What is This? Plus-X pinholes or emulsion damage

[jglass]

These are a roll of PX125, 120, fresh, dev'd in D76 1+1 at normal time, stop and fix in normal fix. I did some rolls of Tri-X in the same stop and fix and made fresh developer from the same jug and those rolls were fine.
Two types of damage seen in the dog and the window pictures: there are no marks on that window, that's all emulsion holes. The marks in the shadows of the dog picture seem to be rubs or clouds in the emulsion. Then a couple of pix of the roll from an angle to see the emulsion damage.

Anyone know what this might be?

thanks.

 

[darkosaric]

Hi,

there was no big change in temperature of developer / fixer / water?

BR,
Darko

 

[voceumana]

The last time I used Plus-X was in the 1980's--it was 120 Plus-X Pro, and I got pinholes. I quit using Plus-X because of it, as I did not get pinholes with Tri-X or Verichrome Pan.

Perhaps it was technique, perhaps not. But I no longer use an acid stop bath, and prefer, instead, a water rinse. I use an alkaline fixer. I suggest you try using a water rinse instead of stop bath, at least as a test, and see if that cures the problem.

Charlie Strack

 

[Photo Engineer]

You have 2 problems here, at least. In the dog picture the spots are white and in the window picture they are black.

Now thinking of the negative, the dog has dark spots and the window has light spots. Typically, air bubbles or pinholes are low in development and circular leaving lower development on the negative and thus light spots. So, the window picture might classify as having pinholes but they are not round in your example. The dog picture has what looks like dust or dirt. The window picture has some appearance of pinholes.

Did you prewet the film before development? Many films cry for this treatment to prevent pinholes (air bubbles). This varies with film and often vary from film to film type in the same tank.

Is your drying area dust free?

If there are rough spots on the film it can be either dust or lint or even particulate matter in your water supply.

PE

 

[jglass]

Thanks for the comments.

@darkosaric: There was no big change in temperature. I keep all chems in a water bath at the same temp.

@PE: I did not pre-wet the film, never have, with Plus-X or Tri-X. Could not be the drying area as these problems showed after processing before drying. I use well water so I guess it's possible there was particulate matter in the water or maybe I did not rinse the tank at first? But the other films processed at the same time were fine.

Any other suggestions? Culprits so far: dust, pinholes from temp change, pinholes from acid stop.

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

Could one suspect that the film has been cold stored in a freezer, and you didn't thaw it out long enough before you used it? (Condensation issues, etc)

 

[ic-racer]

PX 120? try some fresh film. Expired film is a headache as you see.

 

[Photo Engineer]

@PE: I did not pre-wet the film, never have, with Plus-X or Tri-X. Could not be the drying area as these problems showed after processing before drying. I use well water so I guess it's possible there was particulate matter in the water or maybe I did not rinse the tank at first? But the other films processed at the same time were fine.

Any other suggestions? Culprits so far: dust, pinholes from temp change, pinholes from acid stop.

If you see them after processing (during drying) it is probably dust in the air or dirt in the water.

PE

 

[kreeger]

The first photo of the dog almost looks like moisture buildup, like the emulsion was sweating when the exposure was made, then it was rolled up into the paper. You commented the film was fresh, was it ever frozen before you got it? Given what I have seen, I would concur with Thomas that it wasn't fully thawed out. The damage is physical in nature, reticulation doesn't do that (heat) from temp fluctuations. The last photo is the strongest evidence of this concept.

 

[jglass]

@kreeger and Thomas: The film had been frozen but it was thoroughly thawed (for days) by the time I used it. It was also not expired or not by much, a very recent batch of PX125.

I haven't had a chance to develop more of the this batch, but hopefully it won't show up again, since I have about 4 possible diagnoses right now! Who knows?

Thanks for your help folkes.

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

Humidity / condensation damage. Can still be damaged like this from long term storage, especially freezer storage.

 

[Photo Engineer]

Film placed into the freezer is best done using methods to prevent "Freezer Burn". This is done using an airtight package (sheet films and 120 and 220 are packed that way) or an airtight cannister. The 35mm films made today are not packed in airtight cans.

PE