Uneven development of the first frame of a roll of film

UPDATE: Well, I tried developing my 4th roll of film ever in the Paterson tank and...DISASTER. A completely transparent roll of film. I had some really nice pictures on there too of the beach at sunset with waves and rock outcrops and the full moon. Seaguls swooping down real close. Pigeons on a power line. A shot of a tree next to a road with some motion blur of a car going by which I had to wait a while to get. ALL GONE. FOREVER. Needless to say I am now suspicious of that tank and will not touch it. I realized the center column can be fit in my first single-reel tank if cut down and with a hacksaw and file sized it. Same day I made up one of my "short rolls" with only a dozen or so exposures worth of film and the following morning got up earlier than normal so that before work I could walk around the neighborhood, fill the roll with some test shots and develop before work hang it up in the bathroom to dry and inspect after I got home again. Well I got 11 good pictures and no apparent light leaks...so the paterson tank is suspicious now, but my original one is good to go with its newly improvised center column.

As for the loss of roll 4 I racked and racked and racked my brain as to how it could have happened, but nothing adds up. All the theories I could think up:

1. A light leak in the change bag from not zippering it up. But I distinctly remember unzippering it after reeling it into the paterson tank and click-sealing the funnel/top.
2. A light leak in the change bag from pulling my arms out too soon. But I didn't pull my arms out before reeling into the paterson tank and click-sealing the funnel/top.
3. Mistaking Kodafix for HC-110 during development ("double fixing"). But my bottle of Kodafix has the seal under the cap completely removed while the HC110 has just a small hole poked into the seal to tightly control how much HC110 comes out since I usually develop at a 60:1 dilution and use only 5ml of HC110 at a time. I distinctly remember during development trickling out the developer in little droplets and not the chug-chug the Kodafix without the seal would come out as. Just to be sure I checked the Kodafix bottle and indeed no seal with tiny hole.
4. Center column was not used causing light leak. Before I cut it down the center column was in my drying area I put all my wet things (tanks, reels, trays, tongs, measuring jugs etc.) after development/darkroom work. So it was used.
5. Funnel/top of paterson tank not locked in. I distinctly remember locking and checking it was locked in the change bag before unsealing/pulling out my arms. I definitely poured out the chemical contents multiple times without the top becoming loose or falling out. I remember the top being a bit harder to turn loose than turn on after all the development steps.
6. Mistakenly developed an unexposed roll of film, so that Roll #4 is still out there. I searched through all my film supply and every little black bottle which might be used for something else and I can account for every cartridge body, every black bottle and every unopened roll of film still has a leader sticking out (as an exposed roll would have been would back into the cartridge completely, and I distinctly remember doing so for #4).
7. Washing the film ahead of dev. As I grow more experienced and confident in film development I am branching out and trying new things, one of which is to pre-wash the roll in the tank before apply developer. This is the first time I did this and with a completely transparent roll I'm not going to try this again for quite some time. Is it possible I somehow washed away all the emulsion before development? I think I washed it more than once. My "short roll" was not pre-washed and looks great with all my "meaningless" pictures.

So I ordered a replacement center column for the Paterson from Adorama since they're so cheap and will see if I can get another clear roll with a throwaway short-roll in the future but it is on backorder. Being the genius I am I managed to break my paterson glass thermometer during my hasty morning shoot-n-dev and until its replacement arrives I have no ability to do any darkroom work with my newly arrived Cadet II enlarger (but that's a story for another thread). And yes, that is my third enlarger so far. And third thermometer. And third dev tank (I have one of those steel ones coming in). Because nobody ever said photography was a poor-man's hobby.

Is this a 120 or 135 film? Did the completely transparent roll have edge markings. I am at a loss as to how light leak would have resulted in anything other than black film or black parts at least

If the film remained in its cassette and never was exposed this a camera problem then the leader should have been black. The only experience I have of a completely transparent film was where I fixed first then of course there is nothing except clear film

pentaxuser

Just checked. The leader section is black, the rest of the roll is transparent, like it was never exposed and there is no signs of light leakage along the perforated edges. I can assure you I went through a full roll of film though as I had resistance on the winding lever, the rewind wheel turned every time I wound a new shot and the winding lever would not make a full swing after 42 exposures. I am at a loss. Theory #3, "double fixing" seems the most logical but my checking the seal seems to have falsified that.

Please slow down and think about this more clearly before drawing conclusions and blaming things like the Paterson tank. A light leak in the tank doesn't make a clear roll of developed film. It makes a dark roll of developed film, or mysterious dark areas, like the beginning of this thread.

1. If the leader is black, then your developer is probably good and you didn't fix before developing. 2. If the film area is clear but the edges have numbers on them, then the camera isn't exposing the film, or the film wasn't loaded right, or you developed an unexposed roll. 3. If the edges don't have any numbers, then you might have misloaded the reel, so that the film was wrapped tightly and developer never reached the film, but that would be hard to do for an entire roll. Or your developer is extremely weak or something such that only the super-exposed leader came out black (speculation on my part).

Look through the camera with the back open and fire the shutter to make sure the shutter is opening. It probably is since your second test roll came out ok.

BGriffin 23 we need to know if there were any edge marking. These are put on at the factory and if subject to developer first should develop even if the film never moved.

If the leader is black this suggests that it was developer first and thus there should be edge markings

pentaxuser

I suspect that you loaded the film but it was not connected to the take up spool. Once you have closed the back, lift up the rewind crank and turn it backwards until it stops. If you turn it several turns or you hear the lead move across the camera, then the film was not loaded correctly.

pentaxuser said:

BGriffin 23 we need to know if there were any edge marking.

Click to expand...

Sirius Glass said:

I suspect that you loaded the film but it was not connected to the take up spool.

Click to expand...

+1, +1
I expect you developed a roll of film that was put into the camera, but never really advanced through the camera.
You certainly wouldn't be the first.
One further possibility: you developed a different, unexposed film.
Check to make sure that there isn't still a film in the camera - be sure that if it is still there, it has been rewound.