Roll of Fujifilm developed in C-41 came out completely dense and changed the color of my developer?

I have an Arista C-41 kit from Freestyle. I successfully developed a roll of film with it (I'm hand-developing in a Patterson tank) earlier this week, and last night went to develop a roll of 120 and then a 35mm roll. The roll of 120 came out with no issues, but after the developing step on the roll of Fujifilm 35mm I noticed the developer was significantly darker when I poured it out. After taking the roll out after completing the stabilizer step, the roll was bulletproof dense - looked completely overexposed with no edge markings. I think the roll may have been exposed to light at a certain point when I had it in the changing bag - if this was the case, would the overexposed film have caused the developer to darken/discolor? Or is there something else that could have caused the discolored developer plus the dense negatives?

I'm sure there was no chemical cross-contamination. Another factor that was different from the other rolls I developed is that I think the water coming out of my sink for the rinse step after Blix got out of the recommended 95-105 degree range. May have gotten up to 120-130 degrees as the water continued to heat up without my knowledge as it came out of the faucet.

One thing at a time. The more you reuse C-41 developer, the more colorful/darker it will become (anti-halation layer). After half a dozen rolls or so, it may still be viable, but it will be black or close to it. The amount of exposure on whatever film you're developing has no bearing on its color.

If the film is uniformly dense, then a hole in your changing bag is not likely to be the culprit -- unless it was a gaping hole. You're more likely to see fog and/or localized areas of exposure from a leaky bag. Did you open the bag under room light?

I would check your blix. It sounds like maybe the film isn't being cleared. Try clipping the leader and dropping it known good fixer (even if it's for black and white film) and see if it clears.

Also, pictures help.

bvy said:

One thing at a time. The more you reuse C-41 developer, the more colorful/darker it will become (anti-halation layer). After half a dozen rolls or so, it may still be viable, but it will be black or close to it. The amount of exposure on whatever film you're developing has no bearing on its color.

If the film is uniformly dense, then a hole in your changing bag is not likely to be the culprit -- unless it was a gaping hole. You're more likely to see fog and/or localized areas of exposure from a leaky bag. Did you open the bag under room light?

I would check your blix. It sounds like maybe the film isn't being cleared. Try clipping the leader in and dropping it known good fixer (even if it's for black and white film) and see if it clears.

Also, pictures help.

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Thank you, that is very helpful! I will definitely check my blix when I get home. I do think the film was majorly exposed to light - basically I thought my Patterson tank could accommodate both a 35mm roll and a 120 roll when fully assembled with the funnel, but it could only take two 35mms. So I put both rolls in the tank (without the funnel obviously so I could close it) and brought an opaque pillowcase cover with a zipper into the changing bag so I could store the 35mm roll inside while I developed the 120 roll first. The 35mm roll was inside the pillowcase and exposed to room light briefly while I took the tank with the 120 roll inside out of the changing bag, and then zipped up inside the changing bag while I developed the 120. I hope that explanation made some sense! The pillowcase may not have been opaque enough to keep out the light as I made the swap, which is my strongest suspicion right now.

If the pillowcase was truly "opaque" and properly (or even mostly) closed, then I would expect to see something on the film. If, as I'm suspecting, it's translucent and got a few seconds or more of room light, then it could be totally exposed. What color is the case and what kind of fabric? The test is to stick your head inside of it and look up at a lightbulb. If you see anything at all, that's bad.

"opaque" is not dark enough. It is certainly not black. Also you need the funnel in the tank to keep the film from being fogged.

bvy said:

If the pillowcase was truly "opaque" and properly (or even mostly) closed, then I would expect to see something on the film. If, as I'm suspecting, it's translucent and got a few seconds or more of room light, then it could be totally exposed. What color is the case and what kind of fabric? The test is to stick your head inside of it and look up at a lightbulb. If you see anything at all, that's bad.

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I think you are probably right. It is a satine-ish pillowcase, thickish and a dark blue color. I had held it up to light and didn't see any transmission, but I did not stick my whole head in (it's smallish) and I don't think I trust it. Thanks again for your help, I will investigate further when I get home and test the blix as well just in case.

Sirius Glass said:

"opaque" is not dark enough. It is certainly not black. Also you need the funnel in the tank to keep the film from being fogged.

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Just to clarify - when the funnel was out of the tank, the tank had the lid on

The funnel needs to be in the closed tank to keep the film from fogging. Do not remove the funnel to squeeze in another roll of film.

gazefuzzy said:

Just to clarify - when the funnel was out of the tank, the tank had the lid on

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If it's a Paterson tank, as long as the lid is securely on, it should fine for holding undeveloped film -- regardless if the funnel was in place. I've done this before. The funnel's a better fit, though, and has a light trap.

Opaque is opaque. Impenetrable by light. As fabrics go, they should be black.

What version of Paterson Tank is it?

MattKing said:

What version of Paterson Tank is it?

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It is a Patterson Universal Super System 4. I don't think the fogging could have happened when I had both rolls in the tank with the lid closed and the funnel out because the 120 roll was completely unaffected and the 35mm is completely overexposed