Huge Amount of Dust on Negatives

My most recent batch of negatives that I have produced show a pronounced amount of dust and/or damage. Lots of white spots and a few hair like objects. I've never, ever seen anything like this since I have been developing film. Sure, the occasional amount of dust, a spec here and there. But now I'm seeing dozens if not hundreds of spots on negatives. And not just one batch, now most. Of course, this happens on my recently shot film in Rome. I've developed about 20 rolls of film and see damage on most. I can't figure out what might be happening here. I have not changed my process and my house is certainly not more dirty.

I develop my film and then hand them on a support in my shower. It's the best I can do. Then I close the bathroom door and let them dry overnight. The next day they are cut and sleeved.

I need to change something, or understand what is causing this enormous amount of damage to the negatives. I need advice from the experienced here!

Thanks.

What sort of negative pages (sleeving) are you using?

cliveh said:

What sort of negative pages are you using?

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Print File Archival.

Change of season and ventilation fans for AC or heat blowing now? Or possibly those have filters that are due replacement? Weather changed to very dry and static is attracting dust before processing? Using bulk loaded cartridges and the felt light traps are finally worn out?

For negatives white spots would be dust getting on the film before it hits the soup, otherwise it's black spots because the dust is blocking light from the enlarger.

My place is dusty as all heck, I also dry hanging in the bathroom but I take an extra step and run steaming hot water beforehand and that helps to kill all the flying dust. Bonus in that in very dry SoCal the extra humidity stops film curl

Kawaiithulhu said:

Change of season and ventilation fans for AC or heat blowing now? Or possibly those have filters that are due replacement? Weather changed to very dry and static is attracting dust before processing? Using bulk loaded cartridges and the felt light traps are finally worn out?

For negatives white spots would be dust getting on the film before it hits the soup, otherwise it's black spots because the dust is blocking light from the enlarger.

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I would suggest white spots could be drying marks. I am not familiar with the sleeving the OP mentions, but the transparent variety tends to attract more dust.

Here's an example of what I am talking about.

cliveh said:

I would suggest white spots could be drying marks. I am not familiar with the sleeving the OP mentions, but the transparent variety tends to attract more dust.

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Good point! I only get streaks and not little white spots so I didn't think of it. I'll add cliveh's suggestion and note that maybe your local water supply has changed to cause this? Could also be precipitate from a local water change and your chemicals if you don't filter your mixes before use.

Kawaiithulhu said:

Change of season and ventilation fans for AC or heat blowing now? Or possibly those have filters that are due replacement? Weather changed to very dry and static is attracting dust before processing? Using bulk loaded cartridges and the felt light traps are finally worn out?

For negatives white spots would be dust getting on the film before it hits the soup, otherwise it's black spots because the dust is blocking light from the enlarger.

My place is dusty as all heck, I also dry hanging in the bathroom but I take an extra step and run steaming hot water beforehand and that helps to kill all the flying dust. Bonus in that in very dry SoCal the extra humidity stops film curl

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The humidity has kicked up quite a lot very recently. Shanghai is an enormously humid place and now we are in full season for high humidity.

I am talking only of spots on negatives, not prints.

I think this is dust, but cannot be sure. See the previous post for an example.

Looks like dust. First off, is it in the scanner, can you see the dust on the film in the same locations?
On the negatives, have you tried brushing it off or blowing them off with canned air?
If you are confident that it's not from an airborne source the next possibility would be water.
Are you using tap or bottled water?
Generally high humidity causes fewer dust problems than low, but there are lots of variables.

bdial said:

Looks like dust. First off, is it in the scanner, can you see the dust on the film in the same locations?
On the negatives, have you tried brushing it off or blowing them off with canned air?
If you are confident that it's not from an airborne source the next possibility would be water.
Are you using tap or bottled water?
Generally high humidity causes fewer dust problems than low, but there are lots of variables.

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I will inspect the negatives later and confirm.

I used and have always used tap water for all my developing. The developer used for these negatives was HC-110.

Thanks.

Is water marks, although you have some dusts on there too. You have to either use distilled water for the final rinse and/or use a soft dish washing sponge to wipe down the negatives. I generally get them on my color negatives. BW not so much.

TooManyShots said:

Is water marks, although you have some dusts on there too. You have to either use distilled water for the final rinse and/or use a soft dish washing sponge to wipe down the negatives. I generally get them on my color negatives. BW not so much.

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The tiny, very tiny, little white marks are water marks? Might I be using too much Photoflo?

RattyMouse said:

The tiny, very tiny, little white marks are water marks? Might I be using too much Photoflo?

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I think the recommended amount is 1ml for every 500ml of water. I am pretty sure they are water marks. Generally, they are less noticeable with a larger negative. For 35mm, is even more apparent since the enlargement is greater. You can re-rinse the negative with distilled water (less than a $1 for 1 gallon) and to wipe it down with a soft dish washing sponge or a good film wiper.

There are 1:200 and 1:600 flavors of photoflo in various markets. It's really easy to make it too strong if you use the "drop or two in x amount of water" method, though that does work for many. Photoflo can leave a whitish scum if it's too strong, in my experience, it has never produced little round dots, however.

I prefer to mix it up according to the label dilution using a gallon of distilled or bottled water (use a convenient metric volume).

IMHO touching wet negs with anything is a good way to introduce scratches and random debris. As usual, YMMV though.

Any chance of undissolved material in the developer or fixer? Do you add hardener to the fixer? I was making a mistake in mixing my fixer for a while and getting tons of 'dust,' which was actually precipitate from the hardener agent (or some other bad reaction).

You don't say what size film. For 120 film, go to a digital printing outfit and get a box that 54 inch rolls of paper come in. A roll of 120 hangs perfectly inside. Shove chopsticks across, hang the film, wait overnight. For 35mm, I found a piece of 7 inch heating vent material that comes compressed. Sort of like a Jippy Pop container. You simply pull it apart and it can be opened up to 8 feet. I open it to about 6 feet plus and stand it in the corner. Another chopstick across the top and a plate. Overnight drying. Both 'cabinets' are cheap.

That looks like a very normal amount of dust on a scanned negative. I would suggest using PecPads to clean the neg before printing or scanning. Nothing beats PecPads.

You can also get busy with the Healing Brush tool and clean that up in a few minutes, if you're scanning. My sons love to do this kind of stuff!

I had similar problems and got suspicious of the very hard water I was using. Since then I use a water filter to remove the lime from the water. I'm not sure it was really the cause of the problem but the problem has gone away. Maybe worth trying...


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