I could use some advice please. I’ve just started developing film at home after a 45 year hiatus. I’m routinely getting silver looking roundish spots on my negatives (blueish in color after scanning and inverting in post) and I don’t understand why. See red arrows in the following image. I don’t think they are water spots as I’m using photo flo in my developing sequence (D76, Ilfostop, Kodafix, followed by lengthy water wash - distilled water). I wonder if these are silver flake residue that didn’t come off during the developing process. I’d appreciate feedback and suggestions for how to prevent this from happening in the future. I've seen these spots on Holga 400, Fomapan 400, and Kentmere 400. I'm using a Olympus PEN EE3 and Spotmatic SPF camera. Many thanks.
Welcome to Photrio.
We really need to see the negatives themselves - a backlit cel or digital camera photo showing the image area plus the edge areas and the space between the frames.
In addition, a digital photo showing how light is reflecting off the surfaces of the film might help with this problem.
But I do think that's exactly what they are, though!
For what it's worth - PhotoFlo never protected me entirely against this, at least when processing 35mm film. Distilled water as a final rinse (with some flo) does help a lot.
You can probably wipe off these little spots with a clean, lint-free cloth. You can also rewash the negatives, perhaps using a weak acetic acid bath to dissolve the spots first and then a rinse with distilled water with some flo.
...will give minus density anomalies, along one edge only, and usually with clear wave marks and bubble patterns. So different in every respect to what OP is seeing.
Maybe some kind of drying residue? If you use your fingers or a squeegee, you will sometimes have small spots similar to these left on the film itself.
See if you can remove these spots with the Edwal Anti-Stat Film Cleaner. Yes, it's pricey, but it's my favorite darkroom accessory. It cleans the film without harming it and lasts a long time.