Strange line

[sbelyaev]

I developed Kodak Plus-X in Rodinal. All negatives have a very strange wide area that runs along the left sige of the negatives.
Camera - new Rolleiflex FW.
I've neve had this problem before. Any opinions?
Thanks

 

[David A. Belew]

Hi,
How are you developing it? What kind of procedure, tank, etc.

If it were a focal plane shutter I would blame it on the shutter. Another possibiliity is some kind of reflections inside the camera.

 

[Markok765]

There is some uneven tonal graduation in the sky area.
there is scratches too.

 

[Neal]

Dear sbelyaev,

It appears to me that you have a light leak somewhere.

Neal Wydra

 

[sbelyaev]

That was a small tank. I agitated it every minute. The lens has an iris diaphragm. The strange thing is that only these two rolls were affected. I developed film from the same camera before and after and had no problems. Could it be an uneven development?

 

[Monophoto]

Just a guess - looks like there wasn't enough developer in the tank to completely cover the reel.

 

[crispinuk]

I'm assuming that this is a TLR camera, the film winds up/down rather than left/right (if you get my meaning) and that the stripe runs along the length of the film ? In which case I would suggest insufficient volume of developer in the tank, especially if two films developed at the same time are affected but others aren't. The agitation will ensure some development but the developer is exhausted or drains off between agitations ?

Crispin.

 

[crispinuk]

SNAP !!

 

[sbelyaev]

Thanks everyone!
Usually I use 500cc of a developer. I guess I should use at least 600.

 

[srs5694]

I'm not sure I buy the uneven development hypothesis, for three reasons:

1. If you look closely, you can see a similar change in brightness/density along the right side of the image. It's most noticeable near where the telephone wires exit the right side of the frame. If it were uneven development due to insufficient solution, I'd expect unevenness along just one edge, not two.
2. The edges between the two densities are very sharp. I'd expect a somewhat more gradual shift if it were uneven development. (That said, my experience with uneven development due to insufficient fluid volume is limited, so I could well be wrong about this.)
3. If the top edge of the film (in the tank) were getting insufficient developer, I'd expect the top edge to get less development than the rest. This would result in a stripe of darker image near the (left or right for a TLR) edge of the film. The posted image is the opposite -- the areas on the edges are lighter than the central areas, suggesting more exposure or more development.

Unfortunately, I don't have a brilliant specific alternative suggestion. The sharpness of the boundary makes me think it may be a light leak, but as others have pointed out, the fact that the problem has occurred on only a couple of rolls doesn't go neatly with this hypothesis.

 

[crispinuk]

I'm not sure I buy the uneven development hypothesis, for three reasons:
...
If the top edge of the film (in the tank) were getting insufficient developer, I'd expect the top edge to get less development than the rest.

Arrgh, I was stupidly thinking in terms of the negative being lighter, and we're looking at a print here. Doh! as people tend to say these days.



Crispin

 

[smieglitz]

FWIW, I agree with srs5694 mainly because the lineation seems so regular. If it were chemical i would expect to see a gradation and streaking rather than such a consistent and abrupt transition in tone. This also leads me to disregard shutter drag as a potential cause (though I think that more likely than a chemical explanation if a focal plane shutter). The effects of shutter drag that I've seen always have had some slight diagonal aspect to them and the boundary is a gradation in tone and again not as abrupt as you have here.

Beats me what the cause may be. If you have films from the same emulsion batch see if they have a similar problem compared to a different emulsion number. That might at least eliminate a manufacturing problem (rare) and point to something within the camera as the cause.

Joe

 

[sbelyaev]

I had 5 rolls of Plus-X (from the same box). Three of them came out fine.