Negative Fogging

Justin Roxbrough · Sep 16, 2017

Hello, I shot a roll with a 10 stop filter and after developing got some poor results back. I believe this is called fogging, correct? I read a thread started by Greg Davis about a similar situation but wanted to post pictures of my negatives since I think mine are much worse. Sorry if this is a newbie question, but some help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

MattKing · Sep 16, 2017

Some of those 10 stop neutral density filters aren't very reliable, in that they aren't very even.
Is that an optically printed contact proof sheet? If so, try printing it darker.
Can you show us the negatives themselves - a cel phone pic with a backlight works okay.

JensH · Sep 16, 2017

Hi,

it looks as if too much light came onto the film after it left the camera and before the stop bath...

Jens

Justin Roxbrough · Sep 17, 2017

MattKing said:
Some of those 10 stop neutral density filters aren't very reliable, in that they aren't very even.
Is that an optically printed contact proof sheet? If so, try printing it darker.
Can you show us the negatives themselves - a cel phone pic with a backlight works okay.

The filter is b+w, so that's probably not it right? And yes that is a cell phone pic of the negatives on a light box. Thanks.

Justin Roxbrough · Sep 17, 2017

Jens Hallfeldt said:
Hi,

it looks as if too much light came onto the film after it left the camera and before the stop bath...

Jens

Okay noted, that could be it I suppose. Thanks.

MattKing · Sep 17, 2017

Justin Roxbrough said:
And yes that is a cell phone pic of the negatives on a light box.

Then you must have inverted the images. Can we see them without the inversion?

Justin Roxbrough said:
The filter is b+w, so that's probably not it right?

Are you saying that the filter is made by B&W, or that it is a "black and white" filter?

Justin Roxbrough · Sep 17, 2017

MattKing said:
Then you must have inverted the images. Can we see them without the inversion?

Oh yes, sorry. Here's that:

.

MattKing said:
Are you saying that the filter is made by B&W, or that it is a "black and white" filter?

Yes, made by B&W. Sorry for the confusion.

MattKing · Sep 17, 2017

Those negatives look like they might not have been completely fixed.
If you do your own developing, I would suggest re-fixing them and re-washing them.
They also appear to be a bit under-exposed, but that is a separate topic of discussion.

Doremus Scudder · Sep 17, 2017

Incomplete fixing! The fog you are seeing is unfixed silver halide (i.e., the unexposed part of the emulsion that was supposed to be dissolved away during fixing/washing). Refix in fresh fixer as soon as possible and keep the negatives in the dark until you do so the unfixed portion does not print out and leave silver fog behind when you do refix.

This could also have been caused by the film not being in contact with the fixer during fixing (touching tank or itself). The fact that the image developed alright leads me to believe that you were using exhausted fix or simply did not fix long enough. However, I may be wrong here; it may simply have been misloaded on the developing reel. If that's not the case, then in the future, use fresh fix and pay attention to the capacity and shelf-life given by the manufacturer.

Best,

Doremus

Justin Roxbrough · Sep 17, 2017

MattKing said:
Those negatives look like they might not have been completely fixed.

Doremus Scudder said:
Incomplete fixing!

I just developed a roll this morning with fresh fixer and all is good. Thanks for the help! Can either of you tell me what it is about the look of those negatives that made you know it was a fixer issue vs say a light leak. Just so I can diagnose it myself in the future.

foc · Sep 17, 2017

Under fixed negs have a milky / cloudy look to them. As MattKing requested above, the negs as they are not the inverted image, and there fore you can see the under fixed area on the negs.

I hope the other guys don't mind me jumping in on the thread.

Here is a very good reference site for processing errors
http://www.olympusmicro.com/primer/photomicrography/bwprocessingerrors.html

Hope it helps.

MattKing · Sep 17, 2017

foc said:
I hope the other guys don't mind me jumping in on the thread.

The more, the merrier!

foc said:
Under fixed negs have a milky / cloudy look to them. As MattKing requested above, the negs as they are not the inverted image, and there fore you can see the under fixed area on the negs.

It is hard to describe, but under-fixed areas look like a coating on top of the negative, whereas fogging looks like a part of the image.
The under-fixed areas also look a lot like undeveloped film.

pentaxuser · Sep 17, 2017

Justin Roxbrough said:
Oh yes, sorry. Here's that:

View attachment 186867 .

Yes, made by B&W. Sorry for the confusion.

I think you were right with "B+W" as the actual name of the filter as opposed to B&W. Maybe the maker chose B+W so confusion was avoided as to whether they were B+W or filters used in B&W

pentaxuser

JensH · Sep 19, 2017

Jens Hallfeldt said:
Hi,

it looks as if too much light came onto the film after it left the camera and before the stop bath...

Jens

... so I was wrong. Fine You fixed the problem. ;-)
Best
Jens

ced · Sep 19, 2017

There may be a fixer issue but besides I am puzzled by one corner in most frames that looks like the paper was not tightly wound on the spool on one edge letting in light???
I wouldn't jump to conclusions regarding the B+W filters they are amongst the best around under the Schneider brand umbrella.

Justin Roxbrough · Sep 20, 2017

ced said:
There may be a fixer issue but besides I am puzzled by one corner in most frames that looks like the paper was not tightly wound on the spool on one edge letting in light???
I wouldn't jump to conclusions regarding the B+W filters they are amongst the best around under the Schneider brand umbrella.

I've been shooting more long exposures the last few days and can't seem to get rid of that. I shot two rolls yesterday with duvetyne over the camera which has minimized that a little bit, but it's still faintly there.

I shot a roll where I mixed half long exposures and half normal exposure times and that light leak only showed up on the long exposures, so I think that eliminates the problem occurring during development.

I must have a light leak somewhere, but the weird thing is I just got the camera and backs CLAd...

John Koehrer · Sep 22, 2017

6X9 negatives? Time to break out the tape & sealing seams on the camera. Is it a folder maybe?

Negative Fogging

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