Quick question about dark negs with dark brown mask.

[rpavich]

Just thinking about something. I've had issues with negatives that are darker brown (opaque) than they should be, and though they print ok, I don't like them that way. I was wondering what happens to make them this way and I thought I remembered someone saying "overdevelopment" was possibly the culprit.

I recently developed 4 rolls of film and the first two were developed at the proper time but I let the temp get to 105f and the negs came out dark brown and opaque.

The second set of negs (same film) I let the temp drop to 100f and processed them and they came out normal looking. I'm not sure if it's a coincidence or not. I think I found the culprit in my brown-neg problem...is it possible that being 5 deg over temp would be the issue?

 

[Rudeofus]

I have had brown film base color when the pH of my CD was a bit too high, but these negs were still scanable and printable. Depending on exact CD formulation, the pH of CD can go up or down as it is reused. The problem with fog (and that's what your brown film base really is) is that it is quite difficult to control, so if it is there it quickly builds up density.

You may have had a bad combo of excessive CD alkalinity and too high process temperature, and correcting either one could have saved your negs. If you don't have the means to correctly set temperature and pH of your CD, then you need to process short test clips before you process important rolls in order to verify that your process is at least roughly in spec.

 

[rpavich]

I have had brown film base color when the pH of my CD was a bit too high, but these negs were still scanable and printable. Depending on exact CD formulation, the pH of CD can go up or down as it is reused. The problem with fog (and that's what your brown film base really is) is that it is quite difficult to control, so if it is there it quickly builds up density.

You may have had a bad combo of excessive CD alkalinity and too high process temperature, and correcting either one could have saved your negs. If you don't have the means to correctly set temperature and pH of your CD, then you need to process short test clips before you process important rolls in order to verify that your process is at least roughly in spec.

Thanks, that was informative.

Would you say that my best bet for repeatability and not having this issue is just to use the dev 1-shot then?

 

[Rudeofus]

Using it 1-shot is obviously better for consistency, but turn expensive very quickly, especially for 120 roll film and/or inversion processing. Most of the time it isn't necessary IMHO. My best advice during an extended process run is to monitor the results as films come out of the tank after processing, and if you see changes, either adjust the process or change process liquids. If you look at your processed film carefully, there's a good chance that this high fog level didn't appear all of a sudden.

 

[rpavich]

Using it 1-shot is obviously better for consistency, but turn expensive very quickly, especially for 120 roll film and/or inversion processing. Most of the time it isn't necessary IMHO. My best advice during an extended process run is to monitor the results as films come out of the tank after processing, and if you see changes, either adjust the process or change process liquids. If you look at your processed film carefully, there's a good chance that this high fog level didn't appear all of a sudden.

You are probably right. I'll have to start keeping an eye on this.