Too much base fog and coarse grain

Gast · 2003-09-18T06:46:10+00:00

Hallöchen ihr Filmentwickler, hab erst vor kurzem zum eigenen Labor gefunden und bin daher noch nicht sooo erfahren. Bei meinen ersten Entwicklungen ist mi...

Gast

Hi there, film developers, I’ve only recently set up my own darkroom, so I’m not that experienced yet. When comparing my first developments with those from a commercial lab, I’ve noticed that the base fog is always quite high in my prints; in other words, areas that should actually be white (or clear) in the negative end up looking quite grey to dark grey. Also, the grain is quite coarse, particularly in enlargements. Does anyone have a solution for this, or know what I’m doing wrong? A few details about the film development: Negative film: Ilford HP5 Plus 400, 12 exposures (could it be because there are only 12 frames???) Agitation every 3 seconds (approx.) Developer: Tetenal Ultrafin liquid, 1+20, single-use developer at 22°C, 6.5 mins in a Jobo developing drum Approx. 2 mins in Classic STP stop bath, ~5% Fixing in Tetenal Superfix Odourless, ~4–5 mins Washing with Cascade approx. 5 mins This should actually correspond pretty closely to the manufacturer’s instructions. Many thanks in advance! Ralf

rherz

Hi Ralf, What does the film look like at the edges and between the frames? If it’s that dark there too, there might be a light leak somewhere. The development time calculator at Phototec lists your film/developer combination as ‘not recommended’!? The one at Digitaltruth confirms your values, as does Tetenal!??? Unfortunately, I don’t have any experience with this myself. Your stop bath time seems very long to me – 30 seconds to 1 minute should actually be more than enough. The fixing time looks fine. In my view, the cascade uses too much water and the temperature is very difficult to control. You should try rinsing using the Ilford method: after the fixer, fill the tank completely with water and pour it out straight away. Fill the tank with the recommended amount of water and tilt it 5 times, change the water, tilt it 10 times, change the water, tilt it 20 times, change the water, tilt it 20 times, pour out the water – done. Depending on the water level, you may or may need to use a wetting agent bath now, then give it a good shake or use a salad spinner. Hang them up and DO NOT use a squeegee. Where do you live, and how hard is the water there? If it’s very hard, try preparing your chemicals with distilled water. Perhaps that will help! Best regards Robert

Phil_2000

When I first started developing my own film and compared the results with those from a professional lab, I noticed that my base fog is always quite high; in other words, areas that should actually be white (or clear) in the negative end up looking quite grey to dark grey. What’s more, the grain is quite coarse, which is particularly noticeable in enlargements. Does anyone have a solution for this – what am I doing wrong?

Hello Ralf, I have also worked with Ultrafin Liquid from time to time, but I remember this developer as being rather harsh (at least for 35mm films) – coarse-grained and with very high base fog; the grey tones are also unpleasantly hard, even when I tried a pull of -1. An Ilford Pan F+ processed (according to the data sheet) at beta=0.55 turned out grainier than an FP4+ in Rodinal 1+50. For good results, use Calbe A49. It produces a fine grain, is well-balanced (best to use 1+1) and still has sufficient sharpness. In any case, I wouldn’t subject myself to Ultrafin Liquid again. Best regards, Philipp