White Spots on Arista EDU 100

[Dan Rainer]

I've shot a bit of Arista 100 in 35mm with no issue. I tried it in 120 once but had the backing paper symbols show up in the exposures. I read that Arista was notorious for QC issues with medium format, and so I swore off using their 120 film.

Today I developed some Arista 100 4x5 and got white dots on all of my negatives. I'd heard that their antihalation layer could cause problems (in this post they recommend pre-soaking for 20-30 mins), but I thought that issue was specific to the problematic 120.

Does this look like another Foma QC issue, or am I doing something stupid?

Developed in XTOL 1:1 with a Paterson tank 4x5 adapter. Twizzle stick for the first minute and then gentle inversion each minute after that. Running water stop with TF4 fix.

 

[film4Me]

To my untrained eye for trouble shooting negatives, it looks like some liquid splashed onto the film. Note the light grey halo around many of those white spots. The liquid possibly spread out a bit before it dried. Just my 2cents worth.

 

[loccdor]

The dots are just areas of lower development. That would be bubbles, AKA air bells. Can be caused by your agitation scheme and sometimes by residual wetting agent in the tank.

I do 5-7 agitated prewashes to cut down on bubbles. Others use their wetting agent in a different tank and with film off the reels. Some people will tell you you've got to hit the tank bottom really hard on the sink.

 

[Dan Rainer]

The dots are just areas of lower development. That would be bubbles, AKA air bells. Can be caused by your agitation scheme and sometimes by residual wetting agent in the tank.

I do 5-7 agitated prewashes to cut down on bubbles. Others use their wetting agent in a different tank and with film off the reels. Some people will tell you you've got to hit the tank bottom really hard on the sink.

I've had air bells before, but mostly on the edge of 120. Using the twizzle stick for the initial agitation and tapping the tank hard after each inversion solved that for me.

I doubt it has anything to do with the wetting agent. The picture was taken right after the photo-flo and I'm positive it's not drying marks.

I wonder if it has something to do with the bright green antihalation layer. It doesn't appear when processing Arista 100 in 35mm. I don't typically prewash, and it's never been an issue for me, but maybe I should make an exception for this film.

 

[loccdor]

I doubt it has anything to do with the wetting agent. The picture was taken right after the photo-flo and I'm positive it's not drying marks.

I wasn't suggesting it was drying marks. Those are definitely circles of reduced development. Have a look at this one in particular:

You can see the line pattern through it, it's just got less density. It got less development.

The wetting agent (from your previous development session, not this current one) can be one cause of bubbles that occur on the film while it's in the developer.

 

[Dan Rainer]

I wasn't suggesting it was drying marks. Those are definitely circles of reduced development. Have a look at this one in particular:

View attachment 417740

You can see the line pattern through it, it's just got less density. It got less development.

The wetting agent (from your previous development session, not this current one) can be one cause of bubbles that occur on the film while it's in the developer.

Oh wow. I had no idea that could be an issue. I'll clean out my tanks/reels before trying again and maybe switch to a separate wetting agent tank if the issue persists.

 

[John Wiegerink]

Oh wow. I had no idea that could be an issue. I'll clean out my tanks/reels before trying again and maybe switch to a separate wetting agent tank if the issue persists.

A separate vessel for wetting agent is what I do and I never put my reels in it. I shoot mainly 120, but do the same for all formats. I have a glass wide mouth clip-lid with seal that I use. I take each end of the film and seesaw it back and forth through the wetting agent (LFN) several time, hang and dry. Works well for me. I also prewash most of my films, but that's because I use a staining developer like Pyrocat-HDC.

 

[Kino]

I've shot a bit of Arista 100 in 35mm with no issue. I tried it in 120 once but had the backing paper symbols show up in the exposures. I read that Arista was notorious for QC issues with medium format, and so I swore off using their 120 film.

Today I developed some Arista 100 4x5 and got white dots on all of my negatives. I'd heard that their antihalation layer could cause problems (in this post they recommend pre-soaking for 20-30 mins), but I thought that issue was specific to the problematic 120.

Does this look like another Foma QC issue, or am I doing something stupid?

Developed in XTOL 1:1 with a Paterson tank 4x5 adapter. Twizzle stick for the first minute and then gentle inversion each minute after that. Running water stop with TF4 fix.

I presoak Arista film BUT not for 20-30 minutes; 5 tops. I do that to minimize dye carry over into stop and fix. It doesn't hurt to have this carry over, but it just feels sloppy to do so.

 

[koraks]

I agree with @loccdor's analysis; that's the first that came to my mind as well.

 

[John Wiegerink]

I presoak Arista film BUT not for 20-30 minutes; 5 tops. I do that to minimize dye carry over into stop and fix. It doesn't hurt to have this carry over, but it just feels sloppy to do so.

I start presoaking my film because I was using Xtol replenished and didn't want all the junk going back into my working jug. As to presoak time, well I never go more than three minutes. I then dump and fill my tank again and dump agin just to get the last bit out of the tank. This is with 120 and 35mm. 20-30 minutes seem a tad to long to me.

 

[mshchem]

Could also be an area of lower sensitivity of the film. Consider the possibility that this might be from the factory. Air bells, or some leftover surfactant would need to reduce development for most of the entire development time.
My question is, has this been seen on other sheets in the box?