Newbie Film Processing Issues

Hi all. Just processed my first few rolls after years away from the darkroom (and was never anything close to an expert before).

Noticing some issues with my negatives and wanted to see if anyone might be able to see what I'm doing wrong.

This first shot is 35mm Tmax processed in Tmax developer in a stainless steel tank, following the instruction sheet to the letter.

Wondering if the issues are possibly due to uneven development (the uneven exposure, especially the light creeping in the sides of the frame, which would be the top and bottom of the roll when loaded in the tank). And there's a round brighter area at the top/right of the sign, too. Not sure what I did wrong!



Same roll, this one has a vertical light spot to the right of the frame, again not sure what I may have done wrong to cause the issue.



This was my first roll of B+W film in years, and my first time shooting 35 in quite a while (I shoot 645 most of the time). I was surprised how much trouble loading 35 onto my reels gave me. When I unrolled the film to hang it I didn't see any obvious issues, like any areas that were kinked or touching. So not clear what I did wrong.

Also don't love the amount/size of the grain, probably stick to 100 with 35mm in the future.

Thank you for all the suggestions and the helpful feedback, this forum has been invaluable!

I can't tell too much from the first frame except that it looks underexposed by a few stops. The second image looks more like a shutter problem. Does this camera have a horizontal shutter? (I guess maybe just tell us what camera it is) If it is indeed a shutter problem, it might manifest itself on different parts of the frame but usually in the same area on each frame.

In the second image that darker lower right corner is weird and not really explained by the shutter theory.

The lighter vertical stripe on the 2nd photo might be a light-leak by the hinge (or latch) in the take-up side of your camera. Are the light-seals in the camera in good condition? What kind of camera was this?
Also, how do you agitate, and how often? I agitate by quickly inverting the tank 3-4 times in the right hand, and again in the left hand, thus inverting it in two directions. I've never had a problem with that method.
Mark Overton

relistan said:

I can't tell too much from the first frame except that it looks underexposed by a few stops. The second image looks more like a shutter problem. Does this camera have a horizontal shutter? (I guess maybe just tell us what camera it is) If it is indeed a shutter problem, it might manifest itself on different parts of the frame but usually in the same area on each frame.

In the second image that darker lower right corner is weird and not really explained by the shutter theory.

Click to expand...

Hi, thanks for the reply. These were both shot on a Canon EOS-3. There is only one or two images on this camera with this type of issue, both in different places and different shapes. Having weird issues with both cameras (and EOS-3 and a Mamiya 645AFDii) and neither is ever the same issue in the same place or the same shape/type of defect, so it's been a bit of a puzzle. I have a few different images from both where the sides of the frame (which would actually be the top and bottom of the frame) are lighter than the rest of the frame, so I'm assuming it's something I'm doing wrong in development, but at a loss as to what!

albada said:

The lighter vertical stripe on the 2nd photo might be a light-leak by the hinge (or latch) in the take-up side of your camera. Are the light-seals in the camera in good condition? What kind of camera was this?
Also, how do you agitate, and how often? I agitate by quickly inverting the tank 3-4 times in the right hand, and again in the left hand, thus inverting it in two directions. I've never had a problem with that method.
Mark Overton

Click to expand...

Hi Mark. The camera is an EOS-3, but there are only a couple of images with this issue - the vast majority don't have it, so assuming if it were a leak it would be more consistent, right?

The TMax sheet says TMax needs more agitation than other films. I am agitating by inverting a total of 4 times - the sheet says 5-7 times - every 30 seconds, so I might not be agitating enough, possibly. I'll make sure I do that next time and see if there's a difference. If there's a "light" area, maybe I'm not agitating enough to allow development in some areas? Not sure, too new to this to know. But I'll try inverting a few more times per agitation and see if that helps. I also bang/tap the bottom, but the sheet doesn't suggest it. I've heard a lot of people say you basically only need to do that the first time to make sure there are no air bubbles in the developer.

DH_Studio said:

The camera is an EOS-3, but there are only a couple of images with this issue - the vast majority don't have it, so assuming if it were a leak it would be more consistent, right?

Click to expand...

Light leaks can be highly dependent on circumstances. As an example, with some leaks they only show themselves when bright light hits a particular part of a camera from a particular direction. Cameras with small windows in the back to allow identification of the film inside may be more prone to this than others.