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NEWB - What am I doing wrong?? horrible water streaks on mf

Philip A Litke

Member
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Apr 7, 2017
Messages
10
Location
Calgary
Format
Medium Format
I have just started developing film again having not done it since high school, but I do not remember ever having this problem. I am stand developing in salted rodinol, water stop bath, ilford rapid fix, water rinse then ilfotol and rinse hang to dry , but I still get this horrible water streaking no matter how much I rinse, or ilfotol. Am I missing a step ? - how do I make this go away ? please excuse the crappy scan - that is the next problem I will tackle
 
You should only use again an additional rinse with destilled water - and then let's see.
with regards
 
Two questions,
1. Are you wiping the film with anything, or just hanging it up?
2. Are any of these marks visible before the film drys? (to isolate this from being a developing problem).
 
bdial said:
Two questions,
1. Are you wiping the film with anything, or just hanging it up?
2. Are any of these marks visible before the film drys? (to isolate this from being a developing problem).
Click to expand...
No, I am not wiping with anything - I was considering getting one of those squeegeee things, but I was worried about scratching the film, I really thought I had it solved as there did not appear to be any streaks when it was wet - but it sure dried funny
 
klownshed said:
How much Ilfotol are you using?

1+200 is a starting point. You might need to adjust that ratio to get optimal results with it.
Click to expand...

You have no guarantee with the use of
Ilfotol to awoid anything - you might know klownshed ?
But it will help a bit. I didn't know your
water quality but it strongly depends on it.
With the total wrong dilution of Ilfortol you will increase the problem.

with regards
 
bdial said:
Two questions,
1. Are you wiping the film with anything, or just hanging it up?
2. Are any of these marks visible before the film drys? (to isolate this from being a developing problem).
Click to expand...

bdial - nice idea (developer problem) but
here we see definitivly just water streakings - and thats a good think - because it is no problem at all.
Everything is fine.

with regards
 
Yikes! Water quality, proper chemistry, time and temp, final rinse with purified water and wetting agent, hang and let air dry. Go to Ilford website and follow directions. Sloppy. Use pure water and don't touch the film with anything, hang to dry,
 
One dumb question. Are the marks on the glass of the scanner? May not even be on the film. Contact print. This is why the only thing I scan are 35mm chromes with a Coolscan unit. Darkroom is so much easier and better than a scanner,
 
bvy said:
There are definite wipe marks in the upper left. Do you see this on the actual film, or just when you scan? Is your scanning glass clean?
Click to expand...
Oh I hope it is not something that stupid, but that would be about typical of the way thin adventure is going - I will look tonight
 
It is the stand developing in salted Rodinal - does it every time!
I'm just kidding, but I do wonder why someone would start out with these very special, narrow application techniques (stand developing and adding salt to Rodinal) rather than using materials and techniques that are more general purpose.
Tell us how long your water wash was, how you mixed up your working solution of Ilfotol, how you treated the film with it and how and where you drried the film.
 
Salted Rodinal? That's a new one on me... You might make life easier for yourself by using a more traditional developer from Ilford or Kodak.
I agree with the other posters to do a final rinse in wetting agent mixed with DISTILLED water, after the film has been thoroughly washed. Do not wipe or squeegee the film, just hang to dry in a dust and draft-free place.
Clean your scanner glass as well. If these marks are on the film, you should easily be able to see them by holding the negs up to the light.
 
Warning - tongue in cheek to follow:
Is salted Rodinal anything like salted caramel?
 
Use a surfactant like Ilfotol or PhotoFlo and follow the directions exactly. Hang to dry but do not wipe although you can draw off the water with a paper towel touching only the bottom corners of the film.
 
The advice from Sirius Glass and others is sound. Other than that, the marks seem to have a sort of "greasiness" to them, perhaps something making the water "bead" as it dries, as water does on any greasy or oily surface. (Presumably the fault is on the film, not on the scanner?).
 
Hang the film edge down at a 45 degree angle, not vertical, after the Photo-flo (or equivalent). The liquid has only got to flow across the film, not down the full length, before it dries. And if there is any residue it's at the edge of the film not on the picture area. No squeegee.
 
trendland said:
...snip...With the total wrong dilution of Ilfortol you will increase the problem.
Click to expand...

That's obviously why I asked how much ilfotol the OP was using... at such low dilutions the odd ml here or there can make a difference

And the correct ratio is dependent on your specific conditions such as hardness of water. Ilford state that 1;200 is a starting point in the data sheet.

It's very easy to use far too much ilfotol which can be a problem and leave more marks than you'd have got if you hadn't used any at all.
 
Sirius Glass said:
Use a surfactant like Ilfotol or PhotoFlo and follow the directions exactly. Hang to dry but do not wipe although you can draw off the water with a paper towel touching only the bottom corners of the film.
Click to expand...

++++100%


don't rinse after the photoflo or illfotol.

I run my wet (dipped in the photoflo solution) index and middle fingers from top to bottom like a squeegee to take off the big part of the water on my hanging film. Let it air dry.

You can rewash your film again and it will come out perfect this time.
 
I could use pond water and not get that result, never seen it that bad looks as though something got wiped somewhere.
 
There was a "You Tube" test of Rodinal and Rodinal with NaCI added. The results seemed to indicate the added salt gave a slightly better tonal range and surely less grain. I've never tried it, but think it could possibly be true.
 
. Problem solved, I think. I was hanging the film to dry in the furnace/mechanical room and I suspect that the fan was kicking up dust sticking to the wet film - quick re-rinse took care of that. - wipe marks of course were on the scanner - Doh!!!
Oh - the tri-x and rodinal is because I am an old guy and it is what I used to know - never a problem in 35 mm, mind you, back in the day we were not scanning our negatives. Salted, yes to further slow the reaction of the developer which will change the tonal range grain, but like salted caramel it is likely an acquired taste
 
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