My first darkroom prints

[timor]

How many rolls of this Arista you still have ? Cutting film in half is not bad idea. I am bulk loading and never cut bigger pieces than 18 frames. 18 is already a lot.
On the other hand I am starting to be acutely aware of shortcomings of home brand films. My Legacypro 100 I mention before blaming my Cosina for developing light leaks in the cold weather is also home brand. No way my camera is guilty, the light leaks came from the factory (Japanese one). I sealed the camera with 5 layers of tape and yet 4 frames in the middle of the strip are showing streaks. They are all together, starting in the half of one frame, going thru 2 frames and ending in the half of the fourth frame. The rest of the film is just fine. The only thing to do is to move on.

 

[JoL]

Glad I'm not the only one with film problems
I hope you'll have more luck with your future films. I'll give Arista Premium another try, but maybe I'll buy a roll of original Kodak TriX to develop them side by side and see if there is any difference.
Btw my bromide streaks were on almost every negative of that film strip.
In the beginning I thought 24 exposures on one film is a small amount, but now I've come to realize that it's more than enough. At least for me.

 

[timor]

In the beginning I thought 24 exposures on one film is a small amount, but now I've come to realize that it's more than enough. At least for me.

Correct feelings. Film makes everyone to look and shoot, when certain. This way one has 24 frames with something instead of 240 files of hope to have something. since you are wet printing you have all basic elements to exercise "vizualization": having close idea about the print before you press the shutter. . Big words, but actually you will develop understanding between what you see and what will be on the paper.

Good idea with the different source of film, I think on APUG people were asking if Arista premium 400 really is a TX. Had problems to. Don't like this amount of streaks. OK. Try continuous agitation, there should be no streaks and the next step should be a different film with regular procedure.

 

[JoL]

Alright, I hope you are ready for more.
I developed a roll of film two different ways (cut it in half while loading on the reel):

1. 6min, 30sec swirl, 10sec inversion every minute, distilled water
2. 5:20min, constant slow swirl, 10 sec inversion every minute, distilled water

Results:

1.


These are shots held against a random lamp. They still show the bromide streaks, the distilled water didn't help. The unexposed negative shows that there is more wrong than the streaks. Can this be a light leak at the side of the film advance lever / hinge of the back cover?

2.


No streaks visible anymore. timor, thanks!
But (of course there's a but), the streak along the whole film strip now is visible even more and I'm back to the original problem.

My next step would be taping the camera 5x and develop again with constant agitation and see what happens.
Any other opinions or conclusions?

 

[Gavjenks]

So #2: you taped the camera at exposure AND developed in the dark AND did the constant swirl, yes?

Hm, why is the streak reddish? That reads to me like not enough chemicals at all getting to it. Do the images that were on the outside of the roll in the tank have it? If so, does it look the same, or lesser? Could be the whole thing is too tightly wound in there, and chemicals are just not making it to the middle of the film in sufficient quantity because they're all jammed together too much for whatever reason. If so, I'd expect the couple on the outside to look fine and only the ones further in toward the spoke of the tank to have this stripe.

You could also test by just snipping your rolls in half so it's less crowded and see if it gets better. If that is what's going on, maybe a different brand of tank. Or just tray developing (snip snip snip, lay in rows) or something like this bad boy
http://static.photo.net/attachments/bboard/00G/00GuSp-30540384.jpg



Also what are you using for stop bath? It could be that if it is ineffectively stopping the developer, that the developer is just killing all your fixer, and there's not enough left to fix the middles of the film very well.

 

[timor]

Good, that's something. For the next round of struggle get couple of rolls of HP5+ or Kentmere from your regular, local photo store. Looks like Hunt's is nicely stocked up with film. Much worse with chemicals sadly, but ask, maybe there is something not posted on the web site like Tmax developer. I just don't trust this Arista stuff now, something is wrong, there should be no drag at all with your normal agitation, it forms just too easily.

 

[JoL]

I did cut the film in half and developed have a roll each time. That means that all of the film was more to the outside of the reel since it's fed at the outside.
I taped the camera the same way I did last time which doesn't cover the hinge itself.
I think the reddish hue is due to the white balance of my digital camera and the warm light bulb behind the negative. I ran out of film now and have to wait until Tuesday for some new film. I'll definitely try to seal the back of the camera even more to rule out the light leak possibility.
On the second picture of the first run you can see the dark steaks starting at the outside the actual exposed portion of the negative. Does that have to tell us something?

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[timor]

Also what are you using for stop bath? It could be that if it is ineffectively stopping the developer, that the developer is just killing all your fixer, and there's not enough left to fix the middles of the film very well.

The colour I guess is caused by bent of the film and digital camera perception.
Tank is fine to, but since you mention fixer, JoL, what's your fixer ?

 

[JoL]

I'm currently using all the Arista Premium stuff, so it's Arista Premium Odorless fixer.
Since I had no clue what would work well with what film, I just took the affordable Arista items as a start.

 

[timor]

That's OK, fixer is a fixer, just mix it in the right proportion. Actually I am using two stage fixing: two baths #1 goes first for about 2-2.5 min. After that rinse for 30-45 sec and then second bath for 4-6 min depends on film. After about 12-15 fixes (usually only half a film per process) #2 goes to #1 and fresh stuff is #2 now. I don't know, if that saves fixer, but system is rather aimed on good fixing of the film.

 

[JoL]

This time shot with Kodak Tri-X 400 (the original) and developed with 30s swirling followed by 10s reverting every minute.

A scanned darkroom print (with contrast filter 3, but overexposed):


And this is what I got from the negative with my DIY digitizing setup with my digital camera:



The blotchiness seems to be quite uniform now. But in general it's not as sharp as I would like it to be. Looking at pictures (scans of negatives or prints) of Tri-X 400 I think this film is capable of much more...

 

[vintagesnaps]

I'm not sure what you mean by splotchiness but I'm thinking it might be graininess showing because of the exposure. When I've done prints if I've had a dense negative I could zap more light thru it and get something but if it's too thin it's pretty much a lost cause. I mean there's just not enough 'information' there, not enough 'dark' on a frame of film to get a decent print if it's too thin. I think too that snow can make for a tricky exposure (but I like the composition and the way the foliage in the foreground frames the bridge).

If you ever get the chance I think a class on this might help to have someone show you and walk you thru all the steps, maybe a continuing ed. class thru a university or at a community center etc. I'd leaned some darkroom stuff when I was young and had mostly forgotten it but a number of years ago taking a grad art workshop really taught me the skills I needed. It's so hands-on I think it can help to have someone show you and an instructor can see what you're doing. (Like when I put a piece of paper in the developer and it instantly went coal black, although in that case I guess the instructor didn't need to tell me I'd left the light on the enlarger... but she said save it, that's your 'black' black).

If these are your first attempts you'll get it figured out, just a matter of if it's the camera, the exposure, the developing process, the equipment or supplies - or what combination of those needs to be changed.

 

[Gavjenks]

Make sure that when you digitize with the camera, you are exposing to the right if you plan on doing any editing (which you almost always would to fix contrast, etc.)! this is one situation where not exposing to the right is inexcusable.
And if necessary (if you suspect your film has more dynamic range than your camera), take bracketed exposures of the film and do an HDR. Seriously.

 

[JoL]

I think the recent photos were severely overexposed which was probably part of the trouble.
Took some properly exposed ones on a Kodak 100 speed film (expired 2002, got it for free) and the prints came out decent enough.



Unfortunately the cat's face is not in focus. But other than that, this is a god enough state to continue with my film adventure. I still have to look into fixing my problems with the 400 speed film, but the 100 iso prints make me think positive.
@vintagesnaps: A class would be fun, although I like teaching myself new stuff so much , even though it takes longer and can be frustrating.
@Gavjenks: Thanks for the advice, I might try digitizing some negatives in the future. However, my primary goal is to keep the process analog.

Thanks again @all for your help!

 

[vintagesnaps]

Those are looking good, I find getting a proper exposure helps, a lot less work to get a good print. I learned (as others have mentioned on the board) to adjust for a 'black' black and a 'white' white somewhere in the image then adjust from there.

If I got a good exposure when I took the picture, once I get an exposure time determined in the darkroom I won't have to do much adjusting from there. I bracket sometimes when I shoot B&W film if I'm in mixed light or if the meter's fluctuating, etc. that way I should have a choice of maybe 3 frames on the film to choose from and have a decent negative to work from.

You seem to be getting this figured out, glad you're enjoying it.