Tmax 400 black spots

Chris Richards · Jul 14, 2014

I've been using tmy for a long time, and never had any problems until recently. I just bought a Yashicamat, no problem with the first film I put through, however the second 2 both had the same problem - a random array of black spots on the last 2 frames. Anyone come across this before? Thanks in advance for your help!

Xmas · Jul 14, 2014

Any spots in the rebates or between frames or in trailer?

Photo Engineer · Jul 14, 2014

Please post a scan.

Chris Richards · Jul 14, 2014

A few spots in between frames.

Born2Late · Jul 14, 2014

I had the same thing happen recently. They tended to be in clumps or at least close together, but mine were only within the frames.

Kevin Harding · Jul 14, 2014

I've had it recently too, but would appreciate a scan to see if I'm having the same issues.

M6F6E6 · Jul 14, 2014

I haven't had this happen after hundreds of rolls of TMX over the years, but i did get it recently with some cheap european bw film so i have gone back to TMAX... so I will look out for this problem. thanks for raising the issue.

Chris Richards · Jul 15, 2014

Sorry - I don't have a scanner. I'm going to try some HP5 to see whether it's the film or development (D76 1+1).

polyglot · Jul 15, 2014

By "black spots", do you mean dense spots or clear spots on the negative?

Pat Erson · Jul 15, 2014

Coud be a bad batch... Around 2010 I had a bunch of faulty TRI-X 135 films : the end/tail of some films looked lke they had been munched by a dog. Fortunately it only affected the side (= the perforations) of the films not the image itself but still it looked strange.

Simon R Galley · Jul 15, 2014

As always you need to see it, and even then probably examine it with a EM.

Never say never but Its KODAK so 99.99% it will not be a manufacturing fault.

Simon ILFORD Photo / HARMAN technology Limited :

Chris Richards · Jul 15, 2014

They are dense black spots on the negatives

MattKing · Jul 15, 2014

Sounds like a processing/handling issue.

pgomena · Jul 15, 2014

I once had black spots on negatives. It was the result of a city crew working on the water main a few houses down. Made a mess of a bunch of film, but settled out a few days later.

JW PHOTO · Jul 15, 2014

MattKing said:
Sounds like a processing/handling issue.

Last two frames on a roll? If it were a processing fault I'd think it would run random throughout the roll. JW

Ko.Fe. · Jul 15, 2014

Yes, I do have black spots on recently taken 120 TMAX 400 rolls from pack of five, purchased around this March .
It doesn't looks like camera issues, but something during processing.
HC-110 B. Last frame on last film, has a lot. I remember for sure.
I don't see it on 135 negs from Kentmere, Ilford, which I developing few times per every week.

I think, I'm done with 120 TMAX. To me, personally, most unstable film to develop, less convenient film to scan.

Ilford, here I come, again. Loaded HP5 to my M33 yesterday.

polyglot · Jul 15, 2014

I cannot imagine it to be a camera issue, and like Simon, would not believe it to be a Kodak issue. Kodak, Fuji and Ilford all have incredibly good QC.

Do the spots look like something stuck to the film, or are they spots of increased silver density? You will need to inspect with a microscope to find this out, or put the film in an enlarger and inspect one of the spots with the grain magnifier. If the spot is totally dense, it's likely crud in your water. If there is grain visible in the spot then it's likely you've made up the developer poorly. Which developer did you use? Are there any tiny white specks or streamers (like shredded tissue) floating in it? If you normally use a powder developer, do a test roll or two with a liquid concentrate as it's a lot harder to make an error with those.

Ko.Fe: if there's crud on the last frame of your film, it's a handling issue. Either while loading/unloading the camera, or during development. Or trying to use too many frames on the roll.

Ko.Fe. · Jul 16, 2014

Wierd. I find more similar spots yesterday on just developed HP5 and Pan F. Not at all of the frames, but only on some.
I buy, load rolls with 12, 24 and 36 frames only. Too old HC-110? I'll try D-76.

Jaf-Photo · Jul 16, 2014

polyglot said:
By "black spots", do you mean dense spots or clear spots on the negative?

True, this makes a lot of difference.

polyglot · Jul 16, 2014

Ko.Fe. said:
Wierd. I find more similar spots yesterday on just developed HP5 and Pan F. Not at all of the frames, but only on some.
I buy, load rolls with 12, 24 and 36 frames only. Too old HC-110? I'll try D-76.

Try filtering your process water.

removed account4 · Jul 17, 2014

are you using distilled water for all your chemistry?
sometimes tap water is mineralized ( like in france ) and
there are ingredients in the water that don't like photo chemistry.
sometimes black spots are from this stuff in the water ...

Chris Richards said:
Sorry - I don't have a scanner. I'm going to try some HP5 to see whether it's the film or development (D76 1+1).

cellphone? cheap digital point and shoot? ipad / pad snappy?

lucaguerri · Jul 17, 2014

I suggest you to filter all the chemicals at their work diluitions before you use them.
Wash your negatives with Ilford method (5 + 10 + 20) using only filtered water.

zanxion72 · Jul 17, 2014

Are the spots like these:

This is damaged emulsion. My film had been frozen and then exposed to heat.

Chris Richards · Jul 17, 2014

Just developed a roll of HP5, which is spotless(!). I'm wondering, is it possible there were little air bubbles in the fix? - I didn't agitate it.

Thanks for all your suggestions!

removed account4 · Jul 17, 2014

un-agitated fix will not give black spots on the negative,
it will insufficiently treat your film, but it won't do what you have ...

Tmax 400 black spots

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