Developed Negatives come out clear.

[daniel_kerr]

<p>Hey guys,<br /><br />So had my first attempt at developing some B&W negatives and behold! <br /><br />They came out clear, it was really disappointing... I followed the instructions to the letter yet I have no idea what I have done wrong..<br /><br /><br />On the film it seems to look like there are streaks running down the film like<br>

| | | | | | | | (kind of looking as if it was water paint)?<br /><br /><br />HOWEVER I did not use stop bath only water as I cannot find anywhere in town that has it in stock.<br>

The first few exopures seem to be black and the rest look like hair follicles imprinted on the film. </p>

<p>Any Ideas? :/</p><div></div>

[Mike Howard]

<p>You're going to have to describe your process in way more detail than that if you want useful answers.<br>

1. What developer and fixer, what concentrations, and were they new product? Include temp/times for each step.<br>

2. What film, shot at what ISO? Old expired film or new, in date stock?<br>

3. Known working camera or "new" camera, first film through?</p>

<p>Looking at your picture, the edge markings are developed so the developer was at least working. Looks like possibly some artifacts from poor agitation technique. Possibly under fixed as well. The main thing is it looks like it was never exposed in camera, or was so underexposed that there is no trace of image. What were the conditions under which you shot the film? Did you use a working meter? Is the shutter firing on that camera? I doubt water stop had anything to do with it, unless there was so much developer left in the tank when it went to fix that it was contaminated.</p>

 

[Alan Marcus]

<p >Sorry you had this bad experience!</p>

<p >There is a problem with your darkroom technique but I know beyond any doubt that the foremost problem is related to your camera.</p>

<p >The image of the film you posted shows blank frames however the edge print is bold / readable. Film is imprinted with edge printing applied by the manufacturer by exposing the edges. We are talking frame numbers, barcode, emulsion number, batch number etc. Edge printing develops up along with your images, if any. The fact that we can read the edge printing is positive proof that the developer did its job. This means that the roll was not exposed in the camera or the exposure was too weak to record. Maybe the advance mechanism failed or the shutter failed or your setting yielded a super severe under-exposure. </p>

<p > </p>

<p >That being said, the posed image reveals film that was overdeveloped and /or fogged. The developed film is too dark, and this indicates improper handling. Maybe the darkroom area was not it total darkness. Also, the film has high density streaks that radiate from the sprocket holes inward. Likely the cause is a combination of gross over agitation and over development. We agitate to insure that all areas of the film receive equal and even developing. As film develops, areas where the exposure is great prompt lots of development action. The absorbed developer in these areas quickly exhaust, so we agitate to flush out spent developer and infuse fresh. You aggressively agitated and this induced turbulence at the sprocket holes. This turbulence caused streaking overdevelopment. Best to agitate continuously for the first 30 seconds, and then 5 seconds of agitation every 30 seconds. </p>

<p > </p>

<p >You can use a water-bath for the stop bath however, the stop is a dilute solution of acetic acid. This is another name for vinegar. OK to make your own by adding a teaspoon of table vinegar to a liter (quart) of tap water. </p>

[tim_bradshaw1]

<p>If the first few frames were black then you know that the developer is working, since those frames will have been fogged heavily in the usual way when loading the film. If the remaining frames are essentially clear then, assuming you didn't do something extraordinary involving managing to only get chemistry on the first few frames (which would be hard), they didn't see enough / any light. So the problem is with the camera, almost certainly: either the shutter is not opening, you did not load the film properly so it never left the spool, or you misjudged exposures catastrophically.</p>

[john_shriver]

<p>Might you be using a Paterson developing tank and didn't put the hollow center tube in? It's an essential light block. Some other plastic tanks are similar.</p>

[steven_clark]

<p>So either your shutter never fired, or more likely your film didn't catch on the take up and never really got in front of the shutter. Also there was a light leak. Also it looks like you overdeveloped.</p>

[daniel_kerr]

<p>The camera seems to be firing just fine, it may need some oil on the shutter but other than that its fine... I've had some rolls developed by a chain before from the same camera and turned out OK... but it took 4 weeks for them to do as they had to send it away..<br /><br />My prep was in a patterson universal tank for 2x35mm or 120m. <br />35mm at 290ml rounded to 300mm <br /><br />I used LC29 developer at ratio 1:9 <br /><br />used 15mm of developer with 275mm water at 24c<br /><br />10second of constant agitation initially and on the minute. for 5 minutes<br /><br />stop bath was water 30 second agitation pour out and refill 3 times<br /><br />Used Ilford rapid fixer 57.5ml and 232ml water.<br /><br /><br>

5 minutes with agitation for 10seconds initially and on the minute.<br /><br /><br /><br />After that I poured out the fixer and and filled with water to bath it and then took off the lid to dry realising the negs were transparent. <br /><br /><br />_____________________________________________________________<br /><br />Notes:<br /><br />The temperature could have been above 24c<br />When I touched the negatives black residue seems to peel off.<br />it took me about a minute to put the film into the spool.<br />My dark room is quite humid.<br />Using Ilford delta 400 </p>

[randy_cooprider1]

<p>Do not oil your shutter. Bad things happen.</p>

[James G. Dainis]

I can read the words "DELTA 400 PROFESSIONAL" easily enough on the side of the film. If those letters are a zone 9 then the lighter gray areas are a zone 8 or 7. There should be something on the film. If you can't see anything then you just didn't get an exposure on the film. If there was anything white in the scene it should show up as well as the letters DELTA... show up.

 

I don't know what caused those streaks, You agitation was no where near severe enough to cause that. If you used a spindle to twist the reels in the tank then one wouldn't have any agitation streaks at all. You did place the reel over the center spindle before putting it in the tank?

[alan_wigginton]

<p>Your dilution numbers don't look right. 1+19 would be 15ml + 285ml, but 5 minutes at 24 looks a bit long for this dilution. I haven't used this developer or film though.<br>

Could there be a problem with your dilution, time and temperature?</p>

[James G. Dainis]

I took your negative and lightened it up a bit so it shows more clearly. The side image markings are very clear and there are tones of black and dark gray on the negative. Surely if a scene was exposed on that film something should show up. Or were you taking pictures of a black cat in a coal mine at midnight without a flash?

 

I doubt if using 275ml of water instead of 285 ml would make any significant change. Those black streaks across the film look too regular to be random light leaks. I think the film might have been bad. (Subjected to strong x-ray?) It looks to me like you have two things going on - bad film and unexposed film.<div></div>

[steven_clark]

Messing up winding the film is pretty

common, happens to everybody really.

The edge markings on otherwise blank

film are the big tipoff that either

you weren't winding it on, or your

shutter curtains are stuck

together/firing at the same time.

[daniel_kerr]

<p>OK thanks for all the help guys, SO I have successfully processed another roll.. Now some of the exposures on this roll are fine and have turned out pretty well.. Yet, there is still some of these streaks on maybe 60% of the rest of the exposures.. <br /><br />I'm beginning to feel like there is something up with the camera.. Has anyone experienced anything like this at all? <br /><br />the Canon ae-1 i'm using does make this squeaking sound when the shutter is fired.. like its all tight, I took it to a shop and the guy there just said 'it's fine, normal sounds' but, I am skeptical that is true.. because he also said the mirror is not able to be cleaned EVER. <br /><br />I did try to develop with the same formula I've been using with an Old Konica c35 and it turned out normal... <br /><br />:/ ... chuck the old canon, eh?</p>