Problem with E-6 development

[someone_else]

I've been using the Tetenal E-6 kit for a while now, and most of the time I get great results from it. But it has now happened a few times that I get something like in the attached photo, with dense brown... something covering the central part of the film. Does anyone know what the problem might be? Is that just unexposed silver that isn't removed during the fixing step, or something else?

Last time this happened I thought my chemistry must be old, but this time I developed a 120 roll yesterday (which was perfectly fine) and then I got the terrible results on the batch I developed today with the same chemicals (increasing the time as per the instructions) so surely they wouldn't have gone bad overnight.

 

[Anon Ymous]

There are no unexposed silver halides in the film after the CD stage. Insufficient blixing is the likely cause of this problem. Surprising that blix failed so spectacularly given that it worked ok the day before, but that's what it looks like...

 

[Donald Qualls]

I agree -- that's insufficient blix. Most likely you just need to put it back in for longer.

You could also get that from a first dev failure, especially on the exposed leader. The clear edges got developed more, and the center had undeveloped exposed halide left, which then generated dyes in the color developer. Then, even if the blix was perfect, the dye would remain. The way to tell which is if it's silver, it'll blix away in something like Farmer's reducer (potassium ferricyanide and sodium thiosulfate); if it's dye, it won't.

 

[someone_else]

Thanks for the replies. I don't have farmer's reducer, just the E6 blix and some bw fixers. I can try running it through the blix again if that might help (though would it be a problem that it's already been through the stabilizer?).

 

[Anon Ymous]

Thanks for the replies. I don't have farmer's reducer, just the E6 blix and some bw fixers. I can try running it through the blix again if that might help (though would it be a problem that it's already been through the stabilizer?).

No, it's not a problem. Reblix it and see what happens. And keep in mind that you can't really overblix.

 

[Donald Qualls]

You'll want to wash and stabilize again after reblixing, but it shouldn't otherwise cause a problem.

On the other hand, that doesn't tell if it's a blix problem or a first dev issue. Blix won't remove dyes (that's kind of the point), and if it's bad, it might not remove silver.

Do you have potassium iodide and iodine crystals available? You can make a rehalogentaing bleach with those, or you can bleach (dissolve) silver with weak nitric acid, or with hydrogen peroxide mixed with citric acid or acetic acid (white vinegar). None of those should touch image dyes, but they should also at least reduce density if that's silver.

 

[someone_else]

I mixed a new batch of blix from the kit and ran the films again through it, and it worked! The films look fine now, so something must have indeed happened to the previous batch of blix.

You guys are awesome, and saved my films.

 

[Donald Qualls]

This is why I prefer chemistry that uses separate bleach and fix. What bleach wants to last long (oxygenation) is opposite what fixer wants (protection from oxygen). I've got a liter bottle of C-41 bleach that's had 20+ rolls run through it and is four months old, and still does its job cleanly.