ReraPan 100 Processing (127 film)

[LibraryTroll]

Hello Everyone,

I need your thoughts and collective experienced wisdom on a “problem” that I’m having processing a relatively new film. Who has shot and processed rolls of the ReraPan 100 recently? What were your experiences with this 127 film?

I have noticed a possible issue with the film or possibly one with my developing process/technique. My observations are far from conclusive, but I’ve noticed it to varying degrees in both rolls that I’ve processed so far, which were shot in two different cameras and processed in different developers for comparison. I process at home using stainless steel canister tanks and stainless steel reels.

First roll: Camera – Tower 44; Foma Ro9 (50:1), 68 degrees F / 16.5 minutes; Ilford Rapid Fixer; Distilled water rinses between developer and fixer; Washed in tap water of appropriate temperature. The roll turned out great on first inspection, but noticed distinct round freckles covering the images in every frame when viewed on a light table under magnification. The freckles are not uniformly distributed. Curiously, they do not appear in the unexposed portions of the film. (Note: the developer was not exactly one of the two listed to use, but I was out of Kodak D-76 at the time.)

Second roll: Camera – Sawyer’s Mark IV; Kodak D-76 (stock), 68 degrees F / 8 minutes; Ilford Rapid Fixer; tap water rinse between developer and fixer; Washed in tap water of appropriate temperature. Again… the roll turned out great on first inspection with much better negative density… but, again the freckles show up on very close inspection. They are not as pronounced as the first roll and they don’t appear in every frame. You have to look really hard to find them in some frames.

I have to say that I’ve never seen this in anything that I’ve processed over the last 30-some-odd-years and I’m a little stumped as to the cause. Has anyone experience anything similar?

Thanks,
Tre

 

[Gerald C Koch]

When you say freckles do you mean clear or dark spots on the negatives. It would be helpful to include scans from each of the films.

 

[LibraryTroll]

My first impression when I saw them on the first roll was that they were round to irregularly-shaped round "brownish" (dark) spots on the negative that could be seen distributed in various concentrations covering the entire exposed frame. Obviously, they are harder to see in the thicker portions of the negative. I returned that original roll to the fixer for another round followed by another wash that night thinking I may have had an out-of-date or exhausted fixer, but there was no change. I can almost hear the voice of a late engineer friend of mine admonishing me with something along the lines of "you don't know what it isn't, until you know what it is."

I only have a few quickly and poorly scanned examples that I did months ago from the first roll as a test. I don't have access to a film scanner at the present time to scan the second roll as a comparison.

 

[Fixcinater]

Looks like poor storage/outdated film that has interacted with the backing paper to me. I've had expired Ilford PanF do the same sort of mottling.

 

[LibraryTroll]

That is an interesting observation. I had not considered that possibility. It now begs another question... are they producing their own film or cutting and rolling somebody else's, which may have a questionable life history? The two rolls that I processed have no frame numbers nor do they show film type designations on the film edge. The first roll that I shot was processed in December 2015 and had an expiration date of October 2017. The second roll was freshly purchased this fall from Freestyle and shows an expiration date of June 2019. These most recent rolls have remained refrigerated until I pulled out one to warm up and shot it.

 

[Fixcinater]

Some info here, I don't know if anything more conclusive has been found.

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

 

[Lee Birder]

I've had this exact problem. I've probably shot and developed 20 rolls of rera pan, and about 5 or so have turned out like this. I do believe it is mottling from the paper backing -- I've even gotten frame numbers, in addition to the strange mottling. Definitely not a developing issue, I've developed 4 rolls at a time in a large tank and had some come out with it, some without. I may soon switch to cutting down 120!

 

[LibraryTroll]

I appreciate everyone's responses. It is totally unfortunate that there seems to be an issue with the film's backing paper. I would think enough people having the same experience would kill the market for this film. So far, I'm not a fan and I have two more rolls to shoot. It may force me to join the ranks of the diehard fans who cut / roll their own 127.

 

[Minarik]

I recently developed my first Rerapan. Not the best result, but no physical demage. I planning to buy Ilford 127 in bulk. Thy will offer it in this year's bulk order campaign.