First self developed roll, a few small problems

[dennisC]

Hey guys, im new here so please be gentle with me lol. I was curious as to why only a few of my exposures came out like but the rest came out fine. Sample below.

(the scan on the left, the negative on the right)

Also, down the entire roll on the edge by the holes of the film there was a thin line on both edges of "darker area" just kind of curious as to why this is too. My guess would be it is not developed enough? I developed using kodak d76 and the film was fuji neopan 400. I had some troubles mixing the developer powder because I could only store half of it so I only made half of the package so Im kind of paranoid that I mixed too little/much of developer. Any replys would be helpful as im new to this. Thanks.

-Dennis


PS. A few images from the roll. Scanned negatives with a Epson V330.

 

[Paul Ron]

The first frame shows a trapped bubble which happened during development. The inconsistant develpment in other frames says you aren't tappingout the bubbles after agitations and/or you aren't agitating enough.

I normally agitate 10 sec every minute. I invert my tank as I listen to the gurgeling of the solution to stop between inversions. At the end of each agitation I sharply bang the tank on a paper towel on my bench top to be sure the bubbles rise to the top, this step takes about 5 sec.

Also watch how you wind the film onto the reels. Sometimes you get the film toutching eachother and that will show as undeveloped portions in your negs.

Practice till you get it perfect, it's only taking me all my life.

.

 

[ann]

That looks like a section of the negative was touching another, which means it didn't get developed. Just practice as has already been mentioned.

 

[compur]

I developed using kodak d76 and the film was fuji neopan 400. I had some troubles mixing the developer powder because I could only store half of it so I only made half of the package so Im kind of paranoid that I mixed too little/much of developer.

Oops -- no. You mustn't do that.

The package contains a number of different ingredients in certain proportions. There is no way to divide up the package and get the correct proportions of the different ingredients.

Doing that will likely still develop your film (as you have demonstrated) but the developer will not be D76 and in some cases could ruin your film.

If you don't have large enough containers, get larger ones to fit the developer. Containers are cheap.

Or, if you use liquid developer concentrate, you can use just what you need. But, you can't do that with pre-packaged dry developers like D76.

Otherwise -- good job and welcome to film developing.

 

[ann]

good get, i missed that piece of the thread.

 

[dennisC]

Thank you for the reply's everyone. I hope I left enough detail for everyone to answer my question accordingly. Now to get back to all of you:

Paul Ron - Hmm, I agitated for the first minute and 5 seconds every 30 seconds (or 10 seconds a minute) tapping after each agitation cycle. You (as well as others that mentioned it) make a strong point about the film touching each other on the reel, I didn't even think of that. I hope this doesn't sound stupid asking, but when you load the film on the reel do you go with the curve in the film or against it? It's kind of hard to explain, but I think you guys probably know what im asking here if you don't let me know.

Compur - That's what I was afraid of. Since I'm impatient (seems like a common trait in film photography lol) the only "local" store I had around here only sold 1 gallon packs of developer. I didn't want to make it all at once because I'm not shooting a lot at the moment as I'm going through some financial stuff and can't afford to buy films in bulk or as much as I'd like. I hate just buying one or two rolls, it's like a tease. I also didn't want to make it all at once in fear of it "going bad". I hear that if stored in a closet or somewhere dark it should be fine for a month or two? Anyone's self experience with storing chemicals in a normal home environment (I don't have a "darkroom" or any special room just a closet) would be much appreciated. I think I was trying just push some of it off in hopes of saving money, but I know now I probably did the opposite.

Ann - Your last post I didn't understand?

 

[Josh66]

Don't worry about using it all up quick, or the chems going bad - that stuff lasts forever... I have a batch of Xtol (powder) that I mixed in February and it's still 'brand new'. For $10 a bag, there's no reason to try to 'save' it to make it last longer. [edit - and I have a fresh bag waiting for when I have to mix new soup.] Buy bigger containers if you have to. Like compur said - containers are cheap.

I think Ann was referring to the fact that you mixed a partial batch from powdered dev, which is a big no-no. If you only want to mix a little at a time, get a concentrated liquid, like HC-110 or Rodinal (both last forever in concentrated form, and both can also develop just about any film).

 

[dennisC]

Thanks for the info. Another thing I forgot to mention is I couldn't come across any non-clear gallon containers. I was just impatient and now I regret mixing the solutions. I guess it would be a bad idea to try to mix the rest of the powder with the already mixed liquid, huh? As for where I store my stuff, I have it in my closet in my room in a bag(brown paper bag) with a towel over the bag for smell reasons and for light.

 

[Josh66]

Check out Freestyle: Freestyle Photographic Supplies - Traditional Black & White Film, Paper, Chemicals, Holgas and ULF

They have everything you need. Chems, storage containers, film, any other film related thing you can think of.


I also store my chems in the closet (on a little rack thing). Temperature ranges from 65-85 degrees F. Even with the higher than optimal temperatures, it still lasts forever...

I do have fresh concentrate/powder to make new stuff whenever any of it goes bad though - also stored in the same place. Light isn't an issue in the closet, and smell shouldn't be any issue anywhere with the proper containers.

All of my B&W chems are in black or brown containers. My C-41 chems are in clear bottles (bought at walmart - didn't want to wait for the FedEx guy ordering online...) - even in the clear containers, they're doing fine. Lasting longer than they're supposed to, even.

 

[compur]

Compur - That's what I was afraid of. Since I'm impatient (seems like a common trait in film photography lol) the only "local" store I had around here only sold 1 gallon packs of developer. I didn't want to make it all at once because I'm not shooting a lot at the moment as I'm going through some financial stuff and can't afford to buy films in bulk or as much as I'd like. I hate just buying one or two rolls, it's like a tease. I also didn't want to make it all at once in fear of it "going bad". I hear that if stored in a closet or somewhere dark it should be fine for a month or two? Anyone's self experience with storing chemicals in a normal home environment (I don't have a "darkroom" or any special room just a closet) would be much appreciated. I think I was trying just push some of it off in hopes of saving money, but I know now I probably did the opposite.

See Kodak's data sheet for D76 under "Storage Life":
http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/j78/j78.pdf

Oxygen is primarily what causes developers to deteriorate so you can maximize
storage life by avoiding, as much as possible, empty air space in your storage
bottle. There are several ways to do this. The easiest is to get yourself some
marbles and put them in the partially full bottle until the top of the liquid reaches
the top of the bottle. There are other solutions too like bottles that fold up like
an accordian, inert gas that is injected into the bottle, air pumps, etc.

But, the easiest of all is to get a liquid concentrate developer like HC-110 or
Rodinal. Then you can use just as much as you need for each job and the
rest will last in storage a very long time. HC-110 is especially good as a
general purpose developer.

 

[dennisC]

Yeah I actually have freestyle bookmarked. I live about a hour away from LA/Hollywood so I was thinking about going to the store this weekend. I really like that they have Arista films for like 2.59 I'm probably going to order some rolls soon or buy when I go to the store. So back to the original question though, just mix all the solution at the same time agitate and bump the bottom for air bubbles and these random blotches shouldn't happen? I appreciate everything guys, can't wait to get some more film and containers.

 

[compur]

Actually, it looks to me like the blemishes in your film were more likely caused by improper loading of the film on the reel.

It has to be loaded so that no two surfaces are in contact. If a portion of the film slips out of its position and touches another part of the film then the developer can't reach that area very well and doesn't develop properly. "Kinks" or creases in the film can also cause similar effects.

Just take it slow and easy and make sure the film is smoothly loaded. Practicing with a roll in daylight might help.