MISTERMIKE

Will do. Glad to hear more positive feedback for Tetenal.

Thanks for the tips, Bill. I’ll give this a shot!

Thanks for the response and advice. I’ve been told before to try Tetenal but have been holding off because of price. But yah now I’m just wasting film so I’ll give it a shot. I’ll post back with some hopefully good results sometime soon.

Here is an example shot on Fujipro 400H developed by myself and scanned at local lab using Noritsu scanner. The streaks are more faint in this shot for some reason, but still noticeable if you look closely. Similar shot, different frame on the same roll, developed AND scanned by myself. Streaks still apparent but faint.

Hello all, I'm back ...again...with more frustrating issues. I'm getting these vertical streaks on my negatives and it seems to only really be happening on 120 film. I've taken my developed negatives to a local lab that uses a Noritsu scanner to see if It's my scanning method or my developing process. The scans came back with the same results so I'm certain it's a developing issue. My entire process is as follows: Current medium format camera: Yashica D with Yashikor 3.5 lenses. Mint condition. Film used all having same streaking issues: Ektar 100, Portra 400, Fujipro 400H Film is NOT expired and stored in my mini fridge. Warmed up before loading camera. Chemicals: Unicolor C41 powder kit. Mixed with distilled water at 110 degrees F. Temperature brought down and maintained at 102F for processing. Tank: Paterson tank and reels. Used for about 4 months. Cleaned very well after each use. In great condition, never have a problem loading reels. Develop Process / Agitation methods: Chemicals are stored in cleaned out plastic soda bottles away from light and in my mini fridge. I place the chemicals in a water bath with the temp maintained at 102 degrees by a sous-vide machine. I've tried a pre-soak in the past, and now do not pre-soak. Either way results have been the same. I pour in the developer and lightly stick agitate for the first 10 seconds, followed by 4 GENTLE inversions every 30 seconds there after for 3.5 minutes. In the past I've done all stick method agitations, and still see same results. After developer, I pour in blix, same agitations as developer but for 6.5 minutes. Follow this up with a rinse for about 3.5 minutes in ~100F tap waterer. I then follow this up with a 45 second room temp stabilizer and distilled water mix . Negatives are pulled and a one time gentle squeegee using two damp clean fingers. Hang dry in shower. Scanning method: Fuji XT2 with Canon FD 50mm 3.5 macro lens. Bright light table which I diffused and I raise the film slightly off the table to make sure I don't get any of the pixels from said light table. Convert negatives inside LR using Negative Lab Pro. I make sure to block out any excess light which my come over the top of the negative. I used to have problems with this but have gotten better. Here is an example shot on Kodak Ektar 100 rated at 50. I dropped the exposure way down in post to exaggerate the streaks so you can see them easier. The second image is correct exposure in post so you can see it more faintly. Correct exposure:

Yah man thanks a lot! Just scanned in the test roll using your development method and gentle inversions. So far everything is looking really clean. I'll finish off the rest of this Unicolor and give Tetenal a shot soon.

Ahh ok, thanks for the heads up on the dev and blix. The pic with my girlfriend is on Portra 800 and expires next year. The rock pic is on Portra 400 and also expires next year. Films have been kept cool in the mini fridge. I'm using Negative lab Pro to convert the negs in Lightroom so that may be the problem? I've seen really good results with others using Negative Lab Pro, but for me it's been a challenge. Also using an old Canon 50mm 3.5 macro lens with my Fuji XT2 to digital scan. I feel like the possibilities can be endless in this process lol.

can you link me to where you get your Tetenal?

Thanks for the tips, I'm about to go shoot a Colorplus test roll right now and try your methods out. I've heard so many people caution against mixing blix and developer that I figured to make sure all the developer is out before I hit it with the blix. So when I pour the blix back in it won't be ruined? And yah so far, b&w has been a far better experience for me. I've been sloppy at times and still yield great images. Color has been a pain!

Well I think you may be right. I went back and rescanned a couple images. Made sure the light table brightness was all the way up and raised the exposure on my XT2 and also made sure to block out any light creeping over the edges from the light table. Discoloration problem seems to be gone but I'm still seeing the streak staircase effect lines coming down on the rock/water image. Which leads me back to a agitation issue I suppose? Here are the fixed images:

i can't see any discoloration on the negative itself. I'm going to try and rescan a few with at a higher exposure to see if there is any difference.

If you're referencing the bright orange light/line going along the far left of the film border (specifically the second image of the ferris wheel) that only happens when I use the Lomography film holders when digital scanning for some reason. But yes the discoloration/orange edge of the frames are what I've been dealing with. Could it be possible too much light from the light table is coming through to the edge?

Thanks for you reply and great picture! My goal is to get my pics looking that clean;) My process is Unicolor C41 kit with Paterson tank and plastic reels. Chems are stored in air tight plastic bottles kept in my mini fridge cool and always away from light. I bring the chems up to 102 degrees with a sous-vide cooker in a 5 gallon bucket. Temps are measured with a good electronic thermometer for insurance. I soak the film for one minute in 102 degree water and dump. I then pour in developer, stick agitate for 10 seconds, and then 4 agitations with stick every 30 seconds after for 3.5 minutes. Remove developer and then quick rinse with 102 degree water to make sure developer has stopped. Then i pour in blix. 10 second stick agitation to start it off followed by 4 stick agitations every 30 seconds for 6.5min. Remove blix and wash with warm water for 3 minutes. A final stabilizer is thrown in for about a 1 minute. Squeegee dry gently with fingers and hang to dry. All my chems are mixed with distilled water. The interesting thing is when I develop black and white film, I use the same tank and reels, same stick agitation method, and I've never had any issues with sprocket hole leaks. They've come out beautiful every time.

Thanks for the response. Always on the film edges. Check out the other images i just uploaded. I'm using plastic reels in a paterson tank. 300ml of chems for 35mm and 500ml of chems for medium format. (one roll per session) Reels are clean and I've had them for just about 4 months now. I make sure to clean them well after each session too. Also i just mixed new chemicals for the photos uploaded here. The first image i posted was with brand new chemicals at a constant 102 degrees following instructions. The other images were used with new chemicals as well. Probably the 4th or 5th session with them.

Alan thanks for your response. When developing color neg 35mm film I've had the sprocket hole problem. I figured I was doing the inversions too aggressively which led me to the stick agitation method. Since then I've still had the problem even with the most gentle agitations. Though they are not on every frame, they do appear on frames which has mostly a solid sky in the image. The orange edge has been quite random and have yet to find a pattern. I follow the instructions and use blix after the developer at 102 degrees for 6.5 minutes. Continuous agitation for the first 10 seconds and 4 agitations ever 30 seconds after. Should i try increasing the blix time? If i re-bleach the negatives again, how long should i go for? Here are some more sample images on 35mm to get a better look.