Is this normal or did I do something wrong?

<p>I just developed my first roll of film yesterday. Before I get to my question I'd like to say a quick thank you to all of the members of this forum. I researched this forum quite a bit before making this attempt. </p>

<p>Anyway, things went fine for the most part. The only thing that went wrong was that the outside edges of the registers where the film and the plastic reels meet didn't get any development, except for a few random spots along the film. See attached image. I was using Yankee plastic reels and tank. I didn't clean the reels beforehand (they looked clean already). Could this be the cause? </p>

<p>P.S. I did try to Google this first and got about a million hits on undeveloped film and undeveloped land. :-(</p><div></div>

<p>The images themselves look good, so the problem is probably with the tank/reels. <br>

Since both the top and bottom edges are not developed but the image itself is developed, you were using enough developer and agitating properly. It appears that the reels kept the developer from contacting the film. I have never had this problem, but I use a Patterson tank and reels. </p>

 

<p>Looks normal. The reels just prevent the chemicals from coming in contact with the emulsion</p>

<p>As the others say, so long as the actual negative is OK.</p>

<p>I confess I haven't seen this before, but I haven't tried out my "new" plastic reels yet.</p>

<p>I've never seen such a dramatic example, but I'm not surprised. Even stainless steel reels will sometimes leave a narrow unprocessed stripe in the margin of the film, but not at the edge like that. <br>

If you want to stick with plastic reels, you might want to consider a Paterson tank set. About the best of breed, very fast fill and drain times, well designed, well built. <br>

Or, take the plunge and learn stainless reels and tanks. You can process a 35mm reel in just 8 ounces of chemistry, where the Paterson takes something like 12 ounces.</p>

<p>I don't get it.<br>

Undeveloped unexposed film is clear after being fixed but the edges of the negatives you show are dark so something else is happening. Dark edges can be caused by light fogging followed by development and fixation. Or they can arise from lack of fixation on the edges which will leave the original opaque emulsion in place. If re-fixing the negatives clears the edges then that was the problem.</p>

<p>It does look very strange try maris's suggestion<br>

but it appears to be a camera or cartridge problem<br>

they thing that seems to rule against camera light leaks is there seemns to be no indication of this on the image area. It would not hurt to refix.<br>

but the extrems sharpness of the black lines is puzzling<br>

could it come fromn the factory and you did nothing wrong?</p>

<p>I use Paterson plastic reels and I have never had this problem. My negs develop right out to the edges. But as others have noted, the body of the negs is OK.</p>

Maris is correct. You're not seeing a lack of development. Either the edges haven't been fixed, or they've been exposed to light before being developed. Put one of the strips in a tray of fixer and see if the edges clear. If they don't, you have a light leak.

<p>A light leak would not affect both edges while sparing the center. Too little developer also doesn't explain this because because both edges are dark. The film might have been loaded with the emulsion side facing out. This wouldn't cause any problem in the image area but going against the film's curl might push the emulsion against the inside of the reel at the edges. In High School when we didn't have enough tank/reel space we sometimes loaded two rolls with the base sides back to back into the same stainless steel reel. To be safe we added a little developing time. The image areas were fine but we did sometimes get the edge markings you show. </p>

<p>Thanks everyone. I'll try to re-fix the negatives if I have time when I get home from work tonight. I'll let you know if that fixes the problem (no pun intended).</p>

<p>Do not refix your negatives. Nothing is wrong with them. I've seen this before.<br />What you are seeing is simply a strip along the edge of the film that the chemicals couldn't get to because of the design of the particular type of plastic reels you are using. The reason that the strip of undeveloped film didn't get cleared by the fixer is that the fixer never came into contact with it the same as the developer never came into contact with it. If you hold the film up to the light, it should look like a gray strip of undeveloped film pretty much the same color that the whole width of the film was before you developed.<br />Nothing is wrong with your film. If it isn't broke, don't fix it (either with fixer or in the larger since of "fix.")<br />As long as the image area is fine, no reason not to continue using this reel and tank. If you don't like the strips, get stainless steel. I've never had this happen with them.</p>

What kind of film is it? Is it on the polyester base?

 

It might be from light piping. The edges certainly were exposed to sometinig. Maybe even in the original packaging

process.

<p>Adding to Craig Sherman's post... the film was probably wound too tight in the reel. Make sure not to pull the film tight next time you wind it in.<br>

The question I have is whether there actually is unprocessed emulsion on the edges or if those edges are actually clear and black. If the former, then the above is true. If the latter, then others are correct that the edges has been exposed to light and there could be a leak in your camera or the film cassette... it's too clean for that though so I'm guessing it's as Craig thinks it is.</p>