Speckles on my B&W negs - help!

Several times now I've found small speckles on my B&W film after

processing. At first I thought that it was from improperly mixed D-

76, perhaps some undisolved crystals sticking to the emulsion, but

I've found the same developing with Rodinal.

 

Please see the attached pictures.

 

This is what I'm using:

 

Film: Tri-X and TMax 100

 

Developer: D-76 1:1 or Rodinal 1:50

 

Kodak Stop (quite old, perhaps a decade, recently mixed from

concentrate)

 

Ilford Rapid Fix

 

Regular wash

 

Kodak photo flow (also a decade old)

 

If anyone has any idea why this is happening, I'd love to hear it.

Thanks in advance!

 

-Ben<div></div>

Here is the entire image, to give an idea of scale.<div></div>

Here are speckles on TMax 100 @ 100 in Rodinal 1:50<div></div>

Looks like drying marks to me. Do you live in a hard water area?

Try doing final rinse in filtered or deionised water, then photoflow if you like and shake as much residual water off negs as possible before hanging to dry (do this while its still on development spool). I don't recommend using a squeegee of any sort to remove water since I've scratched to many negs doing it. (even taking care)

I wouldn't agree that these marks look like they're made by washing water impurities. Especially one big one (on the man's sweater)looks like a chemical splash. Would it be possible that you've touched the negatives with hands contaminated with developer while loading them in the tank (it can happen if we have the bad habit of preparing the developer before loading the tank - and not washing our hands in between) ?? Would it also be possible that you drained the developer from the tank (in the end of the recommended time) and then didn't put the stop bath right away, but left the tank empty for a while ?

Drying marks, use final wash in distilled water.

could be stuff landing on the negs whie drying???

Drying marks - use distilled or deionised water for the final rinse.

The silver precipitates from the fix solution upon standing. It then sticks to the next film.

 

Wash the bottle. Always use fresh fix and use it up on paper for the first fix or filter just b/4 use. Put a coffee filter in the filter funnel and then quarter a Bounty paper towel over the coffee filter.

 

You can rub this off still wet film, but risk scratches. No amount of washing will get it off.

 

This is not from the developer.

Thanks for your answers, everyone. I'm in Vancouver, which generally has softer water, but perhaps it has enough minerals or whatever in it to cause this. I will also try to filter the fix and see if that makes a difference.

 

Thanks again!

Buying some fresh chemicals would be a good start...

Algae will grow in just about any solution over time, even opaque bottles of developer.

Either the photo flo is contaminated, or possibly the fix as mentioned above.

 

This is analogous to eating ten year old canned goods and asking us why you have a

bellyache.

BEN;It looks to me like dandruff;you really should look after your little one better.Try a better shampoo or better still don't cheap out on old processing chemicals.

I had same problems! It is the Photo-Flo or soap plus the fixer!

Wash your reels in really hot water, no soaps of any kind.Use a bleach

or similar and lots of rinses.Wipe the steel reels and wash more.

The soap accumulates and is waiting! The fixer and ALL solutions ought to be filtered prior to and after use. Do not use out of date chemicals.I use two fixers by the way. Do not overfix! Check clear times with small pieces of film, while developing your film.

Ben it looks like "air bells" to me. Either agitate vilently for the first 15 seconds or better than that, pre wet the film for a minute or two dump it and then add the developer. I think that will solve your problem.

 

Lynn