Yellow stain

[Pieter12]

I recently made a batch (maybe 10) of 11x14 identical prints. Same times, same chemicals, all fresh, all processed in a Nova vertical slot processor. For some reason one of them has a light yellow/brown tint or overall stain. It was towards the end of the session, but I'm not sure if it was the last print or not. What caused this? Exhausted fixer?

 

[koraks]

Exhausted fixer?

Possibly. Could also be dichroic fog due to excessive developer carry-over. Or light fogging which for some reason turned up on just this sheet (phone screen coming for on for a second etc.)
It's not evenly distributed across the sheet, is it? What's the pattern?

 

[Pieter12]

Possibly. Could also be dichroic fog due to excessive developer carry-over. Or light fogging which for some reason turned up on just this sheet (phone screen coming for on for a second etc.)
It's not evenly distributed across the sheet, is it? What's the pattern?

it is even over the entire sheet. I might need to increase the stop bath time, right now it is 20 seconds, plus 10 seconds draining over the slot.

 

[koraks]

To be honest, I never ran into problems with similarly brief stop, even if it was getting somewhat dodgy towards the end of a session. It's worth a shot, but I doubt it's the main issue.
You sure the fixer was within capacity throughout that session?

 

[Sirius Glass]

it is even over the entire sheet. I might need to increase the stop bath time, right now it is 20 seconds, plus 10 seconds draining over the slot.

The directions usually state 30 seconds for stop bath, but the timing is not critical so I just use one minute which is long enough to get the job done yet short enough to not cause any other problems.

 

[Pieter12]

To be honest, I never ran into problems with similarly brief stop, even if it was getting somewhat dodgy towards the end of a session. It's worth a shot, but I doubt it's the main issue.
You sure the fixer was within capacity throughout that session?

Fixer data sheet says I should get 40 8x10's (3200 sq. in., about 20 11x14s) per liter for archival fixing. The Nova holds about 2 liters in each slot, so I think iI should have been well within capacity.

 

[koraks]

Yeah, that doesn't sound like a probable cause. It's odd, this one.

 

[MattKing]

Any chance that with that particular sheet the stop bath was impeded from reaching the emulsion?

 

[Pieter12]

Any chance that with that particular sheet the stop bath was impeded from reaching the emulsion?

Not really. I m starting to think I may have diluted the stop it too much when I was mixing the working solution.

 

[Peter78]

Hello!

I have just run into the same issue. Did you figure out what was causing the problem?

My guess is that maybe the 4-5 years old "expired" papers(Fomatone MG) I used might have some more intensive exhausting effect on developer than normally the fresh papers have.

 

[Pieter12]

Stop was the wrong dilution. I put in twice the water.

 

[gone]

I had that happen once. All my prints were neutral except for the last one, and it was quite warm. Turns out that this is what happens w/ Dektol when it's almost exhausted. So if the op used Dektol, that might be the issue.

 

[Pieter12]

No. Eco-pro.

 

[pentaxuser]

Call it a faulty instinct on my part as it may well be just that, but somehow I cannot see the stop bath dilution being the cause

pentaxuser

 

[Pieter12]

Well, the evidence is when I reprinted with the proper strength stop bath, the problem was no longer manifested.

 

[MattKing]

Exhausted stop bath can lead to developer contamination of fixer which can lead to stained prints.

 

[Pieter12]

Bingo!

 

[Peter78]

I can confirm too that the weak(not working?) stop bath caused the yellow stain on my prints too!