Spots on Negative

[SodaAnt]

Developed my first roll of 120 film from my new RB67 and the negatives don't look bad overall, except the sky (it was a clear day with no clouds) is filled with small white spots. See scan of the sky region of the negative below. This isn't a scanning artifact because inspecting the negatives with a loupe on a lightbox shows the spots as well (they're black on the negative). The image below is from a screenshot of Photoshop with the image displayed to fit on screen. All ten frames on this roll are of the same scene and all have the spotty sky.

Film was Ilford Pan F Plus exposed at ISO 32 and developed in fresh Ilfosol 3 1:14 for 4-1/2 minutes at 20°C in a Paterson tank with agitation for first 10 seconds followed by 10 seconds of agitation every minute. Stop in Kodak indicator stop bath (mixed 16ml + 984ml water) then fix in Ilford fixer for 4 minutes. All solutions mixed with distilled water.

I don't think the camera could have caused this. Is this an artifact of development? Something else?

 

[logan2z]

Hmm, looks like it could be mottling from the backing paper. You can contact Ilford and give them the batch number of the film and they'll send you a replacement roll. Unfortunately ,that doesn't fix your negatives.

Updated 120 ROLL FILM STATEMENT

In March 2020 we issued a statement in relation to instances of spots / mottle affecting a small percentage of 120 roll film negatives.

www.ilfordphoto.com

 

[SodaAnt]

Hmm, looks like it could be mottling from the backing paper. You can contact Ilford and give them the batch number of the film and they'll send you a replacement roll. Unfortunately ,that doesn't fix your negatives.

Updated 120 ROLL FILM STATEMENT

In March 2020 we issued a statement in relation to instances of spots / mottle affecting a small percentage of 120 roll film negatives.

www.ilfordphoto.com

Interesting. That notice was dated March 2022 and my film expired in March 2021, so it could have been made during the period Ilford was having problems.

Although the film expired two years ago, I’ve kept it in my air conditioned house and it’s never been exposed to high temperatures.

If my spots weren’t caused by the Ilford issue, is there anything else it can be?

 

[250swb]

It is very typical of the Ilford mottling problem. Send a message and a scan to Ilford and I think they'll agree and send you a replacement Here is the statement from Ilford and link to the product feedback form to submit your information

https://www.ilfordphoto.com/updated-120-roll-film-statement/

 

[koraks]

If my spots weren’t caused by the Ilford issue, is there anything else it can be?

They are caused by the backing paper problem, though. No need to speculate further.
It's also not an Ilford-specific problem. Virtually all manufacturers have been plagued by this from time to time. Some more than others.

The problem is generally exacerbated by storage conditions and time.

 

[SodaAnt]

They are caused by the backing paper problem, though. No need to speculate further.
It's also not an Ilford-specific problem. Virtually all manufacturers have been plagued by this from time to time. Some more than others.

The problem is generally exacerbated by storage conditions and time.

That’s good to know, and disappointing too because I have about a dozen more rolls with the same batch code that’ll probably have the same problem. They expired two years ago, so using them for anything important is probably not a good idea.

 

[koraks]

No, probably not. You may want to contact Ilford/Harman about the issue, see what they have to say on the matter. They're generally quite good at responding to customer questions/complaints.

 

[Sirius Glass]

No, probably not. You may want to contact Ilford/Harman about the issue, see what they have to say on the matter. They're generally quite good at responding to customer questions/complaints.

That has been the experience of many here who had this or related problems and reported those experiences on Photrio.