mystifying negative density lines

[boontay]

Hopefully some of you will have the definitive answer for this frustrating enigma: very thin, usually long hair-like lines of high density appearing on 4x5 negatives, in this case 2013 exp. date Tmax 100 shuffle/tray developed in Tmax RS developer 1:9 (6 oz. fresh RS + 54 oz. water), 9 mins. at 75 degrees, same approximate temperature for water pre-bath, stop and rapid fix (for 6 minutes), number of sheets in batch developed was 8. Four of the 8 negatives showed this defect. In the affected negatives these very thin high density lines (3-6 or so of them depending on which negative) typically run horizontally/slightly diagonally 1/2 to 2/3 the length of the negative and are limited to the upper 25% of the negative (in this case, across sky/clouds). The lines are not perfectly straight or perfectly parallel to each other. A few of the lines are fairly short and some lines extend through the clear negative edge. I had this problem 5-6 months ago with Acros film developed in Xtol at 75 degrees (as I remember anyway). Also, some years ago the same defect appeared on a couple of 8x10 TriX negatives developed in HC110. On the other hand, none of the 4x5 TriX negatives developed in today's session in HC110 (N development, 68 degrees, same tray development plan) have the lines. Any help any of you may have in this regard will be greatly appreciated--to say I am frustrated by these results (destroying some of the best negatives from this trip) is vast understatement! Thank you in advance for your input!

Robert

 

[Buje]

Darkslide scratching the emulsion?

 

[boontay]

Thank you, but these are high density lines on the negative; another words, density added to the developed density of the emulsion which then print as very thin nearly white lines on photographic paper. You might imagine them as something like thin hairs of added density as opposed to scratches which would be "clear" on the negative and print as black lines.

Thanks again for your thoughts.

Robert

 

[RalphLambrecht]

It's close to impossible to tell without seeing at least a scan of it.

 

[MattKing]

If you overlay the negatives on top of each other, are the lines in exactly the same location?

If so, I would check (and clean) my film holders.

 

[mts]

I once had thin rather diffuse density lines on 4x5 tray-developed film and noticed that the tray I used for developer had narrow ridges along the bottom--intended to make it easier to lift the material and to keep it from sticking to the tray bottom. Developing in a flat bottom tray eliminated the effect.

 

[George Collier]

Second the request for a scan of the artifact.

 

[Chirs Gregory]

I once had thin rather diffuse density lines on 4x5 tray-developed film and noticed that the tray I used for developer had narrow ridges along the bottom--intended to make it easier to lift the material and to keep it from sticking to the tray bottom. Developing in a flat bottom tray eliminated the effect.

I was thinking something along those lines as well. I'm not much into fluid dynamics but I know that when you agitate a reel of film in a tank, you have to be at least slightly random or else the chemicals will form currents that don't cover the film evenly enough. So it might be possible for very regular rocking motion to cause a little bit of something like that in a tray as well.