Problem with Ilford FP4 sheetfilm.

OK, see the attachment. I attend a class and we got a box of 25 sheets (4x5) of ilford FP4, some came out OK but the majority had this strange darker band. All sheets were developed in pairs and one had it while the other one turned out OK, this ruled out any developing error. Also, they were taken with different camera's and lenses and with different lighting. So I cannot see how we could all get the same error.

Anybody who knows what happend here?? Maybe factory error?? and in case of factory error, could be ask for a new box??

Maybe Simon R Galley knows???

It does look like a development error where part of the film was not covered by a sufficient volume of developer solution. Were these by any chance developed in double hangers (or reels) in a tank where the top sheet of the pair(s) might be partially out of solution while the lower sheet was fully submerged?

The edge of the sheets are cropped in the attachment. What do they look like?

Dear Uncle Goose,

As always, the best thing to do is to return it to us, via the place you bought it from, or direct to the distributor in that country, they will return it to us where we have a full QC procedure.

Kind Regards

Simon ILFORD Photo / HARMAN technology Limited :

What about a light leak from the camera?

I agree with smieglitz - part of the film was in the developer less time than the rest. This is a common problem for beginning students - although they sware it couldn't be.

Both film were at the same height, and one had it while the other didn't, so a developing error is not very likely. Lightleak is also a nono because there were several camera's in use, the change that they all leak with the same pattern is impossible. After this event we tried another box of sheetfilm (a HP5) and we used the same camera's with the same setup and developing procedure and non of the HP5 had the problem. BTW, while most of my classmates have little experience in development I myself developed 100's of 120 rolls and a few boxes of sheetfilm, so I can hardly call myself a beginner (although I can still screw up of course). But in this case it's hard to believe that everybody made the same error with the same results.

I'm not gonna say that the fault lies by Ilford, something could have go wrong elsewere too, it's hard to figure out. I've been using Ilford for years now without any problems. I only use Ilford anymore after trying many different films and developers and Ilford Delta combined with Ilfosol S is still my favorite combination. In this case I just wondered what could have happend, certainly after we saw it couldn't be the developing procedure.

Ilford still Rulz above all other in my eyes.