How did my 8x10 film get fogged?

[sly]

I tray developed 4 sheets of HP5+ in ABC Pyro just now. (Developed 4x5 last night from the same stock bottles. It was fine.)
The film is fogged edge to edge, including rebate. The images are visible, faintly superimposed on the almost uniform grey. The fog seems especially dense in a thin strip along the notched edge of the film. I bought the film a few years ago - it's been in the freezer. I bought a whack of boxes when the Canadian dollar was at par. (Expired feb 2016, so it's not age.) Nothing like this on other sheets from the same box.
All 4 sheets exposed in my Korona. If the rebates weren't fogged, I'd suspect a light leak in the bellows of the old girl.

Anyone have any bright ideas? I've got 4 more sheets to develop. I'm going to mix up fresh chems just in case something went bad overnight.

 

[Prof_Pixel]

I'm going to mix up fresh chems just in case something went bad overnight.

Sounds like a good place to start the troubleshooting

 

[Alan9940]

Don't know if this has anything to do with your fogging issue, but how fresh was the B solution? In my experience, the B solution is the most problematic so I mixed it fresh every time just before developing.

 

[Patrick Robert James]

Sounds like the film was fogged while either loading/unloading or during development. My guess would be that it happened during development. Are you absolutely sure that your darkroom is light tight? Anything that glows in the dark? Flourescent lights that "afterglow"?

 

[sly]

Patrick, it was fogged during development. I went back into the darkroom to look at the negs again and to check for new light leaks (there haven't been any changes to my darkroom for 10+ years.)
It was totally my own fault - mindless carelessness.
I often listen to podcasts or audiobooks in the darkroom. I did today - but - rather than tucking my iPhone behind the papersafe as I usually do, I left it clipped to my clothes. It's in a wrap-around case, very little light escapes. It's hard to see even when I was looking for it, but it was more than enough to fog my film.

Aargh! I knew better. (Bangs head on wall.)

 

[Patrick Robert James]

That is a bummer Sly. I know from personal experience it is usually something that I did that results in a facepalm... At least you figured out what the problem was before you did it again.

I put rubylith over my phone and have it on a little Sony system when I am developing prints, which of course doesn't work for negs... Tunes in the darkroom are an absolute must, just above beer of course...

There is a guy here selling some JOBO drums. I am pretty sure he has one for 8x10. Much easier/less problems if you plan on doing a lot of 8x10.

 

[winger]

+1 to Patrick (post #6). My sympathies!
I think iOS10 lets you change the screen to a single main color? I didn't go to that one, yet, so I don't know if the red will be ok for darkroom use. I'd still hide it when possible. But music is essential! Hubby got me a great bluetooth speaker, but it emits colors constantly so it's a non-darkroom speaker.

 

[sly]

The other 4 sheets were fine. Electronics safely tucked away. Thankfully the fogged ones were still lives that I can mostly reassemble. (We've eaten some of the subjects.)

Debra, no IOS 10 for me. I never trust the latest stuff, and resist upgrading as long as possible.

Patrick - no idea where I'd put a jobo, if I had the money to buy one.

 

[fdonadio]

I put my iPhone inside a 4x5 film box as soon as I get to the darkroom. This way, I can have it close to me.

I have this Bluetooth-enabled House of Marley speaker which I got the LEDs blacked out with black duct tape. I cover it with a heavy black cloth, just in case.

I try to do everything with voice commands ("Hey Siri") and can even dictate messages (as I do when driving). Works well, but I wish I could plug-in a microphone without it switching the sound output to the headphones!


Cheers,
Flavio