Sharp white spots on negatives

Robert Canis

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I have an ongoing problem when developing B&W 120 FP4 & HP5 that's driving me crazy! With each roll of film, I'm getting sharp white pin-pricks and sometimes hair-like squiggles on pretty much every frame. White on the neg black on the print. I've ruled out dust in the camera body as I have shot transparency and they've come back clean from the lab. I use de-ironised water for everything except the Stop. The Fixer is only a few rolls old but I am thinking that for particles to stick themselves to the film it has to be either at the taking or dev stage? Has anyone else has this and if so what cured the problem? I've even tried pre-soaking for 5 mins in the hope that it would wash away any foreign bodies sticking to the film. I see others that have used Foma have encountered similar issues and put it down to a faulty film batch but mine has been going on for several months with different batches.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated and prevent me from pulling my hair out, further!
 

Kino

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Check the negatives for pin holes in the emulsion.

What developer, stop and fix formulas are you using?

I am asking because it could be emulsion blisters from some imbalance in one of the above.
 
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Robert Canis

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Kino said:
Check the negatives for pin holes in the emulsion.

What developer, stop and fix formulas are you using?

I am asking because it could be emulsion blisters from some imbalance in one of the above.
Click to expand...
Rodinal 1:50, tap water stop, Tetenal fix 1:4.
 

Donald Qualls

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If it's a folding camera, this could also be dust from the bellows, stirred up by opening and closing.
 

david schaller

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If you can scan and post pictures that would help diagnose the problem. There were backing paper issues with some Ilford 120 films.
 

Donald Qualls

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david schaller said:
If you can scan and post pictures that would help diagnose the problem. There were backing paper issues with some Ilford 120 films.
Click to expand...

Those have never produced sharp-edged clear spots on the negative; it's mottling or wrapper offset.
 

bdial

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Dust on the film during exposure produces black spots, pinholes in the emulsion also produce black spots in a print. White spots are generally debris introduced during processing or drying.
Squiggly lines are likely dust, and IME it usually comes during drying. Round spots might be dust too, or else stuff in the water.
 
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Donald Qualls

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Robert Canis said:
White on the neg black on the print.
Click to expand...

bdial said:
Dust on the film during exposure produces black spots, pinholes in the emulsion also produce black spots in a print. White spots are generally debris introduced during processing or drying.
Click to expand...

OP says white/clear on the neg, black on the print. If they're perfectly round, pinholes, otherwise (and especially the hair-like bits) dust at exposure time.
 

MattKing

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Check your reel loading area or changing bag - although that might be unlikely to cause clear spots on the developed film.
 
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Robert Canis

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I've shot transparency, sent to a lab and they've come back clean so it's not the camera. How would dust during drying appear white on the negative? Surely it would be black or dark, at least?
 
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Robert Canis

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Donald Qualls said:
OP says white/clear on the neg, black on the print. If they're perfectly round, pinholes, otherwise (and especially the hair-like bits) dust at exposure time.
Click to expand...
I've cleaned the camera thoroughly and in the past have shot transparency and they've come back clean from the lab. I'm wondering if it's the fix as I use it for up to 6 rolls of 120. I mix it with de-ionised water but next time I will filter it with both a funnel sieve and cotton pad incase there's sediment that is causing the problem.
 

MattKing

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Robert Canis said:
I've shot transparency, sent to a lab and they've come back clean so it's not the camera. How would dust during drying appear white on the negative? Surely it would be black or dark, at least?
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By "white on the negative" I'm assuming you mean "clear (spots) in the negative".
There may be circumstances where some films are more likely to attract dust than others.
More interesting though, is there a temporal difference. For example, are the dusty films shot at one time, and the transparency films shot at a distinctly separated time?
Humidity (or the lack of it) can make a huge difference when it comes to dust.
 
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Robert Canis

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Yes, and sometimes small hair-like squiggles and rough edged larger clear spots. Both shot in near identical conditions.
 

Donald Qualls

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In defense of your fixer -- I've got a jug of Kodak Rapid Fixer that I mixed in June; I've probably processed twenty rolls in that 2L amount. Clearing time is still under a minute, and I've never seen any evidence of problems due to particles in the fixer.

What you describe is classic dust. I get it from time to time, worst in my 1927 Voigtlander (6x9 folder). It will only make those clear spots on the negative if it was present during exposure. The spots would be black on a transparency, so much less noticeable.
 
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Robert Canis

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Right. I've been using compressed air around the interior and a blower brush. I'm surprised more MF owners haven't encountered the same issue.
 

Donald Qualls

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A larger reason you might not have seen it on your transparencies could be different shooting style -- if you ran through the roll(s) of trannies in a single day, vs. leaving a roll of B&W in the camera for a couple weeks before you finish it, there's more time for dust to collect and land on the film. Especially if the camera sits in your bag with the lens mount up and dark slide out.
 
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Robert Canis

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I'm quite prolific, shooting up to 4 rolls of BW a week. The trans were in the back for a while and always with DS in and lens mounted.
 

MattKing

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Do you have more than one back, and could the problem be back specific?
 
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