Fomapan Classic 100, strange marks on film

[fdonadio]

you can use potassium alum as a hardener too.

I looked for information about potassium alum and now I don't even know why I bought it in the first place!

Well... I also have formalin and glyoxal 40. I am thinking of making one liter of SH-1 and trying that.

 

[fdonadio]

I finally have some results!

Definitely, the culprit is not my home-brewed D-76 developer. I used fresh Kodak fixer that I bought, since that's what I was using before the problem. No marks at all.

Tests were done with 6 sheets, processed two at a time, with different procedures, at 19º Celsius (room temperature):

Test #1: 7' dev, 1' acetic acid stop, 10' fix, 1' hypo clear, 15' wash in running deionized water

Test #2: 7' dev, 2 rinses in deionized water, 10' fix, 1' hypo clear, 15' wash in running deionized water

Test #3: 1' presoak*, 3' SH-1 (formalin), 7' dev, 2 rinses in deionized water, 10' fix, 1' hypo clear, 15' wash in running deionized water

(*) I used a presoak to avoid getting too much green dye in my hardener.

Results are pretty much consistent.

It's the same box of film from which I got marks, so it *may* be those specific sheets, although I doubt it. It could also be the climate where I took the film: hillside of Rio de Janeiro, about 44 km (27 miles) from the sea — it's cold, humid and there's a little salinity in the air. But film should survive that kind of environment, right?

I still haven't tried the home-brewed F-24. I am very suspicious it is the culprit. I still have four sheets to process. I'll be back with more information.


Cheers,
Flavio

 

[fdonadio]

I had completely forgotten this thread. It’s way past time to update it!

I never had the “Y” marks again, no matter what fixer I used. I got back to my standard processing regime: no presoak, developer, acetic acid stop, fixer, hypo clearing agent, wash in deionized water.

It just happened on that specific trip. I’ll have to go back there and redo these shots and some other I didn’t shoot.