Sheet film development problems. What did I do wrong?

[brianentz]

Just getting back into LF photography. One of my holders has a light leak, but that's not the problem here. This one came out particularly bad. Others less so. I suspect an agitation problem? Or I loaded it poorly in the film holder in the tank? It's ilford fp4 developed in xtol. I use a patterson tank with the 4x5" film holder and agitate with the swirl method. Any ideas? I refer to the problems most notable in the uneveness of the sky.

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

I agree - it's an agitation issue.

I've never used a Patterson 4x5 tank so I can't give specifics. I have used swizzle-stick style plastic tanks for 35mm & 120. The trick is to move the swizzle stick like a washing machine agitator: back and forth, not too much but rather quickly. You want turbulent flow of developer over the film. Follow the Kodak regime of 5 seconds of agitation every 30 seconds. Pretend you are washing a tee-shirt rather than developing film.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Agitation problem. Nice photograph of Joshua Tree NP.

 

[Zathras]

What kind of film holder did you use in the Paterson tank?

 

[Nitroplait]

I wasn't aware of a Paterson 4x5 holder.
It is likely an agitation issue. I use the MOD54 insert in a Paterson 3 reel tank and don't have problems, but I do inversions, much like I do with 35mm and 120 film.