My Well Water

HenkJ · Apr 7, 2011

The negatives I developed with my well water, which comes out of my tap is giving me a challenge. Other than wondering what I am drinking, my negatives are shot.

Today after some curious results from a couple of days ago (see pic), I developed 2 rolls of 120 HP5 and all the emulsion on the film is gone. Roll #1 pre soaked for a minute & 1/2, and when I poured the water out of the tank, the emulsion poured out with the water. Roll #2 no pre-soak, regardless all the emulsion was gone when I pulled film out of the tank after the fix.

The attached pic was on film which was developed with distilled water, but rinsed out of the tap, though I kinda like the effect it certainly was not done on purpose.

I am re-aquainting myself with film development, and it's been 30 years, but never had this issue... Any feedback appreciated.

Cheers, Henk

Film: Ilf HP5
temp: 68 deg
Developer: FA-1027
Stop: well water
Fixer: TF-4 ARCHIVAL FIX
Water: well water

link

Pgeobc · Apr 7, 2011

Well, if there is any image at all, the emulsion is not all gone. I really do not know what is in your tap water, but Iron salts and Sulfides are common culprits, along with the usual hardness minerals, Calcium and Magnesium. You may simply have an abundance of particulate matter, too. Iron salts are prone to leaving sediment and sludge and getting rid of Iron could be detrimental to film processing, too. Heavy duty chemicals are needed for Iron and Sulfide removal. Iron salts and Sulfides could easily react with unfixed silver, or even the gelatin.

Get a water filter, like the screw-on type. It does not have to be fancy, but it could easily remove any particulates. You may end up developing in distilled water, or deionized water, and then switching to a deionized water wash. The use of hypo clearing agent could cut the volume of deionized water needed to wash.

Photo Engineer · Apr 7, 2011

Did you use a Photo Flo rinse at the end, or something similar?

PE

HenkJ · Apr 7, 2011

Pgeobc:
Thanks for the feedback. The image you looked at was developed in distilled and stopped in well water, and final rinse in well water - not the film developed/or lack off - today.

I will go the filter route to start off.

thanks, indeed!

HenkJ · Apr 7, 2011

Photo Engineer said:
Did you use a Photo Flo rinse at the end, or something similar?

PE

yes: FORMA FLO WETTING AGENT

Photo Engineer · Apr 7, 2011

Ok, you say that the emulsion poured out of the tank. What did the material look like as you poured?

PE

HenkJ · Apr 7, 2011

Photo Engineer said:
Ok, you say that the emulsion poured out of the tank. What did the material look like as you poured?

PE

Silver gray - when I poured water out from the pre soak

HenkJ · Apr 7, 2011

In order to get a control I will develop film from a-z with distilled water - see if this makes a difference.
Then I will have some more data to go by. The only change hence will be the choice of water.
Keep you all posted.
Henk

Stoogley · Apr 7, 2011

FYI, if you want to know what's in your water...this place is great and inexpensive:
http://www.wardlab.com/

I get annual W-6 tests done for my beer brewing.

Photo Engineer · Apr 7, 2011

HenkJ said:
Silver gray - when I poured water out from the pre soak

Was it cloudy or clear? Was it blue gray perhaps?

All emulsions today contain dyes to adjust sharpness and speed. When the pre-wet or developer is poured out, you get that dye washing out.

I cannot, offhand, imagine anything in well water that would cause this problem without harming the people drinking it, and I mean - right away type harm. Emulsions on Ilford, Kodak and Fuji films are robust.

PE

HenkJ · Apr 7, 2011

PE:
it was clear, blue/gray what poured out- indeed.

Rick A · Apr 7, 2011

Sounds to me the antihalation dye dissolved just as it should. I believe the only way for the emulsion itself to come off is by using extremely hot water. While your tap(well) water may be mineral laden, the only thing that it might cause is spots on drying.

Photo Engineer · Apr 7, 2011

The blue gray color that washed out was acutance or trimmer dye placed in the emulsion for sharpness and speed control. This was NOT emulsion. The emulsion would be cloudy, dark and neutral gray to gray blue with probably chunks.

So, the problem is probably fixer used for developer or bad developer.

PE

bdial · Apr 7, 2011

As stated, almost certainly what poured out was dye, not the emulsion.
But the image you posted looks to have a lot of crud that may have been introduced during drying, or else came from the tap water. If you aren't using a wetting agent that would be good, and perhaps a final rinse in distilled. You may also need to filter the water with a filter that attaches to the tap, or a Brita type pitcher, or more elaborate, an inline filter.

Kirk Keyes · Apr 8, 2011

Stoogley said:
FYI, if you want to know what's in your water...this place is great and inexpensive:
http://www.wardlab.com/

I get annual W-6 tests done for my beer brewing.

Inexpensive is right! I've worked in environmental labs and there's no way we could produce good data for what they are charging you for your test.

See if they'd send you a copy of their last performance evaluation tests so you can see how well they do with blind check samples...

Wade D · Apr 8, 2011

My well water has lots of particulates so I installed a double filter for all the water used in the house. I've never had a problem mixing chemicals or washing film and prints with it. I even use it to mix the final step of Photo Flo.
Without filtering there would no doubt be some crud on the negs and prints. The filters I use are made by Culligan and don't cost too much after the initial installation. The filter elements get changed every 3 months.

sly · Apr 8, 2011

I've got really crappy well water - not only do we not drink it, we can't even water plants with it. Killed all the strawberries before we figured that out. I use it in the darkroom. My negs don't come out like yours. I mix some things with the well water, some with boughten water, wash with well water. I found the thing that makes the biggest difference is that the photoflo has to be mixed with bottled water. When I've mixed it with the well water, I get spotty negs - though not as bad as yours.

The negs with nothing on them? either fix used instead of developer, or maybe old dead developer.

dehk · Apr 8, 2011

Its definitely got nothing to do with your water.

HenkJ · Apr 8, 2011

Thanks all for some great feedback! I will post an update.
Cheers, Henk

My Well Water

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