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Lots of negs unevenly developed

domagojs

Member
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Mar 31, 2010
Messages
6
Format
35mm
Hi!

What happened here? Why are lower two thirds so overexposed?



Some frames on the film suffer from this and some are perfectly OK. I did my own development, D-76 1:1 for 10'@20C, 5 mins fixing with quick fixer, stop bath was water. The film is Tri-x, camera Nikon F-501, lens is Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 AI.

I appreciate your help/suggestions...
 
What tank are you using and how much developer did you use? Also, what was you agitation?
 
The dark edge at the bottom left leads me to believe it is a development issue - maybe loading related. Hard to be sure without knowing what kind of tank you are using....
 
Looks to me to be a light leak in your development tank or at some stage during the development process - I've had this happen to me once with a clients work (my own bone-headed mistake using a tank that had light issues) and it meant a lot of post-processing work to deliver reasonable digi results. Anything noticeable between frames on the film?

Just a thought, though it could also be a processing issue in another way - I cannot imagine this could happen at any other stage than processing.
 
The tank is an old Paterson System 4 tank, I used 300ml D76 1:1 dilution (as specified on the tank), agitation is with the rod in the following way:

1. Poor in the developer
2. Tap the tank few times at the bottom
3. constant agitation for 30 secs (as specified for the developer)
4. 5 sec agitation every 30 secs

My bathroom is my darkroom and I'm able to make it pretty dark, however, there was a very small ray of light coming through the ventilation. Could it be this little amount of light? When I load the film onto the reel I turn my back to the door and there where I do loading I cannot see anything, not my hands, not anything else for that matter. Could this small amount of light be the culprit?

Thanks for your help.
 
My recommendation is that you pour the developer in the tank first and then lower the film - agitate as per developer instructions in a controlled inverted method to ensure the developer gets turned over sufficiently and ensure you tap the canister hard on the bench. I prefer to invert the canister as opposed to using the rod thing.

How many rolls of film do you have in the tank? Do you have empty reels in the tank to stop the loaded reels moving? Silly question i know...

Best to load film in COMPLETE darkness. Use a changing back in a darkened room with a test roll and report back.

AK
 
Looks to me as if the film has been partly out of the developer for part of the time, you say you put the correct amount of solution in the tank, but were you using a unirvesel tank?, if so then it is possible that the spirel has slid slightly up the tube, I would normally use slightly more dev say 400 instead of 300, I have done this eversince I had the same problem and that seemed to cure it,Richard
 
I just looked up a pdf of System Four instructions, and you're correct that they specify 10 ounces of developer for a 35mm reel, which is 300ml. Like R gould, that sounds to me to be less than optimum. I'd suggest you put the empty reel in the tank and pour in 300 ml water just to see how high up the reel the water level reaches. I presume you had only one reel in the tank? If you find you can safely add more than 300ml of developer, I'd do so.
 
Can you see anything after you're in the room with the lights out for about 5 minutes? If so, you probably have too much light getting in. In addition to the suggestions on chem volume try sealing off the known leak, or loading at night or with lights off in whatever room the light is coming from if possible. Or try loading in a changing bag if you have one.
 
If the film was light struck the negatives would be dark, and the corresponding print lighter in that area, right? This is not what I see here. I have to agree with others suggesting a development problem. If the top part of the film was not completely covered by developer for the entire time the negatives would be thin in that area, and would print correspondingly dark, which is what is shown in this print.

On second look, was there excessive density around the body and head of the boy and you printed it down and overexposed the top part? I am also curious about the thin band at the very bottom of the frame.
 
Thank you all for your suggestions/help.

I'll increase the chem volume to 400 and I'll also block even this slightest amount of light which is entering the bathroom and I'll see how it turns out.
 
Hi domagojs,

Do you have the white plastic ring clip that slides over the top of the reel to hold it down?

The Paterson tank system reels can slip up. The clip was their solution to that problem.

I used to always put two reels in to prevent this.

This used to happen to my top roll when I used 16 oz (473ml) with 2 rolls of 35mm. So 473 ml is NOT enough for two rolls.

Light is probably not an issue, just my hunch.

Bill
 
p.s. Invert the tank during agitation too, I just saw that you were twirling. Don't expect the tank to be perfectly waterproof but if developer pours out check the gray seal.
 
You should block all light. Even though you turned your back and didn't view any light doesn't mean that the film, which is probably lower than your eyes, didn't catch a reflection of the light. Darkroom should mean Black room, or use a changing bag.

Regarding the reel. Put the empty reel in the tank, no lid, and put the same amount of developer that you originally used. You should be able to tell instantly if this was the problem.

Good Luck
 
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