Marks on film??

Hi there. I recently developed a roll of 120 tmax 400 and have some marks on the negs that won’t come off. They seem to be some kind of developing mark? It developed in HC110 dilution B. The only thing I did differently than usual was I tried agitating in a slightly different way. I usually agitate very gently with a twisting and twirling motion. This time I tried just doing simple inversions (about 3 -4 very minute)

Here are two scans showing the marks, I’ve turned the contrast and mid tones right down so the marks can be seen more clearly on the darker image. There’s also some squarish block marks in the top left, that kind of look likie shadows of sprocket holes?? This is 120 roll film so no idea what that is?

The edge marks look like the effect of bubbles at or near the surface of the developer. There are a bunch of factors that can contribute to these, including insufficient developer in the tank, not enough vigorous agitation at the very beginning, failure to give the tank an initial rap to dislodge bubbles, use of water that tends more toward foaming than some other water - if you search the fora you will see that some have more problems with this than others.
The other, much fainter marks look mostly like the result of uneven agitation - particularly at the beginning of development.
Some will recommend a water pre-soak. Others will decry pre-soaks as the work of the devil! I am in the first camp (I use a three minute pre-soak with continuous agitation for all my films) but many don't and get good results. The manufacturers are either silent on the subject of pre-soaks, or say one is "not recommended", which depending where you live, may either mean don't do it, or it is not necessary to do it.
The initial agitation - first 30 seconds or so - is very important. Don't be afraid to approach it with vigour!

MattKing said:

T. There are a bunch of factors that can contribute to these

Click to expand...

thanks Matt, yeah this is what I suspected, trying to blame one particular thing would be hard.

So my methods are always very similar which is initially agitating for 20 secs with the twirl stick then placing the lid on and gently twirling and twisting the tank every minute for 10 secs after that. I usually get pretty consistent results with this, and I can add contrast later, I find it easier to add contrast than take it away (is this silly thinking?)

On this development I did the same 20 sec agitation with the stick then instead of gently twisting and twirling the tank I kind of inverter the tank upside down a bit more rigorously. I’d seen this done a lot and thought I’d give it a try and see the results, the results are similar except I’ve got these marks. I always ensure to knock the tank after to knock bubbles.

These look like drying marks to me. How are you finishing your development process? With a wetting agent (photo flo)? Distilled water? Wipe the excess water off?

looks like two issues. bubbles as Matt said, but also looks like drying marks as Brian said. The bubbles are there for good, the drying marks, if on the base side, should be able to be cleaned off.

Drying marks usually have one sharply defined edge which I don't see here. I put my money on insufficient agitation. Without getting metal-head violent with the tank, don't feel the need to treat it like a newborn baby either.