Neopan1600 troubleshooting

[Fabian]

This is my very first post here. hello!

Yesterday i developed a roll of neopan1600 (rated at 1600) in xtol 1:1, i then realized there was a interesting effect on it and i do not know where it comes from...
I wish to get rid of it, and also would like to know what happend as i do not have any clue here.
Description: Around the sprocket holes the scan looks lighter - silver in the emulsion has been developed... strange enough because they were not exposed ... the lighter ( darker on the neg) areas look like a trapeze down from the sprocket holes and like a upside-down one on top of the holes. this occurs throughout the hole film and is pretty constant on both sides.


The film was developed like this: Initial agitation of 40seconds then 2 agitations every minute. Xtol 1:1 for 7:30 at 20 degrees celsius

Any other recommendations how to develop a neopan1600 at 1600?

I hope you understand what i mean, if not please ask.

This is a picture of the scan, on the very top of the frame

 

[Sirius Glass]

I do not have an answer, but I do have an observation => if you look above the traffic light pole and above the traffic light, you will see that both images continue into the light band. Therefore the film was exposed in that band, but something happened during the processing to cause the band.

Steve

 

[GraemeMitchell]

How are you agitating?

 

[sparaxis]

Light leaks?

I have been struggling with the same problem for ages. Nothing I could do would resolve the issue. What I did notice is that it was usually the beginning of the film. This made me suspect that it was something about the way the film was loaded on the reel and turbulence when I inverted the tank. I tried all sorts of agitation and all sorts of developer. The last two rolls I tried were Thursday last week. For the first time I tried developing with ONLY rotary agitation and no inversion.

The result one perfect roll and one roll the worst ever. And that was the clue.

The perfect roll had been taken out of the camera and loaded into the developing tank the same day. The other terrible roll had stood around on my desk for about a month..NOT IN THE BLACK CANNISTER.

Not only were there sprocket hole "shadows" on the first eight to ten frames, but the clear part of the leader before the first frame showed uneven fogging.

My conclusion is that NP1600 is very sensitive to light leaking through the lips of the cartridge, and should thus be ALWAYS stored in the dark.

I have not yet had a chance to try my "theory" but I think it is very possible.

See if it works for you. I will be more careful in future about keeping NP1600 in the dark and loading and unloading the camera in "subdued light".

Otherwise....I LOVE NP1600 exposed at ISO 1250 and developed in D76 1:1 at 10 minutes at 20 deg C.

Alan

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Sounds like bromide drag (do a search on this, and you'll find some other posts on the topic). The solution is more agitation usually, and this might entail reducing development time to compensate for the higher contrast that comes with more agitation.

 

[Christiaan Phleger]

Could also be very small cracks in top of your processing tank, along the edge, making very minute fog.
In general, with Xtol and Neopan (any dilution and any speed) I've found more consistent and better results with constant full random agitation for the first minute, then adjusting the agitation each minute to suit the contrast.
Its just with Xtol and Neopan, that first full minute seems to help eliminate any oddities.

 

[skahde]

My conclusion is that NP1600 is very sensitive to light leaking through the lips of the cartridge, and should thus be ALWAYS stored in the dark.

Having used quite a bit of NP1600 myself I would conclude it is time to open the cigar box. Very convincing explanation and clever testing.

best

Stefan

 

[MMfoto]

I have noticed the same thing on occasion with Neopan 1600, TMZ, and poorly stored TX400 and have concluded that it is, in my case, from heat fogging. It is usually worse at the beginning of the roll and less so towards the end where it is insulated by the surrounding film. The leader is usually the worst in this instance because it is in contact with the metal canister. I think this is very common, but is usually minor enough not to be noticed.

The first time I noticed it was after intensifying a high speed negative that had lived in my backpack for three months. This fog intensified and showed in the print where nothing had shown before.