Author Topic: Fail, Fail, Fail (Read 6601 times)

Adam Doe · « **on:** August 24, 2015, 07:47:22 PM »

Note to self: If the ilfosol is that dark and you can't remember when you last used it, discard it.

Bryan · « **Reply #1 on:** August 24, 2015, 10:26:32 PM »

I bet the most spectacular photo you've ever taken was on that roll. That's like shooting through a whole roll and realizing the film didn't engage on the reel, I've done that.

Late Developer · « **Reply #2 on:** August 24, 2015, 11:10:29 PM »

Adam, I genuinely feel your pain and frustration. I learned a similar lesson many years ago (30+) and, from that day, I never, ever keep solutions I've used. I know I probably could but, for the cost of a few ml of developer, stop-bath and fixer, I discard everything I've used and mix fresh.

Thankfully, it wasn't one of the paid gigs I lost but it was a couple of rolls of 35mm that were a record of an exceptional walk in The Lakes and it felt like I'd let a lot of my friends down.

The problem is how dark is too dark?

x100art · « **Reply #3 on:** August 25, 2015, 01:10:57 AM »

Oh man this just got me thinking. I just mixed up a batch of fixer, wondering how long it should be good for before goes bad. I just got back from Santa Monica and I have some really good black-and-white film for development. I just mixed up the batch yesterday.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

jharr · « **Reply #4 on:** August 25, 2015, 01:14:14 AM »

I have been using the same batch of Ilford Rapid Fix for months. Probably 20 rolls through it. When I see silver floating on top, I filter it and keep going. The bottle is now opaque from silver plating inside. Not sure what the life expectancy of this is, but it still clears my Dacomatic in about 10sec.

Indofunk · « **Reply #5 on:** August 25, 2015, 01:34:23 AM »

Quote from: jharr on August 25, 2015, 01:14:14 AM

I have been using the same batch of Ilford Rapid Fix for months. Probably 20 rolls through it. When I see silver floating on top, I filter it and keep going. The bottle is now opaque from silver plating inside. Not sure what the life expectancy of this is, but it still clears my Dacomatic in about 10sec.

Same experience from Ilford Rapidfix. Plus a ton of black sludge at the bottom of the bottle every time I use it (even though I decant the good stuff and dispose of the sludge). Still clears, so I assume it still fixes? Also Hypocheck gives it the green light.

Adam Doe · « **Reply #6 on:** August 25, 2015, 02:24:28 AM »

Quote from: Late Developer on August 24, 2015, 11:10:29 PM

Adam, I genuinely feel your pain and frustration. I learned a similar lesson many years ago (30+) and, from that day, I never, ever keep solutions I've used. I know I probably could but, for the cost of a few ml of developer, stop-bath and fixer, I discard everything I've used and mix fresh.

Thankfully, it wasn't one of the paid gigs I lost but it was a couple of rolls of 35mm that were a record of an exceptional walk in The Lakes and it felt like I'd let a lot of my friends down.

The problem is how dark is too dark?

This wasn't a mixed solution, but the concentrate from the bottle, but it was visibly past its prime and I really should have gone with my gut instinct and waited until I could get a fresh bottle but impatience got the best of me. Two rolls of Delta 3200 and two road trips down the drain. On the upside the Ilford Rapid fix is still going strong. I've now got two 36 shot rolls of clearness.

Indofunk · « **Reply #7 on:** August 25, 2015, 02:30:58 AM »

Quote from: Adam Doe on August 25, 2015, 02:24:28 AM

On the upside the Ilford Rapid fix is still going strong. I've now got two 36 shot rolls of clearness.

Indofunk · « **Reply #8 on:** August 25, 2015, 02:33:39 AM »

Also, I think I may learn from your experience and do leader tests on my HC110, which I've had for about 2 years and have NOT transferred to small brown bottles, though I've been intending to for each of those 24 months.

I already do leader tests on my C41 chems thanks to someone on this forum, and it's saved me at least once.

ManuelL · « **Reply #9 on:** August 25, 2015, 07:04:53 AM »

Only 2 weeks ago I shot a role at some really nice locations just to find the camera had pulled the film completely from the canister. So after rewinding I opened the camera to find it sitting nicely on the take-up spool in bright sunlight. I quickly closed the camera and decided to develop the film anyway as there might still be some salvageable shots on the inner layers not hit by the sun.
However, when I developed the film, I made the mistake to put it on the uppper reel and only filling the tank half way with developer. So the film was sitting inthe dry most of the time. Having used only sheet film recently, I just didn't think. The mistake dawned on me half way through fixing, so there was nothing to be done any more. I opened the tank after fixing to find a nice clear roll of film with some grey blotches.
I tossed the film in the trash, cleaned up everything and went to the kitchen to have a nice big bowl of chocolate ice cream.

Peter84 · « **Reply #10 on:** August 25, 2015, 09:48:14 AM »

- using depleted chems that will make The film come out blank, Been there done that....
- using the wrong soda in cafenol making the film come out blank, Been there done that....
- Wondering why the film counter on the camera went further then 36, 37, 38? Not engaged... Been there done that....
- Opening the camera thinking it has auto rewinded, while the auto advance has riped the film from the spool and thus has not rewinded the film leaving it in the camera, Been there done that....
- having the rear of the holga's fall of spontaniously, Been there done that....
- Forgetting to put a darkslide back, Been there done that....

It's frustrating... oh yes, but it's also a bit of the charm, knowing it may go wrong makes me all the more proud when it goes right

John Robison · « **Reply #11 on:** August 27, 2015, 01:53:12 AM »

Long ago I switched to HC-110 mixed 1:60 as a one shot. Except for exposure blunders have not had a blank roll yet.
But the black silver flakes all over the film, yeah, had that problem. Now I pour very carefully and use coffee filters a lot. Found the same thing. Ilford rapid fixer concentrate just keeps going.
So far I have only one camera that will rip the film right out of the cartridge at the end of the roll, my Olympus Pen F. All I can do about that is be reall careful and stop just short of the full number of exposures.

jojonas~ · « **Reply #12 on:** March 22, 2016, 02:22:06 PM »

Left: Agfa-Gevaert Dia Direct
Right: Rollei RPX400
Both developed in rodinal 1+50 30min "halfstand"

I guess the Agfa roll wasn't stored as it should have been

...though I've never seen a roll go completely black like this!

Francois · « **Reply #13 on:** March 22, 2016, 07:53:36 PM »

Exposed to light...
Or it's one of those ever popular instant blackening films

jharr · « **Reply #14 on:** March 22, 2016, 08:36:03 PM »

Quote from: jojonas~ on March 22, 2016, 02:22:06 PM

Left: Agfa-Gevaert Dia Direct
Right: Rollei RPX400
Both developed in rodinal 1+50 30min "halfstand"

I guess the Agfa roll wasn't stored as it should have been
...though I've never seen a roll go completely black like this!

Jonas I think you blew out your highlights there on the left. You might want to dial that exposure down from iso 0.01 to maybe 50 or so.

Francois · « **Reply #15 on:** March 22, 2016, 08:50:24 PM »

jojonas~ · « **Reply #16 on:** March 23, 2016, 09:10:15 AM »

But I thought that film should be able to handle overexposure well??

Okay, the whole roll being pulled out and in again seems right now the most plausible haha oh well

clagom · « **Reply #17 on:** March 29, 2016, 02:03:49 PM »

Quote from: Bryan on August 24, 2015, 10:26:32 PM

That's like shooting through a whole roll and realizing the film didn't engage on the reel, I've done that.

That happened to me, too :/ wasted a whole film of Portra 800

Jack Johnson · « **Reply #18 on:** March 30, 2016, 04:35:10 AM »

Quote from: clagom on March 29, 2016, 02:03:49 PM

Quote from: Bryan on August 24, 2015, 10:26:32 PM
That's like shooting through a whole roll and realizing the film didn't engage on the reel, I've done that.

That happened to me, too :/ wasted a whole film of Portra 800

When that's happened to me, I've done that turn and a half where you feel it slip across the film plane and think what the hell, and by the time you realize what you've done you finish that last half turn and feel the leader slip into the cassette.

NoooOOOooo!!!

Late Developer · « **Reply #19 on:** March 30, 2016, 09:41:09 AM »

Last weekend, when running a roll of 120 Delta 400 through my newly-acquired Ikonta, I got to the end of the roll, wound it off and found that Ilford hadn't put any sticky tape on the end of the film. therefore, I had nothing with which to "tie-off" the film. My initial reaction was a slight panic but, as I wasn't intending to shoot any more 120 that day, I simply put the film back in the camera and used some tape when I got home. Not a "fail" as such but I'm glad I wasn't intending a full day's shoot with that camera.

I now have a roll of Sellotape (other sticky tapes are available

) in my bag - just in case.

Francois · « **Reply #20 on:** March 30, 2016, 01:11:57 PM »

Quote from: Jack Johnson on March 30, 2016, 04:35:10 AM

Quote from: clagom on March 29, 2016, 02:03:49 PM
Quote from: Bryan on August 24, 2015, 10:26:32 PM
That's like shooting through a whole roll and realizing the film didn't engage on the reel, I've done that.

That happened to me, too :/ wasted a whole film of Portra 800

When that's happened to me, I've done that turn and a half where you feel it slip across the film plane and think what the hell, and by the time you realize what you've done you finish that last half turn and feel the leader slip into the cassette.

NoooOOOooo!!!

That's exactly why I got a Kodak film leader retrieval tool... Well worth the buy.

Indofunk · « **Reply #21 on:** March 31, 2016, 05:46:34 AM »

You know the trick where you take a bit of old leader or other exposed (but undeveloped) film, lick it (or otherwise wet it), feed it into the cassette (where it sticks to the film inside), then yank it out real fast to pull out the film? It's saved me at least twice

Francois · « **Reply #22 on:** March 31, 2016, 01:48:08 PM »

Didn't know that trick. Emulsion will stick to emulsion.

Adam Doe · « **Reply #23 on:** March 31, 2016, 07:17:11 PM »

Satish, I did not know that, and I've got a roll of Delta 3200 that I accidentally rewound in camera before I shot anything on it and now I need to retrieve the leader. So thanks for that tip!

jharr · « **Reply #24 on:** March 31, 2016, 08:36:02 PM »

How do you know when it's stuck and where it's stuck? I don't get it.

Francois · « **Reply #25 on:** March 31, 2016, 08:52:39 PM »

The way it works is you stick the wet leader in the can, rotate the spindle until you see the leader get pulled inside and slowly pull it out.

The commercial retrievers work in a similar way, just minus the liquid.
On the Kodak, you insert the tip in the cassette, push the first slider to push inside a thin strip of plastic, rotate the button until you hear a click sound (the tip of the slider is curved), push in the second lever and pull everything out. The leader is captured in between the two sliders. It's quite a brilliant piece of engineering if I might say so.

jharr · « **Reply #26 on:** March 31, 2016, 08:56:49 PM »

Quote from: Francois on March 31, 2016, 08:52:39 PM

The way it works is you stick the wet leader in the can, rotate the spindle until you see the leader get pulled inside and slowly pull it out.

The commercial retrievers work in a similar way, just minus the liquid.
On the Kodak, you insert the tip in the cassette, push the first slider to push inside a thin strip of plastic, rotate the button until you hear a click sound (the tip of the slider is curved), push in the second lever and pull everything out. The leader is captured in between the two sliders. It's quite a brilliant piece of engineering if I might say so.

But how do you know your leader has captured the leader of the film and not a piece of film 2 inches back, in which case you would be trying to fold the film in half and pull it out?

Sandeha Lynch · « **Reply #27 on:** March 31, 2016, 09:43:05 PM »

Schrodinger's film leader ...

You don't know whether it is not attached or not, or both.

Francois · « **Reply #28 on:** March 31, 2016, 10:27:11 PM »

Quote from: jharr on March 31, 2016, 08:56:49 PM

Quote from: Francois on March 31, 2016, 08:52:39 PM
The way it works is you stick the wet leader in the can, rotate the spindle until you see the leader get pulled inside and slowly pull it out.

The commercial retrievers work in a similar way, just minus the liquid.
On the Kodak, you insert the tip in the cassette, push the first slider to push inside a thin strip of plastic, rotate the button until you hear a click sound (the tip of the slider is curved), push in the second lever and pull everything out. The leader is captured in between the two sliders. It's quite a brilliant piece of engineering if I might say so.

But how do you know your leader has captured the leader of the film and not a piece of film 2 inches back, in which case you would be trying to fold the film in half and pull it out?

It won't stick enough to allow you to pull out two layers.
When you rotate the film, only a tiny portion of the film will touch the wet leader. But when the film clicks past the felt lips, it should have a longer portion of the film in contact with the leader.

I don't think this would work if the leader is kinked...

I'll try it with a dummy film and report back.

EDIT:
Ok, I tried the trick and while it could work, it's definitely not an easy solution.
Now, I'm thinking of maybe making some contraption that will do the same but for cheap and easy. I'm setting off to work on it and will post a contraption post if I manage to get it working.

Indofunk · « **Reply #29 on:** April 01, 2016, 03:19:09 AM »

Quote from: jharr on March 31, 2016, 08:56:49 PM

Quote from: Francois on March 31, 2016, 08:52:39 PM
The way it works is you stick the wet leader in the can, rotate the spindle until you see the leader get pulled inside and slowly pull it out.

The commercial retrievers work in a similar way, just minus the liquid.
On the Kodak, you insert the tip in the cassette, push the first slider to push inside a thin strip of plastic, rotate the button until you hear a click sound (the tip of the slider is curved), push in the second lever and pull everything out. The leader is captured in between the two sliders. It's quite a brilliant piece of engineering if I might say so.

But how do you know your leader has captured the leader of the film and not a piece of film 2 inches back, in which case you would be trying to fold the film in half and pull it out?

Doesn't matter. The film will fold itself in half on the way out and you'll still retrieve the leader. Trust me

Adam Doe · « **Reply #30 on:** April 01, 2016, 06:56:37 PM »

Quote from: Sandeha Lynch on March 31, 2016, 09:43:05 PM

Schrodinger's film leader ...

You don't know whether it is not attached or not, or both.

I almost laughed a bite of my lunch all over my desk.