Stupid mistakes in the darkroom

kevs

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Hi all,

When i first tried Cibachrome, I carefully blacked out my kitchen darkroom, prepared the slide in the enlarger and tentatively opened the paper. I slid my hand into the packet, pulled out a sheet of paper ans cut approximately one inch off for test strip. I exposed and processed it, whipped it out of the fixer and switched on the lights. No image appeared, it was just black. After trying again a couple of times i thought i'd bought some duff paper or chemicals. It wasn't until i put my hand back into the packet that i realised i'd been trying to print on the packing card!

Live and learn, eh...
 

tim_walls

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Heh; I managed to expose my first Ilfochrome through the back of the paper; amazingly enough I got an image - a very deep red one, but an image nonetheless.
 

Trey

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The first time I used Kodak Rapid Selenium Toner, I was really disappointed with the results. Nothing happened!

Later I realized I had grabbed the Photo-Flo bottle and not the KRST. :rolleyes:
 

radiantdarkroom

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I remember arriving at a darkroom just as a friend was leaving. My friend couldn't find Fixer Part A so he just used part b, Big **** mistake. That could of killed him. Apparently the fumes were quite bad he said. I can't imagine.

And then there was the time I was the darkroom tech at the college and some students decided to have a water fight with fixer. That's the only time I really lost it.
 

removed account4

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knocking a bunch of 4x5 film on the floor, as i was
trying to load them into holders ... then in the dark, trying
to find all the film, and then another box to put the dirty film ...
 

David Brown

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The biggest mistake I ever made in the darkroom was thinking I was a good printer. That was corrected the next day when I showed the prints to someone who knew better. :rolleyes:
 

dpurdy

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I have taught myself that it is possible to fix film in straight undiluted fix part A without the film disolving.

It is possible (processing film in the dark) to take film out of the developer absent mindedly after the first 30 seconds and put it in the stop bath then stand 15 minutes washing film by feel in the dark and then putting it back into the developer and it finished up fine. (not my film) (stressful)

It is not ok to open a new box of paper in the light to see what it looks like. My first ever box.

You can expose a 4x5 sheet of color film through the base in the holder.. just comes out very off color.

Paper developer mixed with out sodium carbonate doesn't do anything.

Paper developer mixed without Potas bromide gives very flat prints.

When loading films rolled on reels into the developer tank, make sure you get them all in and don't leave one on the counter.

Clearly I am smarter every day.
Dennis
 

Vaughn

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radiantdarkroom said:
And then there was the time I was the darkroom tech at the college and some students decided to have a water fight with fixer. That's the only time I really lost it.
Click to expand...

I would have lost it, too. Students would be flying out of the darkroom...and I may not open the doors first.

Vaughn
 

walter23

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Don't put all your cut & unexposed test strip materials from several different papers in the same bag, unless you want to spend half an hour running tests for your 11x14 kentmere fiber VC print on test strips cut from 8.5 x 11 out-dated ilford MG III RC semi-gloss.
 

Removed Account

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Last night printing I left the door to the lamphouse open after changing filters. Luckily it only hurt a test strip!

- Justin
 

Neanderman

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nick mulder

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8x10 large format holders, ready for development resting against a wall, 4 of them fell over and 2 of the darkslides slid out with the momentum - learned that the little clips are more than just 'helpful' - essential ...

Cellphone and iPod very close also, they were far enough away from the tray so as not to cause fogging ... I do a lot of developing in the bottom of the shower (no not whilst I'm in it) - but a downstairs light that is not used very often has its fixture very close to the drain hole - lifting a sheet of film from the developer to stop and all of a sudden its all lit up - swearing, yelling 'switch it off! switch it off!' to no avail ... Neg still came out ok though - I now put tape over the switch before heading in ...
 

dpurdy

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Oh, spilling the developer inthe beer reminds me of tmy worst screw up ever. I put a full 2 liter stainless steel developer can in the chest freezer to cool the temp down. When I went to get the can out of the chest I slipped and dropped it and spilled the whole 2 liters of developer all over all the food in the nearly full chest freezer. I had to (with the help of a very angry spouse) take everything out of the freezer and wash it off and then wash out the freezer. It doesn't sound so bad I guess but it was horrible and developer all over everything really stinks.
 

Fabian

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Sep 18, 2007
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this is fun to read.

as i am only into black and white 35mm there is not too much.

the worst thing was: I loaded two rolls of film on two reels and put them in the drum. light on. everything worked out fine. except: there was an opened 125PX and a trix pushed to 2000 beside the loaded tank.
oh well. Of course I didn't know which one I had loaded first. Light out. one reel in a single drum each. Then I guessed and developed one. Turned out I developed the trix way too short. At least I knew for sure the 125PX was in the other drum.

Lost one film. Never happened again, till now. nobody ever did this?
 

Confusion Circle

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1) Forgot to close the black plastic bag that the paper comes in. Fogged the edges of a brand new pack of 11x14 fibre paper.

2) poured in fixer instead of developer into my Patterson tank. Got a nice long piece of transparent plastic.

3) Left an exposed roll of HIE sitting on the counter and turned the light on. Fogged half the roll.

4) almost developed a roll of 220 Provia in B&W chemistry.

5) dropped my film onto the floor of the film dryer, and got dust and dirt on a wet roll of film. Got scratches after re-washing.
 

Andy K

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I was making prints in my kitchen darkroom. Was exposing the final version, and opened the fridge for a beer...
 

RH Designs

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Ok, here's the scenario. A friend's darkroom (whom I won't name to save embarrassment!) some years ago. Back to Cibachrome processing after a quick tea break. Pour the developer into the Jobo drum. Process for 3mins or whatever, pour out the dev. Only no dev comes out. All three of us are convinced that we did actually pour the stuff in. So in goes the rinse water, rinse 1min. Start to pour out the water. Nothing. Much scratching of heads. Same thing happens with the bleach. Seriously puzzled, we remove the end cap from the drum and there inside is the towel we had been drying the drum off with after processing the previous print. Much falling about laughing ...
 

Neal

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I once discovered while developing film that Dektol does not make an effective stop bath. No excuses. A daylight tank and all the bottles properly and obviously labeled.

Neal Wydra
 

alex.slaets@adeo.be

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After repeated tests I can confirm that only one side of photographic paper is light-sensitive.
 

pesphoto

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Ever drop a roll of film in the dark while about to load it onto a reel and have it roll under your desk and have to go fish around on your hands and knees in the dark..............? Never happened to me
 

Thomas Bertilsson

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Put an opened 100 sheet box of fibre paper on the light table and turned it on to look at negs. A couple of powerful halogen bulbs will fog paper!
Since then I have a smaller light table in the darkroom and I made a habit of sealing up the paper boxes before I mount the sheet on the easel.

Re: Darkroom fridge... Now there's a good idea! I've got a newly installed radio/cd player in there, now what else besides beer can a darkroom-phile need? A wine cooler? Fondue pot?

- Thomas
 
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