Do you suspect Stefano's films of reticulation, 'winddancing'? I'm rather
dubious that's the problem; reticulation shows cracks that make the print
look like a landscape where a burning sun has dried the mud. And I don't
believe you can actually _feel_ reticulation (no experience, never succeeded
in reticulating a film ;-)).

I notice those 'bubbles' print lighter than their surroundings, so they must
have a dark or opaque appearance on the negative. As you can feel them,
Stefano, they can be deposits from the wash water or dust settling down when
the film hangs drying (I bet on the first).

As your negatives look - sorry for my hard verdict - rather lost, you can
try this experiment: rewash the film (or a single band of  negs for a
careful test); after washing, soak in deminaralised water with wetting
agent, hang to dry in a _dust free_ room at room temparature (bathrooms are
mostly the least dusted places in our homes). Hang the film, tip toe away
and gently close the door until next morning. Carefully control the
temperature of the wash water and demin. water! To cold doesn't wash well,
to hot makes the emulsion very week, switching from hotter to colder (-5?C)
can make the emulsion reticulate.

If this rewashing doesn't help, you can try gently wiping the negs (after
another washing session + soaking in demin. water & wetting agent) with a
_clean_ (new) chamois leather. This _can_ (allmost certainly) give scratches
on the film, but when it solves your problem, I mean: when your 'bubbles'
are gone, you can at least assume that my diagnosis comes close to the truth
and you'll be able to prevent it in the future with the above procedure.

Jan

    The degree of effect is dependant upon the film though. TMX
and TMY are hardened and don't reticulate as easily as other "old
tech" films.

Regards,

  John S. Douglas, Photographer -  http://www.puresilver.org
             Please remove the "_" when replying via email

  Microphen is essentially a Phenidone version of D-76,
rather low pH and buffered using Borax as the alkali.
  The water rinse stop bath should not have caused
problems. Even though Ilford Rapid Fixer does not have a
hardener it is acid and buffered so it would have stopped
development instantly.
  Unless other rolls of film from the same batch have been
processed successfully I suspect a coating problem, Ilford
has been having them lately. I think it might be worth
examining an unexposed roll of film to see if the surface is
smooth. If not, contact Ilford.
  BTW, I wonder about the demonstration mentioned above.
Carbonate is the only alkali commonly used in developers
which outgasses. Even so pinholes, which are actual
disruptions of the emulsion, are quite rare. Generally what
is attributed to pinholes is actually from embedded dust.
  The procedure of the original poster is OK but the fixing
time is too long for film strength rapid fixer and the wash
time too short. The longer fixing time might cause some
bleaching of the highlights although that will be slight.
Washing without a sulfite wash aid should last about half an
hour. With wash aid five minutes is enough.

I have a film (actually Neopan400) that has some of this.  It was a
test roll and I was less than careful in its procesing.  I think I let
some hot water drop into the open tank since i was not going to the
trouble of my normal washing routine.  On my film, this is evidenced
by the trouble being in patches.  It doesn't look like the classic
reticulation seen in the older books on technique: it's less obvious.

yes... :(

i used acetic acid sometimes (2% solution in 1liter) but i feel no
necessary this one. About 30" of normal water wash I think do the same.

Sometimes when I've to develop a batch of several rolls I start to have
a stronger solution of fix.
For example instead of 1:4 of fix I start with 1:3,4.
This time, with frsh fixer I starte to fix 1:4... gosh! As manual
suggests!!

I wonder too that the acidic fixer used for a long time for first rolls
can produce this.... tomorrow i will try also this.

Thanks a lot for the followup-

Stefano

Nice brain Dan!

yeps.

usually i take lot of care.
and when it happens someting like this i feel confused...

yes, I'm starting to think too. Or the tempeareture of fixing was
increased more than 23?C form some reason... test test i've to male
tests...

But sometimes a <5min of fix don't cleart the antihalo magenta stain
enough. And, since this would give no problems in negatives life,
sometime creates lots of problems in printing because increase contrast.
Plus, sometimes a long time of washing not solve the magenta stain.
All of my negatives have to be gray on the border: And so they are 98%
of my negatives.

The same film buyed in pack of ten:
Neopan 400 35mm fresh.

Hope I will do.
I will solve this mistery with a saturday of testings and following some
sugestions, like these writed by many mates in this NG.
Thanks people.

Hope my questions will help someone.
Sorry for posting strange problems. :D

Stefano Bramato

 Very little water is needed to process a roll of film. Use distilled
through-out the film's processing.                                 Dan

Good! What was it? And do not apologise for asking strange questions,
They are more fun than familiar questions.