HP5 400 Faint image, no rebate

[4strinbass]

Hey everyone. I'm developing 400 ISO HP5. All my negs (two tries) have resulted in faint images. The numbers that tell you the film brand and ISO rating and such don't show up on the film strip's rebate.

I don't think it's my recipe or my dev time because the film name would develop in the rebate along with the faint images wouldn't it? I'm thinking it might be a light leak in my changing bag.

My negs are grey with extremely faint images in the light and only on one side
The negs are not transparent anywhere, light doesn't pass through at all
The rebate doesn't appear

Can anyone help me out?

 

[N467RX]

How old is the film?

 

[4strinbass]

How old is the film?

The film's not expired. Expires next year.

 

[4strinbass]

I found slits cut into my changing bag from my scissors being in it. It's 17x17 so there's not much space inside of it which makes it a bit hard to move in, hence the slits from the scissors.

Could the light that could've gotten in done this? I'd imagine if light ruined the film the whole thing would be pitch dark, but it has those extremely faint one sided images.

 

[Wade D]

The film rebate is exposed at the factory. It will show up with normal development even if the images are faint. This sounds like a case of insufficient development or perhaps exhausted developer. Are your chemicals fresh? If they are then what developer are you using and what is the time and temperature? Not enough agitation may also play a part in this. Light leaks in the changing bag or camera would cause very dense (black) areas in the negative.

 

[polyglot]

so you can't see the rebate markings because either:
- your negs are clear: developer is broken; or
- your negs are black: you got light on them before development.

Sounds like the latter case; the edge markings would easily be overwhelmed by bad fogging, which it would be if you can't see through any part of them.

 

[Rick A]

Sounds more like dead or dying developer, with a tad bit of fogging from cuts in changing bag.

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

Exhausted developer if the film base is clear.

 

[R gould]

Had the same problem a while ago while trying out a new developer, usual cause of faint images and light edge markings are 1.. Gross underdevelopment, where either developer is very over diluted or developing time is way to short,or 2.. the developer, if you are not using a 1 shot developer, the developer is exhausted, try either checking the dilution, check and if needed increase the developing time or simply, if not a one shot, use fresh developer, also check the temperture of the developer, if it is lower than 20 then you would need to increase developing time,
Richard

 

[ntenny]

My negs are grey with extremely faint images in the light and only on one side
The negs are not transparent anywhere, light doesn't pass through at all
The rebate doesn't appear

I think there almost have to be two different problems. "Not transparent anywhere" suggests fogging, perhaps from the slits you found in the bag---but that wouldn't make the edge markings disappear, nor should it render the actual images thinner. (They might look thinner against a fogged base than they would otherwise, but it sounds like you're talking about something more extreme than that---even if the fog were cleared out, the images would still be much fainter than normal, right?)

So I'm thinking something wrong in the development---exhausted developer or a mistake in workflow---independent of the light leaks. If I'm right, fixing the light leaks will give you a clear base but still with the faint images.

You didn't say anything about the developer---what is it and how are you using it?

-NT

 

[Bob-D659]

He did mention developer recipe, suggesting a "homebrew" type.

Sure sounds like two distinct problems, negatives opaquely dark on one side and light on the other is fogging, no rebate visible and thin gray on the light side is a sign of almost "dead" developer and not as much fogging.

 

[4strinbass]

Thanks for the replies everyone. You're right about the homebrewing. I've been trying things out with Caffenol-C. I know this is very experimental and what not, but wanted to know if it was light leaks or too weak/strong of a developer. That way I could fix my brew or my bag accordingly.

It sounds like it could be the brew so I'll either make it stronger or change my dev or agitation.

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

My advice would be to try a developer that you can purchase. A bag of D76 will only be a few dollars, and could help you solve your problem quickly. It could be gross underexposure, gross underdevelopment, or a combination of both.

Keep the D76 around until you have gotten the activity of your Caffenol up to snuff.

 

[N467RX]

Doesn't Caffenol require a 30 minute or so developing time?

 

[4strinbass]

I guess i'll try that then. At least that way I'll know if it's my developer for sure. Trial and error and a little bit of know how.

 

[4strinbass]

Doesn't Caffenol require a 30 minute or so developing time?

That's caffenol. I was using caffenol-c. It adds vitamin c to the mix which speeds up the dev process. One problem I could have is tht my vit c might not be pure enough which would make me need a longer time than I used.

 

[N467RX]

Supposedly it has to be pure ascorbic acid, the vitamin C sold in most stores has a bunch of additives, which may impact negatively the results.

 

[4strinbass]

My advice would be to try a developer that you can purchase. A bag of D76 will only be a few dollars, and could help you solve your problem quickly. It could be gross underexposure, gross underdevelopment, or a combination of both.

Keep the D76 around until you have gotten the activity of your Caffenol up to snuff.

Would I need to buy a special container for d76?

 

[MattKing]

Would I need to buy a special container for d76?

One or more empty, cleaned out and clearly re-labelled plastic beverage (soda pop or tomato juice) bottles make great containers for darkroom chemistry.

I use these (inherently Canadian as they are):

 

[N467RX]

All what the Kodak document says is

Store stock solutions in tightly closed bottles. Solutions in
full bottles have a longer shelf life; partially filled bottles
allow some oxidation of the solution.

So my best guess is that you don't, but you might wanna get glass marbles or those collapsible bottles.

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

Would I need to buy a special container for d76?

Standard DataTainer bottles are available here, and they are very inexpensive.

http://freestylephoto.biz/016400-Delta-Datatainer-1-2-GAL-64OZ?cat_id=1603
http://freestylephoto.biz/013200-Delta-Datatainer-1-QT-32OZ?cat_id=1603

You can also buy your D76 here:
http://freestylephoto.biz/1464817-Kodak-D-76-Film-Developer-to-make-1-Gallon?cat_id=301
http://freestylephoto.biz/8275497-Kodak-D-76-BandW-Film-Developer-to-make-1-Liter?cat_id=301

No problems. Those bottles are good for storing your stop bath and fixer too.

- Thomas