Negatives are very light

[scott_thomson]

I have just developed my 1st roll of film and the negatives seen to be very light. I used Acutol at 30ml to 300ml at 20degrees C . Following the instructions on the bottle the film was imersed for 11mins, film was Ilford 400 Delta Pro.

Have I done something wrong?

 

<p>

 

Scott.

[joe_miller2]

You are not giving us enough information. For example, the negatives

could be underexposed (and probably are) rather than incorrectly

developed. What does the shadow detail in the negatives look like?

Did you expose the film at 400 or some other speed? What were you

photographing? The subject matter could result in the negatives

appearing to be light--especially to the inexperienced.

[j._patric_dahl_n]

I suppose you gave it enough agitation? 3-5 inversions every half

minute, for example. :-)

[scott_thomson]

Agitation was 10second every min, another film I took in the same

setting and lighting (shop developed) turned out ok.

Should I over expose my film next time?

Scott.

[wolfram_j._f._kollig]

Could it be you used the new Delta 400 with times intented for the old

Delta 400? (Some of the times for the new film are very long, like 11

mins in Acufine at 20°C for 500 ASA, I get 800 ASA from TMY in less

than 5 minutes.)

[joe_miller4]

Scott, I have no experience with Acutol. If you are sure that you

followed directions correctly, you may need to do a little testing to

come up with the correct ISO for your film/developer/equipment

combination. For example, I expose Delta 400 (the old) at 320 and will

probably need to test for the new formultion. Testing is a real pain

but sometimes it is the only way to nail things down.

 

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Of course, you could have just made a mistake somewhere in mixing. It

is just hard to say. If your negatives are REALLY lacking in density

this may be the case. At the very least you might try bracketing some

exposure and then developing another roll.

 

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BTW, I have always developed my own film but I have printed negatives

that were shop developed for other people. To say that some of these

were overdeveloped is vast understatement.