AHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

[thelazerviking]

I just finished setting up my darkroom. all the paper gets fogged and grey in the developer. we tried it with all the lights off, it's not the safelights or anyhting. you put a fresh new unexposed piece of paper in the developer and it comes out grey. WHAT COULD IT BE? thanks

 

[ann]

how old is the paper? It sounds as if it is fogged. Could be from age, or perhapes heat.

 

[thelazerviking]

4 different kinds of paper some brand new some up to ten years old. i htink it has soemthign to do with the developer. could the wrong concentration of developer or some chemical do this?

 

[eravedesigns]

well you should be able to leave it in the developer really long with no affects because its an enlargment i would try leaving it in there twice as long maybe for like 25 min and see if its better and if it is then your developer might be to weak.

 

[motcon]

4 different kinds of paper some brand new some up to ten years old. i htink it has soemthign to do with the developer. could the wrong concentration of developer or some chemical do this?

need some info:

- which developer are you using?
- at what dilution?
- type of paper?
- time in developer?
- agitation method?
- what type of stop and for how long?
- what type of fix and for how long?


i suggest the opposite of what was suggested in a post above. put the print in the developer. as soon as you see a hint of decent shadow value, pull it, stop it, then fix it. you will lose highlights to gray the longer you leave a print in the developer.

it would be so very helpful if you would post a scan of a problematic print. it is a visual medium, after all.

 

[thelazerviking]

it was the safelight filter!!!!

 

[motcon]

it was the safelight filter!!!!

that makes zero sense based on:

I just finished setting up my darkroom. all the paper gets fogged and grey in the developer. we tried it with all the lights off, it's not the safelights or anyhting. you put a fresh new unexposed piece of paper in the developer and it comes out grey. WHAT COULD IT BE? thanks

 

[dinodan]

Shouldn't this be in the darkroom section?

 

[terri]

Shouldn't this be in the darkroom section?

Yep. Thanks!

 

[terri]

it was the safelight filter!!!!

hmmm....I agree with Motcon that this shouldn't have been the culprit, since you got the same result with the lights OUT.

My next question would have been to ask if you had done any toning of your prints in there, or mixed up any toner in there - or wherever you were storing your paper. The fumes of certain toners can cause severe paper fog.

 

[blackdoglab]

The safelight filter on the enlarger?

 

[thelazerviking]

when we "tried it with all the lights off" we forgot that we already cut the paper earlier with the bad safelight on. then we later tried it in complete darkness and it came out great

 

[motcon]

when we "tried it with all the lights off" we forgot that we already cut the paper earlier with the bad safelight on. then we later tried it in complete darkness and it came out great

ah, there's the missing piece of information that we needed. makes sense now.