Developing issue - too slow in pouring / starting agitation?

Flighter

Flighter

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James
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Help! I developed a roll of SupaSnaps 100ASA Colour Print Film today that was in a recent Ebay purchase of a Kiev 4AM camera. I think the camera may also be having issues as in some of the images the bottom half does not appear the have been exposed; the Kiev focal plane shutter travels vertically so I'm wondering if it's capping.

The chemicals used were from a Rollei Compard Digibase kit which was purchased March 2022 but only opened and mixed up last Sunday when I developed 2 36 exposure films and a 24 exposure film that was in another Ebay purchase. These films seemed to develop OK, the pictures below include a strip from one of these films for comparison which seems rather orange but scanned OK on a Nikon CoolScan IV. Some scans from the film in the other Ebay purchase (Kodak Max 400) are in the 'Found film' thread.

In my (limited) experience the Digibase chemicals are long lasting and if they had deteriorated significantly since last Sunday I would have expected the effect to be more uniform, the markings below suggest surge marks to me although the green tint is also odd.

I don't think I did anything different from my usual process using a Paterson System 4 tank:
  • 3 minute presoak with water at 38°C, cap on, inversion agitation for first 15 secs then once or twice every 30 secs then empty
  • 3 min 15 sec developer at 38°C, cap on, inversion agitation for first 15 secs then once or twice every 30 secs then empty
  • 6 min 30 sec bleach at <38°C (whatever temp water bath has reduced to) cap on, inversion agitation for first 15 secs then once or twice every 30 secs then empty
  • 'Levenson' wash - fill with water, 5 inversions, leave for 5 mins then empty, refill, 10 inversions, leave for 5 mins then empty, refill, 20 inversions, leave for 5 minutes then empty
  • 6 min 30 sec fixer at <38°C (whatever temp water bath has reduced to) cap on, inversion agitation every 30 secs
  • 'Levenson' wash as above but with a extra stage with 40 inversions for good measure
  • 1 min 30 sec stabiliser bath
The presoak and agitation schedule come from the Digibase instructions, bleach and fix times from the Kodak C41 instructions

I'm wondering, however, whether I took too long in pouring in the developer and starting to agitate giving the markings visible on the film. The spiral appeared to load freely with no issues so I would be surprised if the film had come into contact with itself causing the markings.

In the first four pictures below the (orange) comparison negatives from one of the films developed last week is the same strip, only the images from today's effort differ.

All comments and suggestions gratefully received.
IMG_8502.jpegIMG_8503.jpegIMG_8505.jpegIMG_8504.jpeg

And, for what it's worth, a close up of one image.IMG_8501.jpeg
 
One of the better images. St Thomas Junction Rd parish church is in Leith, Edinburgh. IMG_8534.jpeg
 
Take all of this as the ramblings of someone who has never processed a colour negative film. I can only speculate from a position of modified ignorance, but the strange pattern to the "odd" areas remind me of the effect of incomplete processing, caused by something making physical contact with the emulsion and impeding the free flow of the chemicals. (Incorrect/faulty loading of the spiral? A pure speculation on my part.)

In theory, colour negative films* have the orange layer to enable more correct colour rendering (think of it as a correction for imperfect dyes, the orange mask cancelling the errors - not quite the truth, but good enough as a simple reason for the colour). The lack of this colour makes me speculate on incomplete processing in one of the steps, with my first thought being the bleach step.

That's just my initial thoughts, and no doubt someone who really knows will be along to correct me.

* Edit to add. After posting, I remembered that not all colour negatives have this mask, which I think has its origins in Kodak. Quite possibly your film doesn't have it.
 
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Thanks Stephen, that makes sense. I had wondered about that felt that the spiral seemed to load easily which made me doubt whether adjacent lengths of film would be touching. However, thats more likely than being too slow with the initial agitating as I assume a delay in agitating wouldn't leave such prominent borders.
 
You may safely ignore this post as adding nothing useful to the issue here :) .

One of the reasons for a presoak is to remove any air bells, that would show up on the film. Agitation accomplishes a couple of things - it ensures that fresh (unexhausted) chemicals reach the film (the active ingredients being used up in the developing or fixing process), and it helps prevent bromide drag. Bromide drag is caused by the restraining (= hinders the development) effect of by products of development which can run down under gravity causing streaks (apologies to all chemists for the less than fully accurate description :) ).

The effect of local exhausion of the developer can give a sort of halo effect on the boundary of more and less dense parts of the negative (look up Eberhard and Mackie lines if you can be bothered) which act in the same way as unsharp mask in Photoshop to give the impression of greater sharpness. (Look up acutance developers.)
 
Well, the chemicals seem fine as a short 5 exposure test strip of Vision 3 500T developed OK today - metered at 800 as I understand that the colour developer in C41 (CD4) is more active than that in ECN2 (CD3).IMG_2023-08-22-213814.jpeg
Olympus OM2SP, Zuiko 24mm f2.0 with 85A filter.
 
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