Worst job EVER!

I've been shooting film for decades and have always done a great job developing film. I had just changed the light traps on my Hasselblad backs for the first time ever and had to test them out. I went to Yosemite and decided to take a panorama with the Gigapan using film. So I shot 12 photos, went to reload the film back...uh...only ONE roll of 100 ISO film and I just used it. I had 400 ISO but decided I didn't want to see the grain. So one roll was all I shot.

I brought it home, developed it and was mortified at what I developed. The light trap, for one, didn't work. There were light leaks everywhere. I need to redo it correctly (thank goodness I only shot one roll). I didn't tap the developing tank hard enough to release the air bubbles because there were tons of it. The development looked very uneven, though that could have been caused by the light leak. Worse of all it looked like I didn't use Photo-flo properly, if that's possible, as there were water marks everywhere. It was just a mess. All I could do was laugh at the results.

I'm going to post my most embarrassing moment because I want people who are just learning to know that even with decades of experience developing film that it's still possible to screw up a roll of film. Also goes to show that things happen for a reason. If I had more than one roll of ISO 100 film I would have ruined them all.

I don't think I've ever messed up a roll of film, but I likely always, unknowingly, still say some kind of unconscious silent prayer sometime during loading or development – and then thank the film gods after proofing!

Jeez, I'm always messing things up. Nice to know I'm not the only one.

ROL said:

I don't think I've ever messed up a roll of film, but I likely always, unknowingly, still say some kind of unconscious silent prayer sometime during loading or development – and then thank the film gods after proofing!

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I usually do the same but this time my prayers weren't answered. Hahah. It was so disappointing when saw the little "streaks" in the corner from the poor light trap install I did, but when I proofed the negatives I was like "what the heck?"

The OP should fire the person with badly installed the light traps and never talk to him again!

Sirius Glass said:

The OP should fire the person with badly installed the light traps and never talk to him again!

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NOOOO, I don't want to fire him or nothing will ever get done.

Welcome to APUG

Would you please put you location?

Mistooks

You gotta make all the mistooks -- and, many times, more than once.

That is one well-screwed pooch. Oh well, in for a penny, in for a pound they say. Hopefully this means you got all your bad mojo over and done with on this roll and you won't have any more problems for a very long time.

Thanks for posting. There's an old saying about putting all your eggs in one basket . . . or was that putting all your ducks in the one sock? If you had exposed 12 "sheets" of film, what are the chances of having the same problem occur 12 times in a row? Shooting sheet film does have it's benefits. The benefit really shines when each sheet can be developed individually. I recall on a number of occasions, and different roll-film cameras, having accomplished every task flawlessly from composition, exposure to development. Then to find a nice scratch on the film that runs end to end, through the middle of every frame. Oh! That just makes me want to dance. And the occasional light leak can be frustrating. I've been there may times. I replaced the seals on the RZ67 holder recently. It took three test rolls to determine and eliminate all the leaks.

Praised be the one that admits his mistakes!
We all make mistakes, one way or another.

Look on the bright side - if you find the right website you can sell this picture as evidence of the UFO invasion!

Or maybe not.

Well done for posting and stating that 'stuff happens'

MartinP said:

Look on the bright side - if you find the right website you can sell this picture as evidence of the UFO invasion!

Or maybe not.

Well done for posting and stating that 'stuff happens'

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My wife said almost the same thing. She said it looked like a bunch of horizontal meteors coming down on the Earth.

Ricardo Miranda said:

Praised be the one that admits his mistakes!
We all make mistakes, one way or another.

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It's one thing to admit mistakes, but it's another to LEARN from them.

TheFlyingCamera said:

That is one well-screwed pooch. Oh well, in for a penny, in for a pound they say. Hopefully this means you got all your bad mojo over and done with on this roll and you won't have any more problems for a very long time.

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You got that right! I do hope it's all done away with too. It had been a LONG, LONG time since I made any type of developing mistakes.

DannL. said:

<snip> I recall on a number of occasions, and different roll-film cameras, having accomplished every task flawlessly from composition, exposure to development. Then to find a nice scratch on the film that runs end to end, through the middle of every frame. <snip> I replaced the seals on the RZ67 holder recently. It took three test rolls to determine and eliminate all the leaks.

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Oh yes, that ol' "everything was done right only to find a scratch through the entire roll." Yup, apparently my Nikon FE had a place that scratched the roll. I could never, ever find where it was being caused from. Every roll had it...for decades. I recently used a magnifier and found that a piece of metal had been nicked. Now I'm trying to figure out how to fix it without getting filing all over the shutter and mechanism.

As for taking three test rolls to eliminate the leaks...oh, man, I wish you hadn't told me that. I'm hoping the next "adjustment" will fix it.

With regards to replacing the light traps in a Hasselblad back, I have one that needs to be done.
I already have the materials. Where do you think you went wrong? I'd like to learn something from your 'experience'.
Paul

I would laugh at you but I've made bigger and more embarrassing errors.

Paul Cunningham said:

With regards to replacing the light traps in a Hasselblad back, I have one that needs to be done.
I already have the materials. Where do you think you went wrong? I'd like to learn something from your 'experience'.
Paul

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I haven't had a chance to try it out for "real" but I checked the trap and it is indeed light tight now. I purchased the light traps from ebay and after trying it with the results you saw I felt dejected. I wrote Hasselblad and they indeed can provide the light traps for $18 plus shipping. That's basically the same cost as the ebay one AND it'll be the real thing.

So, before I plopped down $36+shipping I decided to try again. I watched the video on how to change the light trap on Youtube. There's a black cloth strip on the plate you take off when changing the light traps. The cloth was worn out, but what I did was peel it off and turn it around. That was one thing. I pushed it into place with permanent double-sided tape, but I suspect it won't last long.

The second thing was before I took everything apart I took a bright flashlight and shined it through the slot where the dark slide went in. On the other end I was able to see a tiny amount of light shining through. Someone somewhere on a different forum had mentioned using felt instead of the foam for the light trap. I was going to do that until my wife mentioned that she had pants patches. So I cut it into a little strip and used the double-sided tape and put it on the light trap and put it altogether. I used the flashlight and there was zero light coming through. The dark slide is really tight going in, especially when the back is attached to the camera, but no light is going in.

When I need to change the light traps again, I'm just going to order it from Hasselblad and hope they have them in stock. Don't waste your time with the Ebay product.

Oh i had all kinds of mishap before, for one lets just say at least you loaded it correctly.

dehk said:

Oh i had all kinds of mishap before, for one lets just say at least you loaded it correctly.

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LOL. My favorite is not advancing the film to frame 1 after reloading while taking the best photographs ever produced in the history of mankind only to find that I'm now on frame 2 even after shooting all those great photos.

Thanks Nathan.