negative problems

[heshanj]

i just developed my first 120 b/w film.. fomapan 100 in ilfosol 3. got dev times from the massive dev chart.

the results. well, seems to have developed fine. but there was some sticky residue on most of the negative.. and that caused particles of.. i dont know, dust.. feels rough, like sand?! no idea where it came from.. i washed my measuring beakers n stuff before using. i dont know where the stickiness came from, n also dont know where the sandy/dusty bits came from. these have caused like.. scratch marks as well, although the scratch marks i suspect came from when i was drying the negatives.. used my fingers as a squeegee and didnt konw about the dust then, so probably got scratched there

the stickiness.. i know that on the end of the film, there's a sticker that sticks it to the spool. i watched a vid of some guy teaching how to load 120 film, and he said nvm, leave that sticker on there, no problem. im wondering if this is wat caused the stickiness. dust problem is still a mystery to me

hope someone can shed light on this. i tried taking a pic of it, but really cant see the details on it. thanks!

 

[oceanpriest]

It seems u always have problems with your negative bro...

Try to filter all your developer, stop bath, and fixer. I use daiso $2 coffee filter.
Try to use distilled water, or at least filtered tap water.

Make everything as standard as possible and don't put something funny such as tape, or backing paper into the tank.

Don't squeeze your negative. You can try to use wetting agent, see if that could help.

If your room is dusty, try to get drying bag or built your own drying cabinet.

The more controlled the environment, water, chemical, etc, the more convincing your negative. And it's easier to troubleshoot what's going wrong.

It's really your personal workflow.

 

[heshanj]

actually, this is the first time i have problems with negatives ive developed myself. the load of other problems i posted about were from negs i got from my lab, which isnt a very good lab. ive usually been very satisfied with the (few) times ive done my own, which is why im surprised that this time got a bit screwed up. guess the tape was the problem. didnt do anything differently this time. maybe the next attempt doing 120 film will tell the story

and thanks for the tips

 

[losheng]

Leaving the tape at the end of the roll intact is fine - usually i tear the film with the tape off the backing paper, and then fold the tape onto the film, so that it doesn't stick to other parts of the film while it is in the spool. The reason I do that is because it's hard to tear off the tape from the film when it is dry, and doing it too hard might accidentally cringe the negative. It's easier to lift the tape off the backing paper instead. There aren't enough glue on the tape to cause stickiness throughout the film.

Sandy particles? - those are a real mystery!

 

[StanW]

Use a wetting agent before you hang the film up to dry. I hang mine in the shower cabinet. DON'T use a squeegee,especially fingers.

 

[nstclicks]

Are you sure the particles were already there before drying ? Did you forget to dilute your wetting agent or forget the final rinse step ?

 

[heshanj]

sorry for the late reply, was out of town

to answer the question..i didnt use wetting agent coz i couldnt buy any.. just used distilled water for final wash, and it was working fine for all my (few) 35mm stuff
the particles, i dont remember exactly but i think they were there before drying also. will try again

if the tape isnt a problem (i'll fold it next time), then i have no idea where the stickiness came from. sandy particles was probably some form of dust, i guess.. strange, coz i hang my film in the shower.. and its usually not dusty in there!

a mystery indeed.. thanks a lot for the tips, i'll make a note of all that, and try another 120 roll, thats the only way to find out!

and noted, will never use fingers/squeegee again, haha. btw, if dont use squeegee, just take the film out of the reel and leave to dry?

 

[Scandiacus]

I've never had problems squeegeeing my film but I dip my 2 fingers in the diluted wetting agent solution before squeegeeing. Then hang it up in my room (windows closed) to dry.

 

[heshanj]

update. just tried another couple of 120 rolls, same process. nothign changed. except i didnt squeegee my film. just hung it up and let the water dry. seems to be fine. no stickiness, no residue, no dust/particles. still a mystery about the last time, but at least it seems to be the exception!

 

[Nikkornos]

update. just tried another couple of 120 rolls, same process. nothign changed. except i didnt squeegee my film. just hung it up and let the water dry. seems to be fine. no stickiness, no residue, no dust/particles. still a mystery about the last time, but at least it seems to be the exception!

Please call the town council to get them to check the water tank. Get them to ensure there are no cleaners swimming or taking a bath alone or with someone else in the water tank.

 

[zguy]

Please call the town council to get them to check the water tank. Get them to ensure there are no cleaners swimming or taking a bath alone or with someone else in the water tank.

heshanj not in Sg lar

 

[Nikkornos]

Oh... I see. But water tank contamination can happen anywhere, including US of A.

Usually, when I need to get some negatives done well, I avoid using tap water. I buy those $1.30 for 3 1.5L bottles.
I mix the developer (600ml) and do the final wash using the distilled water. Always come out well.

 

[heshanj]

thanks for the tip...i also use distilled water for the final wash, but used tap water for diluting the chemicals.. maybe i should think of using bottled water for that then

 

[Nikkornos]

When I lived in UK in the 90s, I constantly had hard water problem on B&W film. I lived in Notts county, and the water sucks.
Every roll of film had white residue when dry, not matter what I tried : mama lemon, wetting agent.
Jessops HQ was near my place, and I was told hard water was the reason. I ended up using distilled water.
I finally fitted multi stage filters to remove the heavy calcium etc, for health reason.

When traveling to Malaysia East coast for tour on an island, I also faced water problem (well water!).
So, I developed using 3 X 1.5L of distilled water (not mineral water).

China was the worse. The water quality was bad. Litmus paper turned blue... alkaline (!).
Sometimes got foul smell. Sometimes got things swimming in the beaker.... (!)

USA also have hard water issue. That's why their filter kits sell very well.
The fine dirt like residue on the film is nothing but.... dirt! The air could be dusty and film act like dirt magnet.

In Singapore, we have one of the best water quality on earth. Must be thankful.

Film developing is keep doing it, do it many times, be very clean, then you will perfekt the process.

 

[heshanj]

thanks again for the tips! im currently living in ho chi minh city... not sure how the water is, but by looking at the rest of the polution levels in this city, im thinking the water cant be that great. however, living in a condo over here (condos are damn cheap here after living in singapore haha) the water is always clean and has no problems like that, but of course cant say if its hard water or not.

so to dilute chemicals, u say not to use mineral water? ordinary bottled water is mineral water, right? which should i try to use? distilled water is pretty cheap, but its a hassle to buy it regularly so i prefer to keep my 5L jug just for the final wash!

 

[Shadowleong]

Looking at the discussion here I should try developing my film in bottled distilled water just to see what I get

 

[lualua]

hmmm, i've been using water straight from the tap for the past nearly 20 years with no problems at all and the results have been very consistent(i stay in a HDB apartment). Never tried using distilled/bottled water and never found the need to

The folks at PUB have been doing a good job!

 

[Nikkornos]

No doubt that the HDB water is super good. The pump to top floor have local filters also.
Film using tap water is super clean. Seldom have issues. Only when critical film then I use the NTUC new water which has no minerals.

Wah... ho chi min city..... many Singaporeans went there say it is pretty OK.
However, I never been there and never looked at the water.
One easy way is to leave 500mL of water over night in a clean beaker, and test wat you see for sediments.

To dilute chemicals, always use clean water. In your case, distilled water. And use distilled water to make ice.

 

[heshanj]

yeah i forget that singapore is one of those countries where u can safely drink off the tap! haha. yeah ho chi minh city is great actually.. very interesting, lot of photo opportunities, especially around the country as well. the water, well.. i think wat comes out of the tap at my home is pretty clean too.. so should be ok. i'll try the test for sediment in water

thanks again! cheers

 

[Nikkornos]

I flew past Vietnam during the day many times, and the view of the bay from the sky is splendid. Wish I could take pictures there.

I also like the Vietnamese filtered coffee in a small cup.