Topic: Film Developing nightmare on halloween !

[Nigel]

Not that I want to be too dramatic!

I posted sometime ago about a problem I was having where the right hand edge of my negatives had a lighter strip. The consensus was that the reel was probably moving up the spindle and out the developer - which sounded logical to me.

As a bit of a developing newbie I was a bit put off and didn't get round to developing any films for a while. However I did buy another tank on ebay (I'm using a Paterson series 4 - by the way) which had the white plastic collar I was missing.

I've developed a couple of rolls this week and the same problem. I've been using the super slow 'tai chi' agitation method as recommended by Skorj and mixing up very accurately 500ml developer as specified on the bottom of the tank. What am I doing wrong? Really fed-up about the whole ****ing thing!

Please help!

(shot on a Yashica Mat 124G)



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[moominsean]

do you invert during agitation?

if you are doing the sit and wait type of developing, you could just open the tank in the dark and make sure it's pushed down to the bottom. and add a couple more cc's to the mixture, maybe.

[Nigel]

Hi Sean, yes I am agitating during development, but being aware of this problem I've been doing super gentle agitation and I've checked the film is in the right place when I've opened the tank. I'm sure it's not moving up the spindle.

[Pete_R]

Somehow I missed the previous thread discussing your problems so I just went back and looked at it. What's clear to me is you have (or have had) two different problems. The image taken in the Isolette is clearly a developing problem - the bubbles etc. show that. But the problem with the pictures taken in the Yashica are different. The band is very even, no bubbles or anything. In the picture you posted here there is an area beyond the dark band which looks like it's OK. If this was a developing problem you wouldn't get that.

This looks to me like a problem with the camera though I'm struggling to think exactly what.

[Pete_R]

Does the band extend beyond the image? That is, is it evident between the frames? And, is it the same throughout the film? I'm still thinking...


...more thinking.

Just to prove a point, you could put the spiral into the tank the opposite way to what you normally do. If this is a processing error, the problem will move to the other side, if it's a camera problem, it won't.

[snewbery]

I was also thinking light leak (in camera)---but it'd be helpful to see more of the images from that same roll. BTW, that tree shot is gorgeous...

[Pete_R]

Found this where a couple of other people seem to have had a similar problem with the 124G. Might be relevent...

[Nigel]

Hi Peter and snewbery

Thanks for your help unfortunately I've got to go out shortly.

This is the area between the images there is nothing noticeable there. I'm happy to scan and post some more tomorrow, I really want to get to the bottom of this it's driving me to distraction.

Thanks once again for all the help.

Nigel

(wrong image trying again)





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[LT]

if it were a light leak, wouldn't it show up as a lighter band on the positive as it will be over exposed  - this band is darker.  it's definitely strange.  Sorry I cant be of more help.  have you tied developing films taken with other cameras?

[snewbery]

Yes, you're right of course, leon.  Well, the next thing to try would be to develop a roll shot in a different camera, but developed the same way, with same tank, reel, etc. That would help you  isolate the trouble...

Apropos of Peter R's reply: I also thought perhaps you might be loading the film incorrectly...

[Pete_R]

Yes, a light leak would make a light band rather than a dark one. I was thinking more like something loose in the camera that's getting in the way.

The second image with part of the next neg in it has the area between the frames scanned too dark to see if the band is there or not, but it doesn't appear to be in the next frame, or at least, not as distinctly.

May be completely irrelevant but this reminds me of a problem I had years ago with bands appearing on 120 film. The bands I was getting were across the frame though. To cut a very long story short, the film I was using was Tmax 400 (TMY) and the bands were caused by stressing of the film as it passed around the rollers of the film back. After much discussion with Kodak, they admitted this could happen. The effect was cumulative so the longer the film stayed in one position, the stronger the bands. Hence it only showed up when the film was left in the camera mid roll for a while. These bands that Nigel has look very much like what I got, except mine were going in a different direction and I can't think how the Yashica could stress the film where they appear.

Just for the record Nigel, what film is this?

[Nigel]

Peter - It's Tri-X developed in Rodinal.

[Pete_R]

I think the stress problem can only happen with T grained films like TMax or maybe Delta so I guess it's nowt to do with that.

I think the only way to narrow this down is though some more tests. Using a different camera and, maybe, inverting the spiral in the tank to see if the problem moves.

[gregor]

take a roll from the yashica mat to a lab for developing, or as, suggested, develop a roll from another camera. I suspect it's a camera issue. It doesn't look like a developing issue and it's not a light leak. 

I have some shots that have a similar problem, but top down, from my great wall where the shutter curtain dragged.  Not sure how any type of drag would apply to the yashica mat except one blade is possibly sticking ever so slightly....

[LT]

NIgel - do you have another camera to try out?  if not, rather than spend out on labs etc, I'm happy if you want to send me a roll to develop .  I'm keen to give you a hand to sort this out as I dont want you to get turned off from home developing ... once you get it right, it really is worth the effort.

let me know

Leon

[Francois]

For what it's worth, I just checked two of my tanks. One is a Patterson System 4 with the snap-on lid. The other is a copy of the older model with a screw-on cap. From one version to the other, the minimum quantity changes. To know if you're not putting enough liquid in, try and take an empty spool set to 120, load it in the tank like usual (with the center spindle) and pour in the 500ml you used (use water) and check if it covers everything properly. I know the few times I've processed 120, I hadn't noticed the markings on the bottom and used 600ml of solution.......

I would definitely take up Leon on his generous offer. That's the simplest way to know for sure what is going on.