| Photography Forum: Darkroom Techniques Forum: |
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Q. Scum on negatives
Asked by Peter Araiza
(K=83) on 2/20/2005
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I have been developing a few roles of Ilford Pan F plus with no problems. On my last role, there seems to be scum left on the negative when looked under a magnifier. I do change developing time and agitation rate for each role, experimenting to see which process gives me the best result. so far thing have come out grate, but this time something went wrong, this is the procedure i used. All chemical are diluted with distilled water and were at 20.8 'c.
Developer- Ilford DD-X 1 to 4 , 7 min, 30 sec.
Agitation- one turn every 1 min.
Stop Bath- Kodak, 1 min, 30 sec.
Agitation- 6 to 10 turns every 30 sec.
Fixer- Kodak Rapid fixer with hardener.
Agitation- continuously until the white appearance clears, then leave in fixer for same amount of time it took to clear, and agitation once in a while, it took about 2 min 30 sec.
Rinse- 15 min in sink with tap water slowly, tempter unknown.
Kodak Hypo clearing agent- 2 min agitation continuously for first 30 sec, then off and on.
rinse 15 min in sink.
Kodak Photo Flo - 30 sec.
Hung to dry for 1 hr. then placed in negative sleeve for about two days, before i had them printed. so , can any one tell me what i did wrong. Thank You.
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Phillip Cohen
(K=10561) - Comment Date 2/20/2005
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Peter,
Sounds like you are doing everything right. Only thing I would suggest is possibly longer 2nd wash time and make sure to use distilled water with your photoflo, it isnt that critical in the other steps, also don't use too much photoflo, it will cause scum buildup if it there is too much. One hour drying time seems kind of short unless you are using a Jobo Mistral film dryer or other film drying cabinet with heated forced air, I would say go at least 3 or 4 hours unless you are in a very dry climate.
Phil
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Peter Araiza
(K=83) - Comment Date 2/20/2005
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Thank you Mr. cohen, i will try your advice.
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Tyler Robbins
(K=904) - Comment Date 2/26/2005
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Hell, I use hard water all the time even top mix the chemicals, the critical thing is photoflo, it's not a matter of how long in the photo flo, it is hopw you pass it through, we keep it in a bucket (w a cover for storage, it's a big yellow bucket, 4 capfuls of photoflo. When I finish my wash, I open my reels and dump my film into the bucket. ( carefully) then I find each end of the film strip and pull the film through the solution 4 or 5 times and put it in the drying cabinet. If you still have crust, it could be water stains, I give my stained negatives a quick soak in vinegar, rinse, photoflo and then put them in the drying cabinet again.
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Peter Araiza
(K=83) - Comment Date 2/26/2005
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Thank you Mr. Robbins for your comment, but tell me. what kind of vinegar do you use, and do you use it stright or dilut it, and if so by how much.
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Tyler Robbins
(K=904) - Comment Date 2/26/2005
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white vinegar, no dilution, straight up. just put the negative stip in a small tray.
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Peter Araiza
(K=83) - Comment Date 2/26/2005
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Thank You Mr.Robbins, you have no idea how much help you have been.
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Patrick Ziegler
(K=21797) - Comment Date 3/1/2005
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Peter, I had the same problem. I live in an apartment building with old pipes and hard water.
I tried photoflo with no help.
I hang the negatives or slides in a shower. I fill a quart bottle with a pull top with distilled water. Then, rinse from top to bottom each side twice. Before doing this, while the film is rinsing, I run the shower at full hot to get them room nice a steamy. this pulls all the dust out of the air. Then, I hang the negs or slide, rins with distilled water, let dry.
My film and slides come out crystal clear.
My guess is that my water has a very high mineral content and I was experiencing lime scale.
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Peter Araiza
(K=83) - Comment Date 3/2/2005
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Thank you Pat:
That sounds like good advise, i have just about tried everything else, and your right down here in south texas the water is so hard you can use it like a brick. The thing is i use distilled water to mix my chemicals, but i rinse with tap water then photo-flo mixed with distilled water, maybe when i rinse with tap water, is where it collected the scum. by the way what part of the process is responsible for getting rid of scum, developing, stop bath, fixing, hypo cleaning, or photo-flo.
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Christine Campbell
(K=2693) - Comment Date 3/4/2005
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Hi Peter,
I recently developed a few rolls of film, and the last roll I developed had a definate scum on it. I have really hard water too, but I haven't had this problem before and I've developed around 15 rolls of the same film, which was all bought at the same time.
Was it kind of like it had been coated with Elmer's Glue? If so, I tried soaking it in quite a few different things and nothing but elbow grease took it off. I was told it was possibly an anti-halation coating.
I have had a few rolls that ended up with water spots on them, but they came off easily after a soak in Photo-Flo and being squeegied.
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Peter Araiza
(K=83) - Comment Date 3/7/2005
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Hi, Christine.
Thank you so very much for writing , sorry i did not write back sooner, i was out of town. Am glad am not the only one who has this problem, your right it does look like glue. it just may be a bad roll form a lot. By the way, i was looking at your work,WOW ! canyon cabin, and autumn grapevine i like, but sunset blew me away.
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Christine Campbell
(K=2693) - Comment Date 3/8/2005
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Hi Peter, thanks for taking a look at my photos. Most of what I have posted is from when I first started learning how to use my camera, or first started trying differenty types of film & cameras.
I was going to comment on your portfolio, but where is it? You should upload a few shots :-)
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Peter Araiza
(K=83) - Comment Date 3/9/2005
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Dear Christine, I have allot of photos, but i need to place them on a CD to upload, i hope to do this soon. although i don't think am as good at composition as you are.
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iiiii iiiii
(K=-283) - Comment Date 4/1/2005
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I've never had the problem of hard water. My first reaction to your problem was that your photo-flo was too strong. Follow package recommendations. If you're using the 16 oz. bottle 1 capful is sufficient for one tankful. Additionally, after the photo-flo I attach a film clip to one end, dip my index & middle finger into the tank (which still has the working solution of photo-flo), and drag them down the length of the film as a squeegee. Good luck. John
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Peter Araiza
(K=83) - Comment Date 4/2/2005
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Thank you John for your comment, i think you may be right. I am using 1.8ml of photo-flo to 375ml water. I think i will try 1/2 the amount next time. sometimes when i pull the film out of the solution to dry it looks like i washed it in soap.
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Darie Petrov
(K=397) - Comment Date 6/9/2005
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I had a LOT of problems like that, and nothing helped (hypo, photoflo etc) ... and the water in Toronto is supposed to be VERY soft.. but I still got all kinds of tiny cristals on the film which rendered the scans/enlargements with many white dots.
the solution is to use a celulose sponge SQUEGEE
I didnt even buy one.. just went to the dollar shop and got a pack of these washing sponges (make sure its not the kind that has 1 side with hard stuff as it pieces might have leaked in the other side and it will scratch ur negatives)... I just use 2 of these.. once I hang it to dry I just go from top to bottom holding a sponge in each of my hands and pushing gently on the film. Do it a few times.. film almost dry and curls less too.
Good luck!
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Peter Araiza
(K=83) - Comment Date 6/9/2005
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Thank you Darie, I tryed useing less photo flo and it did seem to lessen the crud, but i still get very small bits, but i still would like to know what are they, and where do thet come from.
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