Beginners problems with self-developed negs

[aki_dick]

My first roll of film shows up with some kind of stains (see photo

below). So do the next three ones but less than the first.<br>There

is no dirt or dust on the film, so it must be a developing

fault.<p>Film was old version TMX 100, Rodinal 1+25, 5.5min 20°C,

continuous agitation 1st minute, then twice a minute<br>Also the tank

was dry + clean prior to its use.<br>I did not use a wetting agent at

the end for this one as I did for the next films, but as I mentioned

the are no drying marks on the film to be seen.<br>Water from the tap

here has a very high amount of lime if this might be a cause.<p>Any

ideas?

[group 11]

i had similar problems (negs looked very much like yours). in my case, it was indeed water quality. i switched to using distilled water for dev/stop/fix and the problem went away. for how long are you fixing? i'm not a tmx shooter, but if i recall correctly it needs an extended fix.

[gareth_harper]

May be deposites from the water.

T-max needs twice the fix time of films like say HP5 or Tri-x, ie 6 minutes is a good idea rather than the usual 3.

Gently wash using a force wash device for about 30 mins with tap water. Do 2 good final rinses with distilled water. Hang to dry in a dust free enviroment. Wipe excess water off gently with fingers and leave to dry.

[donald_miller1]

Did you presoak or prewet the film before adding developer? Did you tap the developing canister on a flat surface such as a counter top after adding developer to dislodge any potential or actual air bubbles? I doubt that it is due to mineral content in water. Calcium carbonate(lime), magnesium and iron, while they are an undissolved solids, do not normally exist in water supplies in the sizes that your negative indicates. They are normally microscopic and not visible to the human eye.

[frank.schifano]

This looks like mechanical damage to the film. Check your procedures.

[aki_dick]

Thank you so far, sorry for the delayed answer. Couldn't log in due some server error.<p>As for procedures:<br>1) Fix time was about 10 min with fresh solution<br>2) I taped the tank so much onto surface that I could hear my neighbors from below swearing at me...<br>3) No presoaking<p>I'll try this and maybe a final rinse with distilled water next time. I can't remember having any problems while loading the film into the spiral but maybe my treatment still was too harsh.

[lex_jenkins]

Those marks may very well be due to residue from hard water. Our rural well water comes from a limestone basin, extremely hard and will quickly leave a whitish residue on any surface. We go through 80 lbs of salt a month trying to keep the water softener fed.

 

I can always tell when the water softener is out of salt - my negs would have similar marks that showed up mostly in scans, occasionally in prints. That's when I've switched to using distilled water for my chemistry, double-filtered tap water water for washing and distilled water with a wetting agent as a final step. No more problems with marks due to mineral content.

 

If distilled water is impractical try either adding an on-faucet filter or a one-gallon pitcher filter. It will help.

[chris_waller]

I'm inclined to think that this is primarily water-borne particles, but as Frank said, there may be some mechanical damage, i.e. scratching. For the first, use a water-filter. Paterson make a 10 micron filter which just pushes on to the faucet. I use one but I also put a wad of cotton wool on top of the filter gauze to take out the larger particles first. This means the gauze doesn't block up so frequently. I use filtered water for all film processing chemicals and film washing. As for the second, take particular care when handling the film.