Streaking on negatives

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John Bartley - 18 Jul 2004 02:11 GMT

Hello all,

I could use a bit of help with this problem. I have now exposed twelve
4x5 negatives since June 27'th. On that date I mixed up Rodinal, Kodak
Indicator Stop and Kodafix. I have not supplemented the mixtures by
"topping up" with concentrate, but I have increased the developing,
stopping and fixing times by 10% each. I keep my solutions in plastic
screw top jugs in a cardboard box, covered with a towel for light
protection. I keep my negatives in a fridge and only take them out to
reload. I am developing in 8x10 trays. I was rinsing the trays and
always using the same tray for the same chemical, but when this trouble
cropped up, I started washing the trays with soap and warm water before
rinsing clean and air drying.

I had planned to develop either 25 negatives, or for one month,
whichever came first begore replacing the chemicals.

What I'm getting and in a fashion which seems to be getting worse, are
streaks which look to be either under exposed or under developed. They
seem to be exactly the same width and position as the raised portions of
the plastic trays.

I have tried presoaking (I use Ilford 125iso FP4) and while that seemed
to make the "properly" developed portions of the pictures look better,
it surely didn't solve the streaking trouble.

Here are my guesses :::

1) I should strengthen my mixtures gently just before each developing
episode. I only develop about once each week, so I'm thinking that my
chemicals are breaking down while idle. I only have the one film holder
yet, which is a deliberate choice, forcing me to see my progress in
stages which will allow for correction and improvement before wasting
more film.

2) I may not be agitating the film properly when first put into the
developer, although the first four negatives that I did showed no
evidence of this streaking. I should also move the negatives in the
trays with my fingers as opposed to just agitating the trays. I did that
for the first four and they were fine.

3) I should revise my chemical lifespan estimates downward radically and
also strengthen just before using.

Any ideas, criticisms, and/or chastisement along with suggestions will
be gratefully accepted.

cheers

ps : the streaks appear to be purple??? - not sure about this though -
they're hard to see.

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regards from ::

John Bartley
43 Norway Spruce Street
Stittsville, Ontario
Canada, K2S1P5

( If you slow down it takes longer
- does that apply to life also?)

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Vladamir30 - 18 Jul 2004 02:58 GMT

When you say you "mixed up Rodinal" I assume you mean you made a working
solution at 1:50 or 1:100 or some other dilution on June 27 and have been
storing it since then. Others here know more about Rodinal than I do but in
general it isn't good practice to store most developers in working solution
for any length of time. The more usual, and I think better, practice is to
make only as much working solution as you'll need for the negatives you'll
be developing in a single session (i.e. mix a fresh batch of working
solution each session in a quantity sufficient for the negatives to be
developed).

Why are you increasing development times by 10%? You aren't reusing the
working solution are you? Hopefully not, you don't do that except when
using a replenishing developer which Rodinal isn't AFAIK. With one shot
developers you make enough working solution for each negative you'll be
developing in that session, use it once per negative, then discard it.

How did you determine the volume of working solution required for each
negative, i.e. apart from anything else, are you sure you have enough
developer in the tray for the number of negatives you're developing at one
time?

If the problem areas appear to be the same width as the raised portion of
your trays perhaps you need to check your shuffling technique.

Ilford recommends against presoaking its films as I recall but in any event
presoaking is seldom necessary or desirable with most modern films (unless
the manufacturer of a particular film recommends a presoak of course) .

> Hello all,
>
[quoted text clipped - 47 lines]
> ps : the streaks appear to be purple??? - not sure about this though -
> they're hard to see.

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Robert Feinman - 18 Jul 2004 15:27 GMT

> Hello all,
>
[quoted text clipped - 44 lines]
>
> cheers

If you streaks are really colored then you are not fixing long enough.
It's also possible that your developer is too weak to remove the anti-
halation dye in the film. You may also not be filling the trays deep
enough and/or agitating to little. Do you shuffle your films?
The Large Format magazine site has good info on tray developing.

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Robert D Feinman
Landscapes, Cityscapes and Panoramic Photographs
http://robertdfeinman.com
mail: robertdfeinman@netscape.net

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jjs - 18 Jul 2004 17:53 GMT

[...] Are you really using Rodinal over and over? FWIW I consider it a
one-shot developer. What dilution are you using?

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John Bartley - 19 Jul 2004 00:15 GMT

> Hello all,

Thank you for the replies.

I guess that when I read the Rodinal instructions on the Agfa website, I
read it from the perspective that said I was going to save and re-use
it. I based that on the parts of the site that talked about extending
development times after certain periods of storage and the parts of the
site that discussed how much film you could develop from one "mixture".
When I re-read it today, I got a different understanding due to looking
at it from a different perspective.

I did follow the instructions for mixture (1:25), temperature during use
(20'C) and development time for the film. I also do agitate, but I only
develop one negative at a time for now, as I am a bit lacking in
confidence about my ability to do more than one successfully.

I have now discarded both my negative and print developer and will mix
and use fresh from now on. I have a feeling that this will solve my problem.

cheers

Signature

regards from ::

John Bartley
43 Norway Spruce Street
Stittsville, Ontario
Canada, K2S1P5

( If you slow down it takes longer
- does that apply to life also?)

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Nicholas O. Lindan - 19 Jul 2004 15:53 GMT

> 4x5 negatives streaks which look to be either under
> exposed or under developed. They seem to be exactly
> the same width and position as the raised portions of
> the plastic trays.

Occam's razor says the problem is in the interaction
between the tray ribs and the film.

It would seem the ribs are keeping the developer
from the film.

Try developing the film emulsion side _UP_.

And, as has been pointed out: Rodinal is 1-shot, but I doubt
this has much relevance to the problem above.

> I have now discarded both my negative and print developer
> and will mix and use fresh from now on. I have a feeling
> that this will solve my problem.

I will place good money it won't.

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Nicholas O. Lindan, Cleveland, Ohio
Consulting Engineer: Electronics; Informatics; Photonics.
Remove spaces etc. to reply: n o lindan at net com dot com
psst.. want to buy an f-stop timer? nolindan.com/da/fstop/

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