Ortho film fogged.

Willie Jan · Sep 20, 2008

This morning i wanted to create a enlarged neg for cyanotype.
So I took the freestyle arista premium halftone supreme ortho film which i bought february 2007 en kept cool.

I found out that is was fogged. I also had a small pack 4x5 ortho which also was fogged.

Do you guys also have experiences that ortho film can not be kept for very long period of time????

smieglitz · Sep 20, 2008

I've used and heard of other people using Ortho lith films such as the Arista you have many years past its expiration date. Kodalith type films can apparently be kept for decades on a shelf without refrigeration and still work properly. Are you sure you have the proper red safelight for it? Amber safelights will fog these films.

Willie Jan · Sep 22, 2008

I did not have problems in the past. And i did not change my darkroom light.

Since the film was send to europe, could it be a scan problem at customs which will eventually be causing this?
It looks like clouds or the structure of sand in the desert which creates lines by the wind.

Willie Jan · Sep 24, 2008

I think i found the problem.
I use since 5 months a osram duka 50 safelight which caused the fogging.
turning this off and using a red bulb solved the problem.

bobherbst · Sep 25, 2008

Add 10% potassium bromide to your developer depending on volume. See the article on the following link - http://unblinkingeye.com/Articles/EnlargeNeg/enlargeneg.html.

Develop unexposed film and repeat until fog disappears. APHS even when fresh requires bromide to prevent fogging. Developing times may need to be extended for equivalent contrast range and density.

Bob

Willie Jan said:
I think i found the problem.
I use since 5 months a osram duka 50 safelight which caused the fogging.
turning this off and using a red bulb solved the problem.

Ian Grant · Sep 26, 2008

Bob, I think you've missed the point. Some Ortho films are far more sensitive to others and the variations between different safe-lights can be critical. So a light that's safe with some lith & line films may well be too bright or the wrong colour for others, particularl films like Ilford Ortho Plus which is an 80ISO film, and the Adox Ortho..

It's better to tackle the root cause rather than add bromide which is going to effect the overall contrast of the negative as well as reducing the fogging.

Ian

PVia · Sep 26, 2008

Yep...must use a red safelight with APHS Ortho!

Akki14 · Sep 27, 2008

APHS Ortho is pretty insensitive as long as you're using a red safelight in my experience. I bought some maco genius ortho litho film and that is MUCH more picky and can't develop by inspection even with the same red safelights.

smieglitz · Sep 27, 2008

Thursday I exposed & processed 3 sheets of Ilford Ortho Plus and measured the base-fog densities. The first sheet had a 10x12" Kodak 1A safelight directly overhead about 1 meter above the development tray. For the second sheet, I turned the safelight around so it bounced from the ceiling to illuminate, and for the third sheet, I turned that safelight off. For each of these, three other 1A safelights were illuminating the room via bounced light from distances of about 2, 3 & 4 meters. The FBF densities were 0.18, 0.08, and 0.06, respectively. The first sheet was given 5 minutes development and the other sheet received minutes development in HC110B. The first sheet was also 1 year older than the other two and since it was the last last sheet in a box handled by several others in a community darkroom it may have received some unknown cumulative exposure (but so could the others), this observation isn't OTBE. But, it seems to indicate that the film is responding to the red safelight especially when the illumination is direct rather than bounced. I suspect the effects would be more pronounced if a more active developer had been used.

Joe

2F/2F · Sep 27, 2008

bobherbst said:
APHS even when fresh requires bromide to prevent fogging.

I have used APHS extensively, and have never had any fog whatsoever, regardless of age and regardless of developer. LC-1, A+B, HC 1:79, long development times and short development times. Right now I even have a box of 50 + year old no-name graphic arts film that came out of one of the estates I am working on, and it works fine with no fog under a red safelight.

Ian Grant · Sep 28, 2008

smieglitz said:
Thursday I exposed & processed 3 sheets of Ilford Ortho Plus and measured the base-fog densities. .. . . . . . . .

Joe, that's roughly as I'd expect, I used a lot of the Ilford Ortho film over the years and I installed a dimmer switch to control my safe-light, this asved changing safe-light filters or turning upside down etc. The problems are always worse with medium speed ortho films, lith & line films are generally quite insensitive.

Ian

Willie Jan · Sep 28, 2008

I still have a litte doubt about the film I have. Some of them still have a strange cloudy look.

I am afraid that the packages from the USA are scanned heavily when leaving the country. This is not visible on the film for some time. But now after 1 year looks like the scanning caused some process to start and develop during time. The middle part of the pack is better than the outside...

Ortho film fogged.

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