Is this film reticulation?

It's reticulation. Keep your temperatures similar.

Ive deliberately reticulated film (double x or svema 16mm i cant remember which) using kodak darkroom instructions and i think i went from normal dev temp to icy water (stored in fridge) to a 30 degree stopbath (something like that anyway) so id imagine the temperature changes in ops chems would have to be quite extreme to crack a modern emulsion. (Although it does look reticulated to me at a glance on phone)
Filmomat is auto machine? Might be worth measuring temps of the solutions if it heats them up as they might be warmer than they should be?

Modern film is pretty much bullet proof when it comes to reticulation. I wonder if there is a chemical that would soften the emulsion before processing. I have heard that if one can bring the developer temperature close to the emulsions melting point, then reticulation is possible...

Andrew O'Neill said:

Modern film is pretty much bullet proof when it comes to reticulation. I wonder if there is a chemical that would soften the emulsion before processing. I have heard that if one can bring the developer temperature close to the emulsions melting point, then reticulation is possible...

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Caustic soda would do the job but it is pretty unpleasant (and dangerous) stuff to work with. It would have to be quite dilute to ensure it doesn't remove the emulsion completely.

Bikerider said:

Caustic soda would do the job but it is pretty unpleasant (an dangerous) stuff to work with. It would have to be quite dilute to ensure it doesn't remove the emulsion completely.

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I'll stick with soaking film in boiling water presoak first, LoL.

Andrew,
Maybe your students could make it happen

MattKing said:

Andrew,
Maybe your students could make it happen

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No worries there!

Thanks everyone. The issue was reticulation I'm pretty sure. Question though, hardening fixer - what's the purpose of it? What are the pros and cons?

This is an old topic but apparently continues to rumble on. Modern emulsion such as TMax will be almost impossible to reticulate, you are far more likely to cause other physical damage first. As I said a long tome ago the effect happens when relatively warm film is placed in colder water. Why reticulation happens is the film base being much more stable than the emulsion is not effected but the emulsion is soft at this stage suddenly shrinks. Not so much as you can see with a naked eye but that is what happens.

Now here is the crunch. Reticulation is FAR MORE LIKELY to have happened on older style emulsion which was thicker, again that is immeasurable to the human eye but it is a fact. This alone makes it more likely to occur. What they use to support the actual silver on the film base used to be a derivative of egg white or albumen (yes really!) and this has probably changed over the years for something more stable, of this I have no information.

I still maintain the enlarged image is demonstration the actual grain in it's normal state, but when it has been over developed by constant agitation in a developer unsuited for this method. Most constant agitation methods actually advise a reduction in time by 15-20% Did you do this? T Max is made up from tabular grains which are roughly oblong in shape, very similar in shape to the effect seen in the image.

I have been developing film since 1962 and despite all variety of errors including what should have created horrendous reticulation I have never experienced the effect. Using a hardening fixer will not stop reticulation, that usually happens before the fixing stage is complete.

BMbikerider said:

What they use to support the actual silver on the film base used to be a derivative of egg white or albumen (yes really!) and this has probably changed over the years for something more stable, of this I have no information.

I have been developing film since 1962 and despite all variety of errors including what should have created horrendous reticulation I have never experienced the effect. Using a hardening fixer will not stop reticulation, that usually happens before the fixing stage is complete.

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For coating an emulsion onto NC or TAC base always subbing layers chemically dedicated to that base have been used, not albumen.

Still in the mid 70's film manufacturers warned explicetely for reticulation. I am not sure when such warning stopped or was reduced.

There's someting called micro-reticulation or incipient reticulation, or surface artefacts by Kodak. This happens with some modern films the only time I've seen it was with Tmx 400 (older version), A friend was shooting my portrait for a mahgazine article and used 2 rolls of my 120 Tmax 100, he processed them at my house in my replenished Xtol, I realised he never checked the temperatures of the stopbath, fixer, or wash water, I then processed a roll of 35mm Tmax 400 with full temperature control. The negative he shot were useless excessive apparent graininess while my 35mm negatives were excellent.

Rodinal can cause full reticulation and emulsion lifting with Fuji Acros unless used with care, this is beause it contains Hydroxide which softens the Acros emulsion, this may have been the case last year with the OP's film.

In recent years Kodak introduced far better hardening to prevent these issues, they had problems with their colourfilms when the first digital minilabs were introduced, these surface artefacts can cause greater issues when scanned compared to optical printing.

Ian

That said above The original image displays simple over development and not reticulation. It was 'cooked' too long in the developer using constant agitation.

Update - it was film reticulation.