulsion side) of the film and looked like tiny clear water drops here and there and was easily removed by wiping with a fingertip. This stuff was dry matter and did not look like fixer precipitate at all.
Looking further, there was some erosion around some of the perforations on this film, the grey coating on the emulsion side had departed from the film base. (I always thought that the grey dye was in the base itself, and not as a separate layer on a clear base). Maybe the specks of debris were bits of this runaway coating, maybe something else.
After washing, I had used microfiber cloth to wipe the film and let it hang in the darkroom for some twenty hours. The development cycle was my usual, Paterson two-roll small tank, 8 minutes in XTOL stock at 20 deg. Celsius, fix in Calbe A 300.
Anybody else had this happen with Fomapan? Production fault? Rough handling on my side?
The problem roll was shot with a FED Zarya, a Leica-type Soviet camera. I've never seen such failures with the perforations when using these cameras, and I've shot hundreds of rolls, both Eastern and Western film brands.
Looking further, there was some erosion around some of the perforations on this film, the grey coating on the emulsion side had departed from the film base. (I always thought that the grey dye was in the base itself, and not as a separate layer on a clear base). Maybe the specks of debris were bits of this runaway coating, maybe something else.
After washing, I had used microfiber cloth to wipe the film and let it hang in the darkroom for some twenty hours. The development cycle was my usual, Paterson two-roll small tank, 8 minutes in XTOL stock at 20 deg. Celsius, fix in Calbe A 300.
Anybody else had this happen with Fomapan? Production fault? Rough handling on my side?
The problem roll was shot with a FED Zarya, a Leica-type Soviet camera. I've never seen such failures with the perforations when using these cameras, and I've shot hundreds of rolls, both Eastern and Western film brands.
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