Does this look like light leaks or a development fault?

[Hallsy]

So, this morning I had my second go at home development. First time was with 120 film, and all went well

This time it was 35mm, Tri-X metered at 1000, developed in Microphen stock solution for 12 minutes 15 seconds @ 20'c (starting point of 11 minutes 10 seconds, plus 10% as it was second use of the stock).

I hadn't had a practice run at loading 35mm, and found that it was getting tight towards the end of the roll, before jamming.
I had to try reloading a few times before deciding to trim the end of the roll as it seemed to be a problem where the end of the roll curled back the opposite direction, which would jam at that point or pop out of the reel. It felt like I was running out of space on the reels!

Once out of the dark bag I could see I had cut the leader off on the wonk, and literally cut just the leader off. Should I have cut a bit more off?

It was on the reel at least so I went on with development, but once I had washed the negs I could see that the edge of the film was showing what looked like over exposure. Less so at the start of the film, but still present, with a couple of frames towards the end showing an issue between frames as well.

Is it likely to be light leakage? The edges are very defined other than the patch between two frames, i'd have expected a light leak to look more diffused than that, and running further into the frame?

I replaced the light seals when I bought the camera (Yashica Electro 35) at the end of last year, and keep it in a half case at all times.
The first roll I had developed (filmdev) showed zero issues with the negatives.

If it's not light, could it be damage I have caused when loading, or something I did wrong when developing?

I'll be annoyed if it is light leaks as I'm part way through a roll of Ektar in the same camera at the moment :roll:

Any suggestions? I've attached a couple of quick phone pics while they are hanging to dry.

 

[PhilH04]

Looks to be a problem with the film loaded onto the reel... Paterson plastic or Stainless?

When you say the film was curling out, were you loading with the natural curve in or out?

 

[Hallsy]

Looks to be a problem with the film loaded onto the reel... Paterson plastic or Stainless?

When you say the film was curling out, were you loading with the natural curve in or out?

I am using AG plastic reels and tank.

I allowed the natural curve of the film to follow the curve of the reel, but the last inch of so of the film curled the other way. The Yashica winds the film onto the take-up spool with the emulsion side out, whether that causes this?

I was lightly dragging my finger on the edge of the film as it went on to help guide it, and probably had 3 or 4 attempts before getting it on fully so maybe I damaged the emulsion with my finger.

If definitely wasn't going on as nicely as 120 film!!

 

[PhilH04]

Having a quick check, do you mean AP plastic reels, if so they are the same or very similar to Paterson with a pair of ball bearings top and bottom.

If you are having trouble it may be an idea to give the reel a good clean with a clean toothbrush, sometimes things like wetting agents can cause a bit of sticking. When I was processing large quantities of film I always removed them from the reel (Paterson or Stainless) prior to using wetting agent.

What you have there does look like the film getting stuck to reel due to it not being completely dry, others may have more ideas.

 

[shapeshifter]

That could be contamination of the spiral real usually wet with fixer contamination.That would expalin the difficult loading of the film onto the spiral. Damp/wet reals stick and contaminate the edges of the film. Siprals must be cleaned after all development to remove all fixer residue.Film should slide onto the film smoothly. The ball bearing areas can catch contaminants in the grove it must be completely dry where the ball bearings are.

 

[Peter B]

I'm a bit confused when you talk about cutting off the leader? The film should be loaded onto the reel from the leader end, after you have cut off the tongue to even the sides. The film then goes onto the reel until you come to the end of the film, and then you cut it off adjacent to the cassette. I'm not sure how an other-way curl comes into this? I happily lose the first couple of frames from a film so that I can ease the start of the film onto the reel in room light before I put it into the dark bag, so that might be worth trying in future?

 

[Hallsy]

I'm a bit confused when you talk about cutting off the leader? The film should be loaded onto the reel from the leader end, after you have cut off the tongue to even the sides. The film then goes onto the reel until you come to the end of the film, and then you cut it off adjacent to the cassette. I'm not sure how an other-way curl comes into this? I happily lose the first couple of frames from a film so that I can ease the start of the film onto the reel in room light before I put it into the dark bag, so that might be worth trying in future?

Peter - yes, the film was loaded from the leader end, with the natural curve of the film. I had already untaped the other end from the spool, but when I got to the end of the roll, the last inch or so was curling the opposite way. I can't say why.
As I say, the Yashica rolls the film onto the takeup spool in the opposite direction to that that it's stored on the cassette, but maybe this is normal?

 

[joxby]

Dunno about light leaks but there seems to be a lot of emulsion down the left hand side of that roll.
Insufficient fix, or agitation, or the film trapped a bit in the groove ie it was tight in the groove and was masked from the fixer...

 

[Hallsy]

Having a quick check, do you mean AP plastic reels, if so they are the same or very similar to Paterson with a pair of ball bearings top and bottom.

If you are having trouble it may be an idea to give the reel a good clean with a clean toothbrush, sometimes things like wetting agents can cause a bit of sticking. When I was processing large quantities of film I always removed them from the reel (Paterson or Stainless) prior to using wetting agent.

What you have there does look like the film getting stuck to reel due to it not being completely dry, others may have more ideas.

That could be contamination of the spiral real usually wet with fixer contamination.That would expalin the difficult loading of the film onto the spiral. Damp/wet reals stick and contaminate the edges of the film. Siprals must be cleaned after all development to remove all fixer residue.Film should slide onto the film smoothly. The ball bearing areas can catch contaminants in the grove it must be completely dry where the ball bearings are.

Sorry....yes, the AP ones with the ball bearing setup - not AG!!

The reel was definitely dry, 50% chance it had never been used as I have i only developed one film so far and have two reels!!
However, good chance it wasn't squeaky clean. I rinsed off the reel last time i used it, wiped it dry then left to air dry (that was a week ago). I didn't clean it thoroughly though.

One to check for the future for sure

 

[Hallsy]

Dunno about light leaks but there seems to be a lot of emulsion down the left hand side of that roll.
Insufficient fix, or agitation, or the film trapped a bit in the groove ie it was tight in the groove and was masked from the fixer...

I'm guessing it was tight in the reel - it was difficult to load, possibly contamination as suggested above.

As for fixing, it had 3 minutes in Ilford Rapid Fixer and was agitated for first 30 seconds, then first 10 seconds of each minute - probably 5 inversions for 10 seconds.

 

[john.margetts]

Dark on the negatives is usually a light leak problem but on picture two above, where the dark on the left moves between frame 30 and 31, the image around the dark is almost clear. This suggests chemical contamination rather than a light leak problem but I really cannot image what.

 

[joxby]

I'd bang them back in fixer for a while, its difficult to assess the negs with the thought that other parts of the roll may not be fixed properly, its not always as obvious as a trail of white emulsion.
I had a bit of emulsion on a few frames of this roll, but this one looked fine.......till I scanned it
The blacks in the arched window which would be the clearer bits on the neg are all blocked up with unfixed emulsion which is hindering the passage of light through the areas that would be the blacks, but the neg looked ok in my hand

 

[Hallsy]

I'm far too inexperienced with film to tell if I had insufficiently fixed my negatives - I just followed the advice of 3 minutes in Ilford rapid fixer. The first roll (120) looked OK, and this is the second use of the fixer for this roll.

I'll scan them in and perhaps it will be more obvious as you suggest.

Sadly I have cut and sleeved the negs, but if I can get them back in the reels easilly enough then I will try fixing a bit more.

I scanned the last 12 frames last night and they were pretty poor - something odd has gone on, but even so, i had some streaking which looks like water marks.

I'll scan the rest and put a link up

 

[Andysnap]

Its very difficult to overfix negatives, I generally give my black and whites 7 minutes to be on the safe side.

 

[Hallsy]

When re-fixing, is the timing cumulative?

So if I originally fixed for 3 minutes, then re-fix for a further 3 minutes, it is the same as fixing the first time for 6 minutes?

I don't have any printing trays, has anyone succesfully re-loaded cut films back onto the reels?

I'm thinking one cut film (in 6 frame sections) across two reels shouldn't be too fiddly?

 

[steveo_mcg]

When re-fixing, is the timing cumulative?

So if I originally fixed for 3 minutes, then re-fix for a further 3 minutes, it is the same as fixing the first time for 6 minutes?

I don't have any printing trays, has anyone succesfully re-loaded cut films back onto the reels?

I'm thinking one cut film (in 6 frame sections) across two reels shouldn't be too fiddly?

Fixing modern film is prepre safe Id not worry about over fixing. Get a big jug and put them in that, maybe do a strip at a time.

 

[joxby]

Just stick the whole roll in a bowl, I realize this might be easier to keep everything separated with 120 than 35mm, so mebbe cut them up.
I know what the recommended fix times are, and mostly everything works out fine but once you get a few cock ups you learn that adding a couple more minutes to fix times really saves a load of faff

I don't fix film for less than 5 minutes

 

[joxby]

....or what steve said...lol

 

[joxby]

I used to have a 2 liter bottle of mixed fix, and that would do me quite a few rolls, fix the film then pour it back in....it was ok for a while.
Anyway, I had a few failures and then the fixer crystallized over time and left my negs covered in stuck on particles, coupled with some kodak film that sent the fixer pink and I decided it was expensive enough buying and shooting film without then going and ballsing the devs up using questionable chems.
So, and it may be a little ott for some but, I mix new fix and throw it after one use just like developer, I think its worth it to eliminate 2 fundamental components most likely to bugger my film up...

 

[Hallsy]

Thanks for the advice chaps - I'll stick to a 5 minute fix in the future

I've scanned the roll, no adjustments in Epson scan. The roll has a lot of rubbish on it, but was more of an experimental roll really (pushed). I have edited a few that were passable in lightroom, you can tell which ones as I have dropped the frame.

Obvious faults include streaking towards end of roll (I think this was when I was inspecting the roll and lifted the weight, which caused some water that collected in the clip to run back onto the dryish film), creasing and blocked development (think this is where it got tight and couldn't fully wind it on, so the end was obscured by the guide tabs) and lots of glare!! I also learnt, I think, that bright light sources at the edge of the frame (sun) can cause an exposure halo on adjacent frames - that's what it looks like to me anyway. You can see it on the shot of my dog wrapped up in towels. Couple of frames back from that one looks a bit milky, other than a section down left hand side - glare or something else?

Here is a link to the set, other than what I've mentioned above and my obvious errors (exposure or focus) are there any other obvious development faults, such as insufficient fix?

Click below link to view my shared Lightroom album:
https://adobe.ly/2s7wUpK

Appreciate any advice

I have scrubbed my reels clean so hopefully next roll I won't have any jamming!!

And just to show I'm not a total idiot, this was the first roll I developed (Tri-x pushed 2 stops), which as far as I can see was developed OK

Click below link to view my shared Lightroom album:
https://adobe.ly/2s6tJPg

 

[Peter B]

I happily lose the first couple of frames from a film so that I can ease the start of the film onto the reel in room light before I put it into the dark bag, so that might be worth trying in future?

@Hallsy In case I wasn't clear enough with the above comment, here is a photo of a film I've just done before putting it into the changing tent. You can see how little of the leader it actually takes to get the film beyond the ball bearings, and depending on the camera you might only lose about 1 frame. The scratches on this were caused by using a film retriever several times before being successful, so these frames would be waste anyway. The curse of the camera that fully rewinds the film!


And the end result, showing it hadn't even reached frame 00

 

[GreenNinja67]

When I used to have a film camera that fully rewound the film into the cassette I'd op the top off the cassette to save a retriever scratching the film.

But I did have a darkroom at the time, it would be more difficult with a changing bag.