Spots on Negatives

[David1]

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.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Not filling the tank with enough chemistry.

Welcome to APUG Photrio!!​

 

[MattKing]

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.

 

[koraks]

I don’t think they are water spots

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.

 

[koraks]

Not filling the tank with enough chemistry.

...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.

 

[John Wiegerink]

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.

 

[foc]

If you use your fingers or a squeegee, you will sometimes have small spots similar to these left on the film itself.

If you squeegee correctly then you should have no marks or spots at all.

Without seeing the negatives (something like this)


it is hard to give an answer.

If I was to speculate, I would think it is drying marks, more than likely from the use of too much wetting agent (Photoflo/Ilfotol).

 

[aparat]

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.