Weird looking pattern on film, anyone have an an idea?

[koraks]

Or use the ring clip on the column to hold the reels down, if you have one. Not sure every Paterson tank came with one of those clips.

That's a good idea. I don't I ever had one of those, but something could be fashioned very easily, even if it's not an official part.

 

[Ian Grant]

Check the pH, the developer could be coming more basic if it is feeling soapy.

I don't go feeling my developers, it's visible.

Ian

 

[MattKing]

Or use the ring clip on the column to hold the reels down, if you have one. Not sure every Paterson tank came with one of those clips.

It depends on which version of Paterson tank you have.
I use empty reels instead - but I have enough extra reels.

 

[foc]

I use empty reels instead

+1

 

[Bill Burk]

Or use the ring clip on the column to hold the reels down, if you have one. Not sure every Paterson tank came with one of those clips.

The clip ring doesn’t work.

 

[250swb]

The clip ring doesn’t work.

The clip hasn't been supplied for many, many, many years, not since the current design of tank was introduced. The answer is not to mix and match very, very, very old reels with newer tanks. The current reels do not move on the centre column.

 

[Mr Flibble]

The clip ring doesn’t work.

It actually does works extremely well on the old Paterson System 4

 

[Bill Burk]

It actually does works extremely well on the old Paterson System 4

I always found the clip at the top when I opened the tank. The reels were down but evidently the top reel likes to spend time at the top.

 

[BrianShaw]

It depends on which version of Paterson tank you have.
I use empty reels instead - but I have enough extra reels.

+1

+2

 

[Sirius Glass]

Check the pH, the developer could be coming more basic if it is feeling soapy.

Nah. Might as well be becoming more acidic. Or, even more likely: not change at all in terms of pH.
Foaming and pH don't have much to do with each other.
To the extent that running film through a developer will influence the latter's pH, it will be a pH decrease, not an increase.


Not necessary. Just ensure the reels are entirely submerged and don't slide on the center column.

Also, people seem to forget that air is lighter than water by a huge margin. Foam floats to the top. It's only a problem if the fluid volume is too low to begin with, or the reels end up sitting partly above the fluid level. It's possible that some tiny bubbles stick to development reels and thereby form a narrow band of low density along the edge of the film (where it's typically not noticeable in the first place). But large areas of foam like this can never be the result of sufficient developer volume combined with foam. It's just physically impossible. If you don't believe me, go sit in a bathtub with lots of nice and fluffy foam, and see if you can get the foam to float under the surface of the water. Take some scuba gear into the tub, if you please. And a rubber duckie.

The point was that solutions that are basic react with the lipids in the finger skin and turn into soap yielding the "soapy" or slippery feeling. Biochemistry, not Photochemistry.

 

[koraks]

The point was that solutions that are basic react with the lipids in the finger skin

Developers are all basic/alkaline with the exception of one or two amidol formulae. As a result they all feel smooth and soapy.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Developers are all basic/alkaline with the exception of one or two amidol formulae. As a result they all feel smooth and soapy.

That is what I thought. Although I would never use pyro without gloves, would pyro feel soapy?

 

[BobUK]

My Paterson instruction sheet mentions not to tilt the tank when filling.
Keep the tank vertical as uneven development may occur otherwise.
The tank is designed to fill rapidly from the bottom upwards.

I do not know if uneven development covers bubbles, but every little thing helps.

The leaflet also mentions immediate use of the twizzle stick to remove bubbles at the begining of development.

Mention was made in a magazine years ago of using a piece of plastic plumbing pipe cut to the appropriate length, then placed over the reel supporting column to keep the reel from riding up the column.

 

[koraks]

That is what I thought. Although I would never use pyro without gloves, would pyro feel soapy?

Yes, it does.
Not that I'd know, of course.