I suck, first time in 20+ years

eric · Jan 3, 2005

Grrrr, I actually used to process B&W fer a living. Had a important roll to do and wanted to do it in d76h. I had some in a 1 litter container for a few months. Blew a quick roll of 35mm to see if it was still okay. Was fine, threw the roll of film out. cleaned up and spooled up the 120 Neopan I needed. Diluted, processed and checked it out after fixer and ....dang man! All blank. Not even any edge markings. Crap I hate that.....c'est la vie.

Analog version of -- crap! I deleted the image and its gone!

I've had film sticking to each other, fell into a 5gallon container, fixed and re-fixed cause it was pink...but not completely blank like that before. Guess I'll have to make a new batch of d-76.

Good news--Got the Film Cookbook for xmas. Going to try the TF-3 formula in it. Anyone try that before?

Ole · Jan 3, 2005

eric said:
Good news--Got the Film Cookbook for xmas. Going to try the TF-3 formula in it. Anyone try that before?

Tried it, smelled it, thought about it for a bit, then made OF-1. Much less smelly, no need for ammonium thiosulfate (so what will I do with the 2 kg I have left?), works just as well.

eric · Jan 3, 2005

OF-1? Just got the book. Is it in there? I have the book at home. I'm guessing it is non-acid based?

Ole · Jan 3, 2005

It's not in there, but it is in here. In the "Chemistry Recipes" section

geraldatwork · Jan 3, 2005

Sounds like it could of been something else. Although I have no idea what. I've used 9 month old D-76 and it was fine. You also just checked it and it was fine. Even if it was bad I assume you would have some image. From what I understand developer gets stronger and contras-tier as it ages.

Foto Ludens · Jan 3, 2005

I use TF-3 and like it. The ammonia smell is there, but it's not too ofensive to me. Actually, I think it's a bit milder than TF-4, but I'm not sure. Maybe it's the other way around. Can't hurt to try Ole's formula, though.

Hey Ole, do I get a portion of the royalties if I stop pushing TF-3 and switch to OF-1? Something like: As you all know, I use to be a TF-3er, but thanks to Ole's OF-1 quick step program, I can finally leave the darkroom without smelling like an industrial detergent!!!

Seriously, though, I do use TF-3 and swear by the stuff. Much better than the Agfa fixer I used before, even if for no other reason than I don't need hypo clear anymore. But that goes for OF-1 as well.

I hope I was more helpful than I think...

André

modafoto · Jan 4, 2005

I tried something similar...

I do my dev and printing in shared darkroom place and I had wound the film, put it in the tank and was ready to go. While I was diluting the Hot Rod, another guy grabbed my tank thinking it was his...and filled it with...FIXER!!!
After 15 sec of fixing I pulled the tank out of his hands and emptied it...washed a lot and tried to develop it....VERY THIN NEGS!

That day I became a murderer!

Soeren · Jan 4, 2005

Eric you should go to confession with our high priest and start using R...... and it will never happen again
Sorry I couldn't help it
Søren

Neal · Jan 4, 2005

One failure in 20+ years and you didn't blame it on your equipment or supplies? I applaud you! I used old Dektol once as a stop bath. Didn't watch my wash water temperature several times, too bad I wasn't trying to get reticulation. Tried to tone paper once for half an hour in just water (please don't ask how, it's painful).<g> And that's without even trying to remember incidents. I've been clean now for about 7 years, but that may simply mean I'm due.

Neal Wydra

David A. Goldfarb · Jan 4, 2005

I had a similar mishap last week. I'm developing film all the time and don't tend to have any reel loading problems, but there was this one roll of 120 where I hadn't noticed that the film wasn't securely in the clip, so it got pushed in too far, causing the two frames in the center of the reel to overlap--of course these were the two frames in the whole batch that I really wanted. I probably would have noticed at the end of the reel that it was in the wrong place if I had used a 120 reel, but loading 120 on a 220 reel, it's harder to predict where the end of the film should be on the outside.

eric · Jan 4, 2005

David A. Goldfarb said:
of course these were the two frames in the whole batch that I really wanted.

Don't you hate that? One thing I usually do is to have a spare reel in the changing bag. I have cheap reels and they have pits and bumps on them (well, the 35mm ones do). I should really invest on some Hewes and get it over with. But I guess I need the $$ to get dog food, shoes, socks for kids, juice boxes.....

David A. Goldfarb · Jan 4, 2005

Well, I was using one of my Hewes reels in this case, so it wasn't the reel's fault. The film still went in smoothly, so I didn't notice the problem until it came out of the wash.

TPPhotog · Jan 4, 2005

Cheer up Eric I'm sure we've all had at least one blank roll come out of the fix and it's always one we have something special on. Just tell yourself (try to sound convincing) if it worked every time there would be no magic left in processing our our stuff

eric · Jan 4, 2005

TPPhotog said:
Cheer up Eric I'm sure we've all had at least one blank roll come out of the fix and it's always one we have something special on. Just tell yourself (try to sound convincing) if it worked every time there would be no magic left in processing our our stuff

Isn't that the BEST part about it?! I CAN'T wait to get it out of the fixer. I usually dump fixer in, count to 5, and open it right away just so I can see the MAGIC. I'll never get tired of seeing images on wet negatives.

TPPhotog · Jan 4, 2005

Eric me too, I love peeling off the first few frames from the reel when it's in the final wash to peep to see if there's something there. Pure pleasure that beats all other stimulants.

Flotsam · Jan 4, 2005

TPPhotog said:
Eric me too, I love peeling off the first few frames from the reel when it's in the final wash to peep to see if there's something there. Pure pleasure that beats all other stimulants.

If you can stop at the first few frames, you have a lot more self-control than I do . The nice thing about stainless is that they are easy to re-wind while wet.

TPPhotog · Jan 4, 2005

Flotsam said:
If you can stop at the first few frames, you have a lot more self-control than I do . The nice thing about stainless is that they are easy to re-wind while wet.

LOL Neal I use plastic but it's just enough for me to take a deep breath when they are there and wait like an excited child for the wash to finish when I can see them all.

gareth harper · Jan 4, 2005

Well I did a shoot once for a charity, it was all a colour neg, I was flying off on holiday the next day, so I left the 5 rolls of film with them with strict instructions on what lab they were to use, that I must get the negs back etc...

Of course they went to wonder snaps or something. I actually got all the film back and to my amazement the cheapie processing was fine bar one roll, it had about 6 frames on it then went blank. I thought I'd used every frame on every 36 exposure roll. I have no idea what happened to it, Oh the markings were there so it wasn't the processing. It really spooked me for quite a while, it's the not knowing what the hell you did, or what strange thing happened to the camera for all those frames.

I love modafoto's story, that mad me laugth.

modafoto · Jan 5, 2005

gareth harper said:
I love modafoto's story, that mad me laugth.

I am glad it brings laughter to someone. Myself I wasn't laughing that day

But the guy who did it haven't been found yet...muhahahaha

skahde · Jan 5, 2005

geraldatwork said:
From what I understand developer gets stronger and contras-tier as it ages.

Not D76h which does not contain any Hydroquinone. There are several explanations around about what happens with D76 as it ages. To me the most likely story seems to start from the known fact that Hydroquinone kneeds to be oxidised to Semiquinione to act superadditive on Metol (i.e. as a regenerator, Junge & Hübner, Photographische Chemie ist a good reference on that). With aged, slightly oxidised D76 there will be more Semiquinone in the solution from the start. This fits nicely to the observation that the rise in contrast with aging D76 is continuous and slow.

In Anchel's and Troop's film developing cookbook it is said that the pH of the solution will rise with age untill it reaches the level were Hydroquinone starts to reduce silverhalide by itself. Having a had a lesson or two in chemistry I'd expect a marked and steep increase at around that pH and a much slower change above and below that value but this is not how it looks.

Stefan

eric · Jan 5, 2005

skahde said:
In Anchel's and Troop's film developing cookbook it is said that the pH of the solution will rise with age untill it reaches the level were Hydroquinone starts to reduce silverhalide by itself
Stefan

I just got the book and I am reading the first few chapters over and over again. A lot of information just in the first few chapters. I should look at it again now cause it did mention d76 getting stronger and I'll x-reference the d76"h" part of it.

Thanks Stefan.

I suck, first time in 20+ years

eric

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