HELP: Develope Film turns all black

aiskanda11 · Jun 5, 2011

Hi,
Can anyone help me... Im a newbie at this film developing, but i have been developing bnw films and it has been successful, until today...

Im using KODAK TRIX 400, ID-11 as the developer, and as you can see.... the film negatives turns out all black, what i wanted to know... what did i do wrong...

is it because i accidentally exposed it to lights, or is it because my developer turns bad.

Thank you very much

bdial · Jun 5, 2011

It got exposed to light somehow. Bad developer would result in low or no density.

zsas · Jun 5, 2011

Could it have been possible that your lens cap was left on? Happens with us RF'ers time to time. Fogged film..humm, seems odd it is so evenly all black.

How old is your developer? How long has it been mixed?

edp · Jun 5, 2011

zsas said:
Could it have been possible that your lens cap was left on?

You'd get clear film with visible edge markings.

zsas · Jun 5, 2011

Ahh good point! Thanks edp..

maarten m · Jun 5, 2011

looks exposed as hell ...

aiskanda11 · Jun 5, 2011

thank you guys for the quick and informative replies....

the only thing that i have change on this process was i just installed a safelight.
i have been using my handy cam night vision for all the other successful film process..
what i wanted to know is... what is the safe distance for the safelight?

zsas · Jun 5, 2011

Trix cant be exposed to a safelight at all. That must be it

frobozz · Jun 5, 2011

There's not really any safe distance for a safelight with panchromatic B&W film. It's B&W paper that a safelight gets used with. (Yes, I know, an incredibly dim green safelight at 15 feet for a few seconds, or whatever, but I assume he's talking a standard red or yellow full brightness darkroom safelight.) You need to load the film from the cartridge into a daylight developing tank in the complete dark (or a changing bag, which would be dark inside.)

Duncan

nickrapak · Jun 5, 2011

You cannot use a safelight for panchromatic film. It will completely fog the film. See more details here. (Cautionpens a PDF file)

zsas · Jun 5, 2011

Just found this on the Kodak KODAK PROFESSIONAL TRI-X 320 and 400 Films tech pub:

"DARKROOM RECOMMENDATIONS
Handle unprocessed film in total darkness.
Using a safelight will affect your results. If absolutely
necessary, after development is half complete, you can use
a safelight equipped with a KODAK 3 Safelight Filter (dark
green) with a 15-watt bulb for a few seconds. Keep the
safelight at least 4 feet (1.2 metres) from the film. Run tests
to determine that safelight use gives acceptable results for
your application.
For information on safelight testing, see KODAK
Publication No. K-4, How Safe Is Your Safelight?"

per:
http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/f4017/f4017.pdf

aiskanda11 · Jun 5, 2011

wow.... thats solve the problem then....

Again... thank you so much guys.... really appreciate the help.

cheers

pentaxuser · Jun 5, 2011

I hope there weren't any negatives on it that can't be taken again. It is always worth reading the maker's information on its products. Yes you can learn from mistakes but it might be worth reading various books on B&W such as Henry Horenstein's Basic B&W Photography to prevent "basic errors". This might not be the exact title of the book but you should be able to find it from this.

pentaxuser

Ambar · Jun 5, 2011

Safelight! If you've got your safelights on when loading the film onto the reel, you've exposed your film. Tri-x is a panchromatic film (as is most of the B&W films around), meaning it's sensitive to the entire spectrum of visible (from red all the way up to violet). Orthochromatic film is only sensitive to a certain parts of the visible spectrum (I believe Rollei and Efke makes some). The simple rule of thumb for these things is - If you can see it, it's exposed.
Safelights are generally used to manipulate B&W photographic paper.

Edit: Oops.. looks like the riddle was solved already..!! These things happen.. living and learning!!! Welcome to the club!

Newt_on_Swings · Jun 5, 2011

I suggest OP to pick up a copy of Horenstien's Basic Black and White Photography. Its a basic primer many people have used and contains a wealth of basic information for people getting started. It covers everything from image capture to development to print.

HELP: Develope Film turns all black

Attachments

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency