Possible cause behind these spots (Retro 80S + HC-110)

Hello Everyone,

I see white spots, looking like dusts on the emulsion side and in the whole roll.
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B5OtQeaZ1T93cHhRQjBxenR4QzA&usp=sharing (pictures taken from the shiny side)

Rollei Retro 80S @ ISO 50 + Kodak HC-110 (Dilution E: 1+47)

Note: No. of frames = 22. Since I should at least work with 6 ml of HC-110, I used water around 280 ml. The temperature never varied more than a half degree Celsius.

Workflow
(1) Developed for 5 minutes(2) Stop bath for 1 minute in Fotospeed SB50
(3) Fixing for 6 minutes in Tetenal Superfix Odourless(4) Water Rinse: (Rollei RPX style) 1 min. cont. agit. + (2 minutes cont. agit. with new water)*8 times = 17 minutes
I used tap water only in this stage, but the water was in an empty DW can for 4-5 hours and temp was adjusted to 20 deg C.
(5) Wetting Agent: Outside Jobo Tank. With Tetenal Mirasol in DW for 1 min - with seesaw thingy in the last 20-30 secs
(6) The roll has been drying in the bathroom for the last 16 hours. The bathroom was steamed for at least half an hour and left to dry without opening outside window. But could it be just plain old dusts that start floating around after few hours during drying process? I left the bathroom door mostly closed.

Can you please help me to identify and rectify this problem? Should I refix and wash or just do another wash - or something else?

Bests,

Ashfaque

Can you scan one of the images and post it online also?

BTW I would not use a stop bath myself - I have found it can cause pinholes esp in polyester films with thinner emulsions (such as the Rollei range).

I do not see any issue with the link posted.

5 min developing time is too short for most films, and as a result your film does look slightly underdeveloped in the shadows, i would suggest a different dilution that allows for a longer dev time.

If you have to descale kettles they may be calcium carbonate.

Your film looks properly fixed, there seems no reason to refix it. What I do see is lots of fine dust, and some drying marks on your negative.

The easiest way to distinguish between dust/drying marks and real image defects is by wiping over the surface with a soft piece of cloth or kitchen sponge that has been moistened with deionized water. Real image defects wouldn't change with that kind of treatment, whereas dust and drying marks should come off.

BTW drying marks are overrated: it takes very strong drying marks in weakly exposed regions of your negative to actually show up in the final image.

Bhai Saab, your negatives looks clean and do not worry much them now. Try to print and see how things go for you.

Some thoughts based on the pictures.
1) Looks like particulate material on the surface of the film
2) You have not ruined your film with stop bath
3) Mix the wetting agent just before use with clean water and discard it after use.
4) Can you see dust floating around in your drying area (sunlight though a window or a flashlight can show it)? Consider one of these:

I use distilled/deionized water for the last step (wetting agent). And do not wipe film; just hang to dry.

Hi Phil,
Unfortunately I don't have my scanner with me (for quite while). Anyway, I did scan some scans with my phone (at highest brightness) posted there - hence those mesh from the phone lcd panel. Not sure if it helps though. No fine tuning other than Desaturate > Invert > medium contrast.

Rudeofus said:

Your film looks properly fixed, there seems no reason to refix it. What I do see is lots of fine dust, and some drying marks on your negative.

The easiest way to distinguish between dust/drying marks and real image defects is by wiping over the surface with a soft piece of cloth or kitchen sponge that has been moistened with deionized water. Real image defects wouldn't change with that kind of treatment, whereas dust and drying marks should come off.

BTW drying marks are overrated: it takes very strong drying marks in weakly exposed regions of your negative to actually show up in the final image.

Click to expand...

Catlabs: I couldn't decide on anything else. Seeing those image from here, I liked the look. Can you please suggest what I should be doing instead? I have Rodinal, SPUR HRX and SPUR Acurol-N as well. The other problem I have is I can't read from negatives that well (- will seek advice on that in another thread).

Rudeofus: Thanks. It may sound stupid, but what kind of kitchen sponge should I use?

Xmas: I don't think it is that as I didn't use kettle. I kept the water (for water rinse session) in an empty DW plastic canister.

Baachtrika: Thanks

ic-racer: The dust particle was very low. Even those were after 5-6 hours later when the bathroom was all dry. Essentially it is the most dust free place in whole house. That gadget might be useful, but I'm not planning another electric gear now (as I'm trying to save for a MF camera).

Ashfaque said:

Xmas: I don't think it is that as I didn't use kettle. I kept the water (for water rinse session) in an empty DW plastic canister.

Click to expand...

Hi Ashfaque

No the problem is if you live in a hard water area then you can get calcium carbonate particles from water on your film, they could be white.

So do you need to descale kettles regular?

Noel

Hi Noel,

Thanks for the clarification. Re calcium carbonate in the water, I don't think it a problem in our area. I didn't see those spots in my earlier negatives. However, objectively speaking, I can't really say 'no' as we warm/boil our water in a gas burner with those aluminium wide-mouthed pots.

Should I now wash and do wetting agent thingy again - or just leave it as it is?

Bests,

Ashfaque

PS: I've uploaded some very bad scans now there.

Hi

I don't get them but some local chums do, but only on some film types.
My faucet water is 'cloudy' with calcium carbonate coming out of solution.
Ive missed out on the spotty experience so far.

Noel

Thanks Noel. In that case, I'll do another wash with distilled water (7 times) and wetting agent.

BTW, in Nottingham, I have to clean the kettle every 2-3 months. Here is Dhaka, I guess there is some calcium carbonate (just like other stuffs), but probably not that bad. Because otherwise, our water filter (that we use for drinking after boiling) would've clogged up quite frequently. I'll ask my parents.

Bests,

Ashfaque

Ashfaque said:

Thanks Noel. In that case, I'll do another wash with distilled water (7 times) and wetting agent.

BTW, in Nottingham, I have to clean the kettle every 2-3 months. Here is Dhaka, I guess there is some calcium carbonate (just like other stuffs), but probably not that bad. Because otherwise, our water filter (that we use for drinking after boiling) would've clogged up quite frequently. I'll ask my parents.

Bests,

Ashfaque

Click to expand...

I'm in chilterns between two chalk streams.

Use any of the HC 110 dilutions that offer longer dev time. You want to be at 7 mins or so, or more.

Almost everything in the link you sent is underexposed/underdeveloped in the shadows. In any case you will figure this out as you go along.
The rollei film might not be the easiest to start with when using HC110.

Rodinal might be a better place to start with this film, check online for times.

good luck.

CatLABS said:

Use any of the HC 110 dilutions that offer longer dev time. You want to be at 7 mins or so, or more.

Almost everything in the link you sent is underexposed/underdeveloped in the shadows. In any case you will figure this out as you go along.
The rollei film might not be the easiest to start with when using HC110.

Rodinal might be a better place to start with this film, check online for times.

good luck.

Click to expand...

Thanks for your advice. I'll definitely keep those points in mind.

Bests,

Ashfaque

Hi everyone,

Most of those dust-like marks are gone. Yay!

I used:
- DW for about 10 minutes (3 changes in Jobo 1510 tank).
- In wetting agent + DW (1+399) for about a minute, outside the Jobo tank - with the last 30 seconds seesawing the entire roll

There are still some dust like spots, but lot less. So it could be either that Retro 80S doesn't like our local water (, note: Tri-X, RPX 25, RPX 400, HP5+ are ok), or, some dust were floating around in the bathroom. I use the bathroom though.

Anyway, I'm happy now. Ofc, I'll have to develop longer next time though.

For those who are interested I found some interesting links:
(1) Rodinal stand-development @ 100 ISO with dilution 1+100. cf. Insturction here, and here
(2) Diafine @ ISO 125 (but with notes) - cf. instruction
(3) Discussions on (1), (2), and others on flickr

Bests,

Ashfaque