First Time Developing Problems

JDholic

JDholic

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Jonny
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Having problems with HP5+ developed in Tmax.

1:4 at 20deg for 6.5minutes, was recommended a 5minute rinse in water before adding fixer. 5 minutes Ilford rapidfix 1:4 for 5 minutes followed by a 10 minute rinse in water.

The problem I have is that the negs are coming out a very light purple colour, is this due to underdevelopment, not enough agitation or not long enough fix? I'm not 100% on my developer dilution if I'm honest and am not really sure that the 5 minute rinse between the dev and fix is required.

Any ideas?
 
Not sure I'd go for the rinse to tell the truth. Colour then yes, but not having used Tmax, does it not have a stop bath?
 
Cheers Liam, I maybe should have been a bit clearer, the negs are faint. The purple colour really doesn't matter. Not entirely convinced if it's a developer dilution error or what it is.
 
Hmm, if you are saying that the negs are light it would mean that the film is underexposed. Are you sure you had the ISO set to 400 or did you use a light meter?
 
Liam said:
Hmm, if you are saying that the negs are light it would mean that the film is underexposed. Are you sure you had the ISO set to 400 or did you use a light meter?
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Both so far have been shot on a F60. The detail is there on the neg, you can see the developed picture, it's just as if it hasn't developed enough.
 
The purple tint can be a bit off putting, the final print is what counts though and in the darkroom you have plenty of room to play about to get decent prints even if the negs are a bit thin. I wonder if you will be pleasantly surprised when you start printing however..!

I only use a stop bath for prints and that's purely because it's cheap and can prolong the life of the fixer, for film work a single rinse of water will dilute any remaining dev to a very low level.
 
How much agitation did you do?

I prefer a water rinse rather than a stop as it allows the less dense areas to develop a bit further and extends the dynamic range a touch!
 
Just reading around and it seems that purple tinge to T-Max is a common thing and most seem to put it down to exhausted fix or not fixing long enough.

Most seem to fix for anything up to 10 minutes, but as I have not tried it myself I can't comment.
 
Knikki said:
Just reading around and it seems that purple tinge to T-Max is a common thing and most seem to put it down to exhausted fix or not fixing long enough.

Most seem to fix for anything up to 10 minutes, but as I have not tried it myself I can't comment.
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Looks like your right..

http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/f4016/f4016.pdf

(Look at the important section on page 9)

Would there be any problem with refixing the film no that it is dry to try and remove the purple cast?
 
Liam said:
Would there be any problem with refixing the film no that it is dry to try and remove the purple cast?
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I don't know as I have not tried it.

If I was going to fix again then I would soak the film first in water then re-fix.

Maybe someone else has done this?
 
I did it with an early film process - after I made up the fix at 1+9 (print fixing strength) rather than 1+4 (full fat film fixing strength) :LOL: I just added the extra fix to make up the strength, and re-dunked the film - i'd not actually removed the film from the spiral, it was obviously pretty milky looking, and I just quickly put the lid back on, read the instructions (yes, I know, I KNOW, I should have done that first!) re-mixed and poured again.

They eventually came out okay, at least by my standards (y)
 
It should work because when I develop 4x5 I fix for 5 mins then I take the lid off to move the elastic bands and then fix for another 5 mins and it works really well.
 
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