Problem with Foma Reversal Kit

[Wallendo]

I have recently started trying the Foma Reversal Kit with both Scala 160 and Foma R-100. My first two attempts with a Paterson tank left me with black debris "floating" on the film, some of which I was eventually able to wash off. Since the Foma instructions require continuous agitation even when washing, I decided to try the reversal kit with an Aura rotor assistant using "oscillation" mode. After looking at my slides it is apparent that I probably should have reduced first development time since most of my images were fairly washed out. That is a problem I can fix with practice.

What is bothering me, however, is that most of the slides seem to have a layer of grunge adherent to the film. This is most noticeable in highlight areas, and almost has a dirty soap bubble appearance.. Looking at the slides, there are a few areas where the emulsion side looks clear, but many where there seems to be a rough layer of something adherent to most of the film. I tried re-fixing with a regular fixer and rewashing with no change. I tried soaking in PhotoFlo and gently trying to wash this layer off with my fingers on a disposable image with no change.

I know I probably need to reduce first development time due to rotary agitation, but it seems like I am making a significant error somewhere else in the process.

I mixed the chemicals immediately prior to development.

I have attached a photograph of the worst offender, as well as a scan which demonstrates the bubble-like pattern. Does anyone have any suggestions about what I am doing wrong.

First picture is scan of a slide and the second is a photograph of the worst offender.

 

[Raghu Kuvempunagar]

Could be emulsion damage due to the Permanganate bleach. Did you bleach at 20C?

 

[Wallendo]

Bleach was mixed at 68F/20C. It had been sitting out for 15 minutes, but at this time of year, the area in which I develop stays between 66-70F so the temperature should not have varied much.

I may have over agitated somewhat, however. With my next roll I will use different less aggressive settings.

 

[dmtnkl]

I have developed 3 rolls with the foma kit so far. Each time i prepared 250ml solutions using the ratios indicated by the official foma instructions.

1) First roll was a fresh Fomapan R 100. Solutions were prepared using water at 20 degrees and then sat at room temperature during the whole process. The roll came out nice but i wasn't aware that the emulsion was very soft, so i ended up messing it up in the end by not handling it correctly. As a result, i couldn't reliably observe if it was clean.

2) Second roll was another fresh Fomapan R 100. Same as above but i handled it more carefully in the end, so it came out a lot nicer. I could still observe some dirt or maybe disparate, single, bubble-like artifats (?) here and there that were visible during projection, but not during observation with the diffuse illumination of the light table. Like the first time, i didn't agitate too vigorously, maybe 2-3 inversions every 30 seconds. One thing i forgot to do was hit the tank after inversions to help any possible bubbles detach themselves from the film. Was this the root cause of the artifacts i observed? Not sure.

3) Third roll was an Agfa Scala 200X that expired in 2006. I should also not that i kept it out of the fridge since i got it 4-5 years ago. Supposedly, old Scalas tend to be very foggy, so i didn't expect much from this roll. Surprisingly, it came out extremely well. Very good blacks and no annnoying fog. Judging by the bracketed shots, optimal exposure index looks like 125-160 but i need to try some of my other rolls to be absolutely sure about this. This time i also carried out the whole process in a tempered bath at 19.5~20 degrees celsius using my Cinestill TCS-1000, inverted noticeably slower than before once or twice every 15~30 seconds and also remembered to hit the tank after each agitation cycle. I just inspected it again and i cannot see any dirt, bubble-like artifacts or other defects of any kind.

To sum it up, maybe it helps to employ slow agitation followed by a light hit, while also finding a way to better control temperatures thoughout the whole process. At least this is what worked for me the last time.