SPOTS ON NEGATIVES

[m_k31]

Processing film in my darkroom I'm getting blurry spots along the edge of my negatives.
They appear as darks spots on the scans, white spots on the negatives.
Photos of both negatives and scans are attached here.

It is only along the edge of the negatives, never in the middle.

They are blurry, cloudy spots. Always random, not every frame from every roll has them. Some rolls I process don’t have them at all.

Appears on Tri-X and HP5 both so isn't film-related.

I used to get this problem with the plastic Paterson reels and tanks so I switched to stainless steel and I’m still getting this problem, thought with less frequency.

 

Processing / Chemistry Details:

Sprint Standard Developer / Sprint Speed Fixer / Sprint Block Stop Bath / Sprint Archive Fixer Remover.

Pre-Soak with Distilled Water.

All Chemicals mixed with distilled water, including developer.

Only the final rinse is done with unfiltered water.

Normal to vigorous agitation.

 

Any help is appreciated!

[kmac]

Light leaks or chemical processing faults

Edited June 8, 2023 by kmac

[maris_rusis]

I've had this with Paterson reels and tanks and beat it by increasing the volume of developer and fixer so that foam layer that forms on processing solutions during agitation is well above the top edge of film. It's those little bubbles that hold back developer contact with the film that cause the spots. Reels contaminated with a trace of wetting agent (eg PhotoFlo) are often the thing that provokes bubble formation.

The developer volume for a 120 format roll film is specified as 500ml but I'll give 550ml at least. I use XTOL replenished so the extra developer volume returns to the stock bottle not down the drain.

Curiously, I found that putting a loaded reel down into a tank with my right hand inverts the film with respect to the way the film went through the camera. Hence the spots at the top of the picture.
With the left hand the spots were at the bottom of the picture. Problem solved years ago and never to recur. I hope.

[stuart_pratt]

I would think insufficient developer as maris discusses above. Just curious that you use unfiltered water for final rinse but filtered for the processing. I do the reverse!