Topic: Neopan 400CN in HC-110

[choppert]

What have I done wrong?  Anything?

I was certain I'd processed C41 B+W film in HC-110 and got normal results?

I've just developed a roll and it's all milky from the front (Obverse.jpg) and OKish from the back (Reverse.jpg)

I remember the Kodak C41 film has an orange mask.

Maybe my old 400CN had been processed by a colour lab and my memory is failing me?

PeterR - you do a lot of XP2 (which is the same as Neopan?!), are these results what you'd expect?

(sorry about the crappy digisnaps of the film)

Cheers,


Chops

[choppert]

Development notes:
HC-110 (1:40 - so dilution B ish)
6 minutes
20 degrees C

I [foolishly?] just used the dev times for normal Neopan 400!

Clonk!  Was that my mistake?

Is this massively under/over developed?

I'll attach a scan when the film has dried.

Chops

[Pete_R]

AFAIK 400CN is the same as XP-2. But I've never tried HC110 so result may not be the same.

XP-2 in Aculux does come out a bit milky. It clears as it dries. It also has a pink/purple tint which also reduces as it dries.

Let it dry and see how it looks then. If it's still milky, maybe it needs more fixing. I generally give a couple of minutes in Acufix.

[Pete_R]

Looking at the Massive Dev Chart with a lot of extrapolation, interpolation and a wet finger in the air, I'd say six minutes was about right. Density looks OK from the picture. See how it scans.

[Francois]

I know color negs processed in B&W chemistry always come out strange looking.
I did some in PQ Universal 1+9 for 10 minutes. The negatives are incredibly dense. Color is undescribeable... like burnt orange going more towards the brown. Good thing is they scan OK... though they seem to have massive fog.
Here's an example

Swing by Flaver-D, on Flickr

[choppert]

AFAIK 400CN is the same as XP-2. But I've never tried HC110 so result may not be the same.

XP-2 in Aculux does come out a bit milky. It clears as it dries. It also has a pink/purple tint which also reduces as it dries.

Let it dry and see how it looks then. If it's still milky, maybe it needs more fixing. I generally give a couple of minutes in Acufix.

I let it dry and it looked a bit better, re-fixed it (for 20 minutes) and it looks fine thanks..

So, what did re-fixing do to it?

Chops

[LT]

So, what did re-fixing do to it?

It fixed it properly.  I suspect the film was under fixed which always makes any film look a bit milky milky.

[Miles]

that's interesting, the old chap I got my film hoard from said he used to Dev XP in BW Chems too, said it was very milky till fully dry and that he fixed for 10 mins instead of 5.

Will have to try it sometime.

[choppert]

So, what did re-fixing do to it?

It fixed it properly.  I suspect the film was under fixed which always makes any film look a bit milky milky.

Thanks Leon.  But I'd mixed up a fresh batch of fixer and stuffed the film in for about 4 mins (twice the bottle time of 2 mins for that dilution).  Can it just be that the film needs loads of fixing?

Can you over-fix film?  I'm using Fotospeed FX20 (which contains no hardener.  Any relevance?)

Chops

[Francois]

Over fixing starts to bleach the image and affect the highlights.

Right now, I'm using Rapid Fix and use triple clearing time for film just to be on the safe side... My batch of fix clear the film in 32 seconds

[LT]

you can over fix film, but you need to soak it in the stuff for ages. 10 mins won't be terribly bad for it. 2 hours, maybe.   

Different emulsions will need different fixing times.  If fixing it for longer removed the milky hue, then that film clearly needs more time to fully penetrate the gelatine and dissolve the unexposed silver. The milkiness is just uncleared silver.

glad you got it sorted.

[Pete_R]

Might be worth doing a clearing test Chops to see what the clearing time is. In Acufix it's typically 30 seconds for fresh fixer so my two minutes is more than enough. Dip the trimmed off leader in the fix and see how long it takes to clear. Doubling that time should be sufficient.

[Francois]

I've done the test and it's actually quite hard to see with color film... I think it's related to the multiple layers and the overall thickness of the emulsion.

So I set my time for regular B&W and fixed longer than needed.

[jojonas~]

ah, reading this confirms what I've been suspecting myself. I should mix up some new fix or atleast check the clearing time

I've been kind of used to bad results with caffenol but I just bought fomadol and started wondering..