film Milky - currently washing - please help

[brambor]

I have just developed a roll of trix when I noticed a milky (big time) appearance as I was dropping it into film washer. The only difference from my regular procedure was a different brand fixer used. So my question is it a cause of not enough fixing or over fixing or is it not related to fixing?<P>I noticed my reel to be slightly wet when I was putting the film on in y changing bag. Xould this be an issue? <P>I'm going to wash this for 30 minutes but can I do anything else before I hang the film to dry?

[dan_meyers1]

The film needs more fixing.

[ronald_moravec1]

Stop washing and refix. What kind of fix did this ?

[brambor]

The Sprint Fixer Remover (blue liquid, 1-9 ratio). I fixed for 10 minutes. My usual fixer is Kodafix which I ususally fix for 7 minutes.

[john_shriver]

Fixer remover isn't fixer, it's something else. Also, 1:9 is how you mix paper fixer from rapid fix, film fixer is mixed 1:4.

[brambor]

well that explains it all. Thanks for the info. I did read the bottle but I couldn't find anything that said 1:4. Well suits me right for rushing this.

[frank.schifano]

Well, certainly underfixing your film would cause it to have a milky appearance. What you are seeing is the undeveloped silver halides that remain in the emulsion. This is still light sensitive, and will darken over time; ruining any image you might have there. Re-fixing the film will clear this up if things haven't degraded too much by now.

 

You mentioned that you recently changed your brand of fixer. If you've switched from a rapid, ammonium thiosulfate based fixer to a "standard" sodium thiosulfate based one, fixing times for film and paper will be longer. Ammonium thiosulfate is much faster acting than is the sodium variety and hence the name "rapid" fixer. Naturally you should be sure that your fixing bath is not exhausted.

 

You also mentioned that your film reel was slightly wet. This is not necessarily a problem and would not be a problem if you loaded the reel correctly. The trouble is that a wet reel, especially one made of plastic, can be notoriously difficult to load. You might have overlapped the film and not noticed the problem until it was too late. That will cause not only milkiness, but there will be underdeveloped or completely undeveloped sections of film where two layers were touching.

 

A thirty minute was is complete overkill, like killing a fly with a 20mm cannon. I've recently begun to use the Ilford film washing method since the water coming out of my tape is too cold this time of year. Things are warming up now and so will my tap water, but I'll continue with the Ilford method just the same. It's a little more trouble, but in exchange I don't need to worry about fluctuating water temperatures and I save a bit of water as well. Follow the link to the document describing the Ilford wash method.

 

http://www.ilford.com/html/us_english/pdf/Film%20Hobbyist.PDF

[johnmarkpainter]

Rene,

 

THAT ISN'T FIXER! The Mix ration isn't the problem. You used "Fixer Remover" that is

supposed to remove Fixer AFTER you Fix the film.

 

If you don't have any Fixer right now, just keep the Film in the Dark until you can fix it

properly.

 

jmp

[brambor]

Yeah. I feel like a dunce. In my busy busy mentality I completely spaced out on this one.

[m.c.fitz]

As mentioned above wet reels can ruin parts of you negs. They can also make it difficult to

load film smoothly. If you suspect the reels are still wet before you load film, use a hand

held hair dryer on them and save yourself some grief.