Kodak 5239 and me

[R Paul]

Hello
I've always been a fan of slide film, and since they made a 70mm back for the RB-67, I always look out for any stuff that comes along to stuff into it. Since there is some for sale on the big auction site I picked up some Kodak 5239 VNF to see what it could do. Now it isn't E6 but RVNP, so i got the manual online, purchased the chemicals and mixed up a batch.
I only mixed the two developers according to the manual, the bleach is quinone based, and the reversal and fixer are regular E6. The reversal step is after the first stop before the CD as so
1st dev 44c +/- 0.3 1:50
stop 44c :30
reversal 44c 2:00 i usually pause here and reset the heater to 46 and then continue
CD 46.0 +/- 0.6 2:06
stop :30 heater is now off
bleach 5:00
fix 5:00
wash :30
stabilize off reels :45
The first two are the first set of films from the process shot at 160ASA

And three and four are the second attempt with the same lot of film and a new lot of chemicals shot at 160 and 400ASA

Now here I tried changing the exposure to see if it was my exposure or something else that is making them so light. My best guess is the first dev . I would rather change temp than time, because it seems pretty short as it is, and I don't want to go down any further. I did check the pH before I ran it and it was ok, but they changed the next day so I think I will let the solutions sit for a day before I do a final check. Has any one have any advice about what my next move should be?

Thanks
rob

 

[zehner21]

May I ask you why did you run the first dev for 1:50 min and not for 2:00 minutes?
Also, why did you run the CD dev for 2:06 minutes instead of 2:16 minutes?

 

[R Paul]

I include the time it takes to drain the drum in the developing time
Rob

 

[cmacd123]

VNF has not been made in a few years now, are you sure that it is not just ageing of the film?

 

[Xmas]

Shoot a still life in open light in 1/3 stop sequence with grey card in scean metering carefully.

I always used Weston invercone on brides nose.

If you are going to scan pick a darker sample for ISO...

If the film is old you may have lost speed and or have a caste.

Charles is correct, but you are close to good...

 

[Rudeofus]

It's most definitely not an issue with exposure: your test clips aren't overexposed because sky isn't blown out, and they are not underexposed because you don't have deep blacks. First of all, make sure that CD step runs to completion. If your CD is just a tad less active than the original formula you get results like this. Since you can't "over-CD", make sure you CD for long enough that there are no differences in results any more. Then, if you still have too low contrast, bump up FD times until contrast is where you want it. Once that is done, you need to address colour shifts and possible exposure corrections.

Increasing dev time is not equivalent to increasing temperature, because you need to balance three colour layers.

PS: The best way to judge CD is taking an unexposed test clip through your process. FD will dissolve some silver, but CD develops the whole rest and should create deep black - it it works correctly.

 

[R Paul]

Thank you. This exactly what I needed
I didn't know I could let the CD run longer without causing other problems.
When I lowered the FD temp a couple degrees,it gave me nice blacks at the frame edges. It seemed like I had problems from wrong pH in the devs ,since I went from bluish tints when I first ran some film ,then I over adjusted it and got the green tinted version. Right now the problem is no deep blacks but a purple color instead. I hope the stuff is ok. The sellers said it was govt issue and kept refrigerated untill they got it a couple months or so ago

So I will run a set with progressively longer CD times to see if anything changes, then gradually increase the FD time untill I get the contrast I like.
One thing isn't the action of the FD make an opposite effect on the film? So wouldn't giving more time in the FD give less of an image rather than more. Once I get some more run out I will post the results
Rob

 

[Rudeofus]

The more silver is developed by FD, the less silver is left for CD to create dye with, so yes, an inactive FD will give you a bright image, but so does an inactive CD! Since CD is supposed to develop all the silver left undeveloped by FD, you can CD as long as you want, but not shorter

 

[JoJo]

CD time is not critical in most cases. I did tests with time x3 at E-6 without any problems.

Too light results can be the result of both weak CD or fogged film. From my experience, most of old filmstock is fogged.
You can develop a short strip of unexposed film in your FD only (no reversal, no CD, no bleach, just fix) to test if the film is fogged.
Compare it with some unprocessed film (just fixed) to see any amount of grey produced by the FD.

If the film is fogged a bit you will not reach Dmax after CD.
You can lower fog by adding more Sodium bromide to the FD but it could affect PH, FD time and color balance.

Joachim