I know it’s hard to determine the cause, but I’d still like to hear everyone’s thoughts. I used unexpired film and Ilford chemicals, but after developing, I noticed white specks that look like dust or sand, and they can’t be washed off.
Was the fixer used before? How did you wash the film after fixing? Did you use a final rinse/stabilizer product and if so, was that freshly prepared or reused?. I used unexpired film and Ilford chemicals
Can I take it you used b&w chems( Ilford) to develop a C41 film Can you say what these were, their age etc i.e can you tell us more about exactly what you did ?
Thanks
pentaxuser
Old and confused?? Me too, at least one of those.
Ah, the folks who make Ilfocolor products actually own the "Ilford" name.
Harman merely enjoys borrowing it - they bought a perpetual license to do so, but only for the black and white stuff they do.
Yes I do understand all of this as it has been discussed quite a lot, Matt. My post was a kind of "old git" curmudgeonly joke in terms of the solution to the problem.
I was of course serious about "new" film makers being sent to Devil's Island now that Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman have left so they can't get even the pleasure of asking for their autographs
pentaxuser
Was the fixer used before? How did you wash the film after fixing? Did you use a final rinse/stabilizer product and if so, was that freshly prepared or reused?
It might help to also describe your water. Is your water hard; Is your water softened? Either could be responsible for white residue.
yes
thanks please see other replayCan I take it you used b&w chems( Ilford) to develop a C41 film Can you say what these were, their age etc i.e can you tell us more about exactly what you did ?
Thanks
pentaxuser
OK, your processing sounds OK. I have heard occasional complaints related to final rinse/stabilizer. You could try to process a roll and skip that step, and just do a final rinse in demineralized/distilled water with some photoflo.I used tap water for the washing steps, followed by distilled water mixed with stabilizer for the final rinse. When I noticed the white spots, I tried multiple rinses with distilled water, but it didn’t help.
OK, your processing sounds OK. I have heard occasional complaints related to final rinse/stabilizer. You could try to process a roll and skip that step, and just do a final rinse in demineralized/distilled water with some photoflo.
Well, that's what it looks like right now. What we don't know, but you may be able to tell if you look at the film closely with a powerful loupe or microscope, is whether there's also particulate matter that ended up embedding itself in the emulsion. Since the emulsion is swollen when it's wet, it can to an extent 'absorb' particulate matter that embeds itself in the top layer of the emulsion upon drying. Especially small particles with a high aspect ratio (i.e. flat stuff) can embed itself in such a way that it doesn't appear to sit on top of it anymore.First, if the white spots only appear on the base side of the film and extend beyond the image area, including the unexposed sections
Well, that's what it looks like right now. What we don't know, but you may be able to tell if you look at the film closely with a powerful loupe or microscope, is whether there's also particulate matter that ended up embedding itself in the emulsion. Since the emulsion is swollen when it's wet, it can to an extent 'absorb' particulate matter that embeds itself in the top layer of the emulsion upon drying. Especially small particles with a high aspect ratio (i.e. flat stuff) can embed itself in such a way that it doesn't appear to sit on top of it anymore.
Secondly, whether you can wash off dirt depends on its composition and how it bonds with the surface. Something like calcium scale tends to rub off relatively easily, but will not wash away in a pH neutral or alkaline bath. If it's calcium salts, what will help is to wash the film for a few minutes in an acid bath (dilute acetic acid would be OK) and afterwards wash the film again in plain water to remove the acid. However, you may also have to apply mechanical force (rub, brush) to remove stuff that has adhered to the emulsion. But the contamination can also be of a different nature; it can be some kind of organic substance, and some of those may not be water-soluble at all. Sometimes, it's possible to wash them off with a different solvent like alcohol or acetone. However, the more aggressive the solvents are that you try on the film, the bigger the risk of permanent emulsion damage.
Overall, I've had very little luck trying to remove the kind of contamination you've shown in #1.
Thanks for your reply, please see my latest reply to KodaksDo you use the chemicals as one shot?
Could you give a detailed description of your processing workflow?
I recall seeing a similar problem, the white spots, and IIRC it was related to stabilizer that was too concentrated.
This latest processed roll with the problems is the one on the right, correct? I see excess cyan dye formation. There are three causes that come to mind:Unfortunately, though, the color on this roll still doesn’t look quite right, which is hard to understand.
This latest processed roll with the problems is the one on the right, correct? I see excess cyan dye formation. There are three causes that come to mind:
1: A mixing error with the chemistry; mixed the wrong ratios.
2: A cross-contamination or a carryover problem; e.g. significant amount of developer got into the fix, no stop bath used or an inappropriate extra step in your process.
3: Insufficient fixing can sometimes show up as additional cyan density as well, but generally it looks more uneven than this.
You could try running this film through fresh fixer for 10 minutes or so (room temperature is OK) and see if that makes a difference.
As always, it really helps if you describe your process in detail. I notice that in your problem reports you often only give out a minimum of information and we have to pull out all relevant information bit by bit. Consider giving a complete rundown of your process, materials etc. next time. For instance, I now find myself wondering whether or not you use a stop bath, and questions have already had to be asked about what chemistry you use, if you use it one shot etc. All this kind of stuff you can assume as relevant right from the start, so just give that sort of information right away.
Sometimes I’m just not sure which information would be useful to mention unless I’m asked
I got it！I will update Sunday after the next roll, I hope everything is fine!Assume that all information is relevant.
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