Uh-oh, I messed up somehow!

For the second time in thirty-six years, I totally botched the development of two rolls of film. Argh!!! I developed two rolls of Adox CMS 20 II in Adotech II and must have mixed the developer too strong. The film was totally blank. No edge numbers, no "Adox" printed on the edge. No nothing. The only other time this happened was with a roll of T-Max in T-Max developer way back in the late 1980s.

My inquiry for you fine folk is does this sound as if I mixed the developer too strong or something else? I am pretty sure it was operator error. I mixed according to the label on the developer at 1:14.

Oh well, sounds like a good reason to go make some photographs tomorrow!

Thanks,
Aubrey

You fixed the film before developing it.

This can result from using the wrong chemical (fixer rather than developer), or omitting the developer concentrate when mixing it.

A rather common problem.

- Leigh

Too strong developer would give you negatives that were too dense.
Usually blank negatives result from:
1) fixing the film before developing it;
2) using dead or completely contaminated (e.g. with stop bath) developer before stop and fixer; or
3) using developer that has no developer in it (i.e. just water) before stop and fixer.

If it was just a problem with messing up the dilution ratio, you would still have something.

After going back into the darkroom, I think the developer may have been dead. It had a darker color than I remember in the past, so I am thinking that may be the problem. I am certain that the chemicals were in the proper order on the bench. Thinking back, the developer was more than likely too old. Live and learn. The SR-T is loaded with Fomapan 100 Classic for tomorrow. Temperature is supposed to be about seventy-five degrees tomorrow. Should be a good day. Thank you both, Leigh and Matt for your responses!
Aubrey

Silvertooth said:

After going back into the darkroom, I think the developer may have been dead. It had a darker color than I remember in the past, so I am thinking that may be the problem. I am certain that the chemicals were in the proper order on the bench. Thinking back, the developer was more than likely too old. Live and learn. The SR-T is loaded with Fomapan 100 Classic for tomorrow. Temperature is supposed to be about seventy-five degrees tomorrow. Should be a good day. Thank you both, Leigh and Matt for your responses!
Aubrey

Click to expand...

In the future it might be wise to do a clip test before developing. Unless im absolutely sure of my developer, i do. Its cheap insurance.

Silvertooth said:

For the second time in thirty-six years, I totally botched the development of two rolls of film. Argh!!! I developed two rolls of Adox CMS 20 II in Adotech II and must have mixed the developer too strong. The film was totally blank. No edge numbers, no "Adox" printed on the edge. No nothing. The only other time this happened was with a roll of T-Max in T-Max developer way back in the late 1980s.

My inquiry for you fine folk is does this sound as if I mixed the developer too strong or something else? I am pretty sure it was operator error. I mixed according to the label on the developer at 1:14.

Oh well, sounds like a good reason to go make some photographs tomorrow!

Thanks,
Aubrey

Click to expand...

That's a pretty costly mistake. That combination of film and developer are on my list of "to try someday"! I agree with the comment about doing a quick and painless "clip-test" before the damage is done.

I concur that if a film is completely without any markings, including in the rebate area, then no development has taken place. Either that or the film had no emulsion to begin with.

I would therefore look at the following possibilities:

1) Is the developer still good? How many films has it developed? How long has it been mixed and in the bottle?

2) Could the developer be contaminated? Any chance you've accidentally poured fixer in there? Or some other chemical that could cause the developer to cease working...even diluting with lots of water?

3) Could the chemicals you use be incorrectly labelled? Perhaps you fixed first?

4) Human error, did you fix the film when you should have developed it?

If you previously used another roll of CMS20 from the same batch, did it develop OK? Or if you have a fresh one, try a clip test (any developer will do for this).
Also consider trying your suspect developer on a clip test (any film will do). That way you can eliminate some possible causes.

The one time something similar happened to me was two years or so ago, with a roll of TMAX 3200 that I developed in outdated ID-11. The developer had worked fine a couple of weeks previously despite being in the bottle 8 months, and having done about 12 films. So I reckoned it would be OK...but in the intervening two weeks it had become inactive - as a subsequent clip test on some other film confirmed.

You also get blanks if you fix in Clorox rather than fixer. Don't ask how I know.

I've accidentally developed in straight developer, no dilution (this was before my first coffee of the day) and still got some very nice (albeit very contrasty) negatives from it. I agree, I think you mixed up your developer and fixer.

I think I had a similar thread a few months back. Matt & Mark gave similarly gracious help. Sigh. 'Hope I don't need to learn it again.

I found a receipt in the file cabinet where I purchased the developer over a year ago. I know I had developed one roll of CMS 20 about a year ago. My conclusion is the developer was simply completely exhausted. I am taking it that I need to shoot more film.

Silvertooth said:

I found a receipt in the file cabinet where I purchased the developer over a year ago.

Click to expand...

The shelf life of developer concentrates is usually stated in a factory-sealed bottle, and commonly only a year.
Once the bottle is opened, even if no content is removed, the storage life decreases significantly.

I don't know why. Perhaps the "air" space is filled with nitrogen at the factory.

- Leigh