Grain clumping?

Never seen anything like this. Arista 100 (shot at 50) developed in split 23, fairly fresh (about a month old, well within capacity) normal except somewhat shorter time due to temperature (about 72). Water stop. Fixed in TF4.
The B side, developed in straight Xtol, was completely normal.

Dumped the developer, which appeared normal too, greenish after the Arista.
Shoulda used caffinol.

bill h

In the upper part of the pic, the filth has been rubbed off. How did you do that?

And what's a B-side?

Mark Overton

Don't do spray-painting in the darkroom.

I've seen something like this on 35 mm film that allegedly got dropped in a pond, found and developed only much later.

(Grain clumping is a controversial issue.)

When I worked in a lab I've seen this happen either with VERY old film someone tried to process, or if someone had dropped their film in a pool/tub/whatever wet resulting in the film sticking to itself. Any possibility it got loaded bad? Or do you cold store your film and/or live in a humid area?

It doesn't look like "grain clumping" to me. Looks like you got some junk on your film and you cleaned some of it away with your finger, hence the fingerprint.

I once washed some film right after utility workers did maintenance on the water mains on my street. All kinds of grit was on/embedded in the emulsion after I washed the film. I bought a filtration system not long after. Your film looks like you have a water/dirt/scum problem of some kind.

Peter Gomena

Not clumping. No such thing.

If it is not dirt or another processing problem, it came from the actual manufacturing process, which I doubt.

You did this somehow during the process - that is my opinion.

PE

bill h said:

Never seen anything like this. Arista 100 (shot at 50) developed in split 23, fairly fresh (about a month old, well within capacity) normal except somewhat shorter time due to temperature (about 72). Water stop. Fixed in TF4.
The B side, developed in straight Xtol, was completely normal.

Dumped the developer, which appeared normal too, greenish after the Arista.
Shoulda used caffinol.

bill h

Click to expand...

What on earth are you talking about?

Oh it is definitely something that I or my chemistry caused. There is no dirt on the negative, the pattern is in the emulsion. The apparent wipe marks -- well I am probably not the cleanest worker ever, I don't believe I could have done that sort of handling. There were four holders all from the same batch of Arista, and the resulting negatives were processed 4 and 4; first four in Xtol, they were normal; second four, one from each holder, processed in Thornton formula D23, two part, A and B. There are no marks on either side of the film that would suggest fingerprints, though the clear area does show what appears to be a fingerprint. Not guilty.
My reason for posting is curiosity, I've never seen anything like this; not worth much effort. More testing tonight with fresh developer.

Thanks for your ideas. Bill h