Since I last posted to this thread, I've developed two more rolls of 35mm film. I used inversion agitation for both, following Ilford's method of 4 inversions during the first 10 seconds of every minute. I did deviate a bit and performed gentle inversions continuously over the first 30 seconds of development. I also finger-squeegeed the film (the horror!) after the final rinse since that seems to have eliminated the frustrating streaking I have been experiencing for months.
The first roll of film looked great - no streaking and no signs of the issue that I spoke about at the start of this thread that sort of looked like surge marks or bromide drag on a couple of frames.
On the plus side, it seems that the streaking I was experiencing before has been resolved by finger-squeegeeing the film.
Glad it got better. Sorry it didn't go away.
Most development hapens in the first 30-60s, so continous agitation can make a difference there. (And you already do that, but maybe a full minute would improve things a little bit?)
And I recently read about someone who avoided bromide drag by agitating vigorously, not carefully. Maybe that's something to try?
PhotoFlo never worked at 1:200 for me. It always gave drying marks of some kind. I have hard water here, about pH 8, maybe that is why. I settled on 3-4 drops of 10% PhotoFlo per 100ml of tap water which works well. That's 1:4000 to 1:5000. Not quite an homeopathic dilution, but still pretty weak.
Good luck!
I have been finger squeegeeing for years and largely I follow the Ilford method with the addition of the first 30 secs being continuous
I wonder, can we classify the above as the "British way is best?"No, on second thoughts just ignore that line. The best way is the one that works
Seriously I hope this is a permanent cure and not just another false dawn
pentaxuser
Since I last posted to this thread, I've developed two more rolls of 35mm film. I used inversion agitation for both, following Ilford's method of 4 inversions during the first 10 seconds of every minute. I did deviate a bit and performed gentle inversions continuously over the first 30 seconds of development. I also finger-squeegeed the film (the horror!) after the final rinse since that seems to have eliminated the frustrating streaking I have been experiencing for months.
The first roll of film looked great - no streaking and no signs of the issue that I spoke about at the start of this thread that sort of looked like surge marks or bromide drag on a couple of frames. The second roll of film also looked really good and again showed no signs of streaking. However, one frame did show the surge/bromide drag sort of marks I experienced a couple of rolls ago that prompted me to start this thread (see top edge of image below):
Since the decreased density corresponds to the space beneath the sprocket holes maybe Bromide drag is the culprit. Maybe I need to increase the frequency of agitation since I'm using a pretty dilute developer.
On the plus side, it seems that the streaking I was experiencing before has been resolved by finger-squeegeeing the film. Maybe I've been using too much Photoflo for my particular environment although I'm using the recommended 1:200 dilution and distilled water in the final rinse. I'm using a clean nitrile glove when squeegeeing the film so I'm not concerned about scratching the film. On the downside, I seem to have a new issue with possible Bromide drag. I'm going to tweak my agitation frequency and hopefully that'll eliminate this.
Great, you have improvement. So added agitation has eliminated most of the problem.
Glad it got better. Sorry it didn't go away.
Most development hapens in the first 30-60s, so continous agitation can make a difference there. (And you already do that, but maybe a full minute would improve things a little bit?)
And I recently read about someone who avoided bromide drag by agitating vigorously, not carefully. Maybe that's something to try?
PhotoFlo never worked at 1:200 for me. It always gave drying marks of some kind. I have hard water here, about pH 8, maybe that is why. I settled on 3-4 drops of 10% PhotoFlo per 100ml of tap water which works well. That's 1:4000 to 1:5000. Not quite an homeopathic dilution, but still pretty weak.
Good luck!
I've read a few times recently, in the context of extreme minimal agitation/ semi-stand, that it's vital in order to avoid unevenness that the initial agitation must be thorough, often recommended at least 2min continuous inversion. I know that the OP isn't into EMA, but I mention it as it does seem that the beginning of development is critical.
When the manufacturers have spend millions of dollars on R&D and recommend agitation patterns, why would anyone with much less experience think that they are better experts and will get better results with stand or semi-stand development? Why not experiment unrolling an exposed film to direct sunlight to make sure that two electrons have been captured by every grain of emulsion?
That was not my point. But thanks for reminding us that since companies like Kodak have stopped research into black and white films, there will not ever be any new knowledge.
That was not my point. But thanks for reminding us that since companies like Kodak have stopped research into black and white films, there will not ever be any new knowledge.
@logan2z have you figured this out? I'm having an issue that manifests identically to what you were having here.
I'm using Ilfotec HC (HC-110) dilution H, HP5+ in 35mm, inversion agitation in a Patterson 2-reel tank.
Thanks! I'm using Adox Adoflo II at the moment, will give this a tryI narrowed the problem down to my use of Photoflo during the final rinse. I stopped using Photoflo and switched to LFN instead. I also introduced a 5 minute soak in distilled water before the final rinse (as recommended in an old thread by @Doremus Scudder) and then started using Kimwipes to gently wipe both sides of the film after hanging to dry. After these modifications to my workflow, the problem never recurred.
@logan2z have you figured this out? I'm having an issue that manifests identically to what you were having here.
I'm using Ilfotec HC (HC-110) dilution H, HP5+ in 35mm, inversion agitation in a Patterson 2-reel tank.
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?