very thin negs

its been a while since i last posted here but work has gotten out of hand so havnt done much in the way of photography. now i have a backlog of film, i got set out to develope last night so i loaded my reels with film 5 in all got everything to the right temps and mixed my developer which is 510 pyro and started developing . after fixing and washing all the films where very thin some hardly being seen .the films i loaded where two hp5 plus and three acros .i used 21 deg temp for 7 mins which is normal for me,the 510 pyro was 1:100 but it did look darker than i can remember, i used 15ml of 510 to 1500ml of water. the 510 is around 15 months old could this be a problem.i did some last month and the negs look mint i cant understand ,sorry for babbling on but its doing my head in and dont want to ruin anymore.any suggestions please ,thanks wayne

hi wayne

were all your chemicals fresh ?

john

hi my 510 pyro concentrate was 15 months old but i made the 1:100 solution a couple of minutes before i used like i normally do my fixer was last used about 2 months ago.i use 510 pyro because i was under the impression it lasts a very long time in its concentrated form.i used the last of that last night so i need to make a new batch up and see if this makes a difference i have also chucked my fixer and will make up some more.also what i didnt mention before is the film has a pink tinge to it

Sounds like you are in a good position to really find out how long the concentrate will last. Make up some fresh and compare the two. My bet is that the old stuff has lost activity.

thanks i will give that a go when i first mixed up the 510 it was a golden brown and over time its darkened and when i mixed it to use it was very dark and i did think it was strange . i know i have used exact time temps and ratios as before so i can only think it could be the chemicals but just wanted clarification on what i had done as i have been second guessing myself.

I had the same problem with PMk. I find that it cames from the alkali solution which get older quicker than the developer. I still use 8 years old PMK solution with good result. but for the metaborate solutio I prefer to dilute it just before use. I consider that it doesn' keep longer than 3 month.

Never use 510 but it seems that it is a ONe solution developer. You could try to test the PH of a fresh and old solution to see is something happen with time

I'm using 510 that is just over two years old with no problems.

Mike

The deeper color of the 510 indicates to me that it has lost a lot of potency. Storage conditions vary and they have an effect on the life of developers.

thanks for all your posts ,i have just made a new batch so will give that a go ,and test the ph and let you all know ,cheers wayne

hi all i have just developed another film with the new 510 and everything is fine.i just did one film just to make sure i havnt done anything wrong but it looks good thanks all,wayne

Water in Hornsea must not be quite as pure as Missouri spring water

Mike