RA-4 / Fuji crystal archive

Hi Guys,

Hope you’re well.

I just set up my own color darkroom in my apartment, and everything is going as planned except that after a few hours into printing my borders on the paper turns to a Blue tint as soon as i go from the Blix to a water tank. I did change the water for the last print I did but same thing happened.

wondering if I might have contaminated the blix or the dev?

The print itself seems to hold the colors, it’s only the borders that I make with the isle that are shifting.

Would appreciate if someone could shed some light on this!

Here’s my setup;

Durst M805
Nova 16x20 processor @ 33 Celsius

Thank you,

R


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Could you upload a picture please?

Is the blue on the border only and not in the white area of the print?

Firstly the temp should be 35 not 33C. Yes, possibly it has to be some degree of contamination but if it is only on the borders, how that occurs I don't know. How long are you bleach fixing it for, it should be at least the same as the development and if the chemical temp is lower than it should be it could be you are under blixing it but what I cannot understand is once it has been in the beach fix there should be no significant change taking place as quick as you say.

You say you are using Fuji paper and I have never had a lot of success with Fuji paper, so I always buy Kodak on the roll and cut it as and when I need more. If you can post an image but include a bit of the border so we can see what you are concerned about.

You say that the blue appeared in the border after a few hours of processing prints. Is that right?
Did you replenish or change your developer?
Could you have accidentally splashed some bleach into the developer?
A cyan stain on the paper would suggest contamination of the developer.
Try processing a blank unexposed sheet. It should appear white when processed.

Light leaks in your darkroom perhaps?

Hi Guys,

Thank you for the great answers,
I will do another attempt with 35C and possibly do another batch of developer, im almost certain now that I contaminated it with the Blix, I have ruled out the more obvious things as light leaks etc.

I did do a blank print last night and the whole print came out blueish/cyan.
I dont think I catched it because I printed a night shot which was very dark so it might have shown less on the print itself because of the nature of the image.

Please see image as reference for the cyan...

thank you,

R

I would check indeed the quality of the developer.

By the way, amazing shot!

Are you using a Kodak #13 safe-light? A #13 safelight after some time will cast a blue hue on your RA-4 paper. Natural light leaks will be dark orange on RA-4.

Also Fuji CAII paper has a blue coating on it similar to the color your show. I do a pre-rinse on the paper and I always runs blue. Kodak on the other hand has a pink coating.

ROB929, what has happened, if anything, since your last post on Nov 19?

pentaxuser

A few months ago I had similar problems when I was using the Tetenal RA4 and was at an absolute loss what to do. Mine wasn't a bluish tone (I was using Kodak paper) the rebates were best described as 'muddy) as was the lighter tones in the print. New developer didn't cure it but in desperation I chucked out the Tetenal and changed back to Kodak where the problem vanished. Whilst this does not clear up your problem, I would suggest that it is contamination in either the developer or blix stages. My money goes on bleach contamination.

The colour of the paper, either pink or cyan (it isn't blue) will have absolutely no effect on the finished print. You can check this by dipping a piece of unexposed paper in plain water and the coating will dissolve and the white base is revealed.

As you are using a NOVA processor that rules out lack of cleaning a rotary drum between bleach and the next film, but you 'MAY' have a very small internal leak between the different baths. They are virtually undetectable and if you have one they are usually unrepairable.

It is also possible that when moving the paper between the slots, small splashes of either stop bath or blix can travel over between the developer and the other two and vice versa. Make sure the tops between each slot are wiped with absorbent paper between each development and possibly more importantly at the end of each session. Also the tubular lids should also be cleaned out before replacing them. I mean thoroughly cleaning by pushig a plug of the same absorbent paper through the insides. You will be surprised at how dirty they can become. DON'T MIX THEM UP!

Once again we seem to be giving good advice on causes and possible solutions to someone who made two posts the day he started the thread and nothing since, despite me asking him for progress on Dec 4th. It was presumably a serious and immediate problem so what has caused the OP not to continue the dialogue?

If we have solved the issue then the least I'd expect is a quick post to that end.

pentaxuser

pentaxuser said:

Once again we seem to be giving good advice on causes and possible solutions to someone who made two posts the day he started the thread and nothing since, despite me asking him for progress on Dec 4th. It was presumably a serious and immediate problem so what has caused the OP not to continue the dialogue?

If we have solved the issue then the least I'd expect is a quick post to that end.

pentaxuser

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I have my ideas but to voice them on the forum would get me banned.