Fogging through center of 35mm negative

[philip_glass]

I developed a roll of "New Ilford Delta 400 Professional" in a stainless steel reel and tank. The film came out with a slight ghostly fog throughout the center half of the film. I agitated every 30 seconds with 4 inversions. Chemicals were good with fresh Ilford DDX, water instead of a stop bath, and fixer that was fine. The film came out with a slight ghostly fog in the center 50% of the film throughout its length. There were occasional "lighting bolt" shaped horizontal streaks running across the fogged portion where the film was clear. Does this sound like a development problem, or possibly a shutter problem on my Nikon F5? I had this happen once before recently, but thought that it was the result of developer that I diluted at twice what I had intended. Has anyone experienced this problem before?

[keith_nichols3]

The fog I've experienced has always been due to weak and/or incomplete fixing. Put your foggy film in fresh fixer and see whether the fog disappears in a few minutes. If it does, put the film back in and continue fixing for an equal time. Good luck!

[john_hicks]

I encountered a fog problem with new Delta 400 120; there's overall mottled fog with heavier fog down the center of the film.

 

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Process and camera problems have been eliminated as the cause; I think Ilford's having a QC problem.

 

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Speculation.....

 

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Another roll of Delta 400 that wasn't loaded into a camera, just taken out of the package and processed, is ok, no fog.

 

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The camera that two fogged test rolls were shot in puts a fair amount of pressure on the film and rolls the 120 rolls rather tightly, somewhat more than the usual Hasselblad, Mamiya etc back. It doesn't fog HP5+, Delta 100, old Delta 400, Delta 3200, TMX etc.

 

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We had some problems several years ago with old Delta 400 in a Noblex; that camera puts some severe bends in the film plus there's lot of drag (pressure against rollers) when the film is wound. Symptoms were foggy streaks in the direction of film travel. Other films were ok.

 

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So....I _suspect_ new Delta 400 _may_ be excessively sensitive to pressure and/or bending. I'll shortly be sending the fogged test rolls off to Ilford to see what they have to say about it.

 

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I doubt there's a problem with your camera or process.

[john_hicks]

Send your negs to:

 

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Ilford Imaging USA Inc.

 

70 West Century Rd.

 

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Paramus, NJ

 

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07652

 

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Attn: D. Carper

 

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I don't believe the fog has anything to do with agitation (I used both intermittent and rotary agitation), general processing problems or camera problems.

[david_carper]

This is a problem that we are just starting to hear about. If you

have been experiencing problems with this film, in the form of dark

streaks or anything else, we would like to see samples so that we can

determine the cause.

 

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Since we do not want to be overwhelmed with samples of the same

problem, please drop a note to david.carper@ilford.com before

sending, giving a brief explaination of the problem you are seeing. I

can then let you know if you should send the sample.

 

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David Carper

ILFORD Technical Service

[tim_flynn1]

I just developed some Ilford 400 ASA film, 120 format and it came out foggy. I used the above recommendation of testing part of the film by putting it into fixer and it did clear up. I had already cut the dry film into groups of 3 frames each so I just treated each group of 3 by itself, then put it in a water bath after fixing it for about 7 minutes. Then used PhotoFlo and hung them up to dry. They look a whole lot better now. Thanks for the info. Lesson learned.

 

Tim

[ehaque]

My first roll of Agfa APX 400 (120) through Pentacon Six came out foggy a few days ago. I used fresh fixer and developer. I never had this problem with 35mm film. The whole roll is consistently foggy everywhere. I will show you a comparison between clear 35mm and that foggy 120. I will have to try fixing it again as advised.<div></div>