Odd results / over development?

[Shiny]

Hi, i have been developing my own colour film for a while with generally very good results, however i just had my first bad results and would like to hear a few other opinions as to why it went wrong.

The negatives look fine, but when scanned the contrast between sky and foreground is huge (i scanned a couple of old negatives to check it wasn't the scanner) The sky is completely blown out on all images, there are several night shots where all the lights are blown out and all shots are generally very high in contrast. I was away for the weekend and also took a few shots of friends in very low light - under exposed by at least 2 stops if not more - these have come out somewhat better than expected.

My conclusion is that i have over developed somehow.

I developed as normal - but i used a quick rinse between developer and bleach/fix, three quick changes of water (i don't normally do this) As this is the only thing i did differently from usual im assuming this is where the problem is and the increased time between developer and bleach/fix has over developed the negatives.

I use a jobo CPE 2 and Patterson C41 chemicals.

Any ideas/thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks


Jim

 

[glbeas]

Sounds to me the scanner settings were changed somehow, pushing the results to high contrast. You can't really trust a scanner to tell you how the neg will print on normal paper unless it is specifically calibrated to that standard. Play with the settings some and see what happens.

 

[cmichael]

This certainly sounds like overdevelopment or overexposure. I use a stop bath between the developer and bleach step. Never tried just rinsing, but I would not expect the severity in which you describe using this method. You mention you used the Patterson C41. This comes in a single concentrate, did you dilute it correctly? Concentrated developer could be a likely cause. Elevated temperature could also be a cause, but again, I doubt it would be far enough out to cause a 2 stop increase in speed. ISO set correctly on your camera?

 

[Shiny]

i diluted 1 to 2 as stated on the bottle, and developed at 38 degrees, i'll try another film later and go back to my usual method - a couple of shots used very long exposures one of about 4 minutes and the other 15, these are actually useable - but very odd looking!

thanks
jim

 

[cmichael]

Ahhh, could be reciprocity failure at these long exposures. If you meter for the shadows and correct for reciprocity failure, the highlights can be easily blown out. You may want to try a test exposure (1 sec or faster) and see if it is OK at 'normal' shutter speeds.

edit: after re-reading your initial comments. It looks like you did have some 'normal' exposures. You stumped this chump, but not difficult to do. Hopefully someone wiser than myself will chime in. Let us know what you find out.

 

[pentaxuser]

I too am a Paterson C41 chems user. I usually follow Helen B's advice which is to overexpose by about whatever setting an EI of 80 is to a box speed of a 100 or 320 to a box speed of 400. Recently I also allowed the developer to exceed the recommended 3 mins 15 secs by about 30 secs. It was a little contrasty but wet printed quite well.

I have never tried scanning the negs. So I think I am saying that overexposure and overdevelopment to the extent mentioned above didn't make anything even remotely unprintable.

Unless you have seriously overdeveloped, this may be the least likely cause of your problems.

Hope this helps

pentaxuser

 

[Photo Engineer]

Don't use anything after development.

Development can continue in the rinse after the developer, so it is not useful to use one. The bleach stops development if at the right pH and either fresh or replenished.

PE

 

[Shiny]

Thanks, i should get a chance to develop another roll tonight - i'll cut the stop/rinse between develop & blix and follow my normal routine.

All was not lost, it has produced a couple of really quite striking shots! - it's just the daylight ones that it really killed.

The only other difference is that i have just moved to a new flat (enormous spare dark room, enlarger on the way) and the water seems to be much softer which has made drying much more consistent/cleaner.

jim

 

[Shiny]

yep, all is fine - i must have somehow left it too long between developer and blix and overdeveloped.

learnt a few things at least!

jim