film prob view 3

I am a photo teacher and I have had thousands of students develop film

in our lab. This year for some reason I am having this problem occur on

about 5% of my students' film. It looks as if chemistry is not touching

there, but then I see the base below is blown away and the black flows

out like of the clear area - maybe a few things are going on. It can't be

the chemistry as others using the exact same chemistry at the exact

sam etime with the exact same conditions, temp, etc., their film is

perfect. Any ideas??? Please help I am stumped. You can see some

other views on my profile.

This is a problem I used to have often with stainless steel film reels. It happens when one turn of the film touches the one below. There is contact of the emulsion to the backing which prevents chemical from reaching the emulsion. Once this happens those frames are ruined. I found that by gently bending the film as it is being wound onto the reel you can prevent this from happening. With experience you can also feel the film kinking which is the root cause.