Strange stains on prints

A few days back I was printing in the school's darkroom on Ilford MG-RC. I was getting dark gray streaks and spots on almost every print. The marks were apparent as soon the print was out of the wash and where at random places on different prints. Some prints had more than others.

I then eralized that the print had those marks as soon as it was out of the developer (Ilford PQ). I mixed the developer fresh and was definitely far from exhausting the dev. I did notice that the bottom of the tray was kinda blackish. The tray was washed thouroughly before the printing session started.

Any ideas what this might be ? I've been printing for some years now and this is the first time that I see this.

Thanks

rollei66

You need to scrub the bottom of the tray. Use something like "photofinish" by photographic solutions. Rinsing doesn't do it. Run your finger along the bottom and you'll have a black mark on it. It's not a big deal, some developers ten to leave this 'tarring' behind more than others it seems.

I would be more inclined to expect that stains etc that develop on b&w prints within a short period in the wash to be the result of exhausted fixer.
I am not saying that the developer can not cause this but I know from personal experience it can happen from exhausted fixer.

Right after I figured this out, deaf though I am, I could hear a little bird singing in my ear "cheap, cheap cheap".

Speaking of which, it could be a combo-deal (want fries w/that?) and check the "spots" part and see if those spots have the telltale swirls of fingerprints... if so, you need to rinse your hands after the fixer, before you go diving into the paper box or developers

Cheap Cheap Cheap Go to your friendly local camera store and make his day and buy a nice 5-gallon bucket of fixer willya Claire

definitely not exhausted fixer, all chemicals were mixed fresh. I think I'll give more attention to scrubing the trays next time. I have just started using this schools darkroom as my current home does not allow for a setup.

Thanks for the insight.

rollei66

Too late I already purchased a 30lb pail of hypo from the Chemistry Store. You might be surprised at how hard it is for me to by a five gallon bucket of anything at the local photo shop.