Michael_71
Dear forum members,
I’ve been taking black-and-white photographs for several years now, and I perform the development and printing myself. Today I made contact prints from a few 6x45 negatives that I’d had lying around since last September. In doing so, I discovered defects in the negatives from two rolls of Rollei IR400 film. One has streaks running along the length of the film. This has happened to me before. I develop using a rotary processor and use Atomal for the Rollei. I put this down to the wrong rotation speed, as it didn’t happen again at a lower speed. Now it’s happened again, but unfortunately I can’t remember whether I developed at the wrong speed last September.
The other problem, however, is much more interesting. I’ve attached a sample image to this post. In the first half of this roll of film, the uniform areas have a strange texture. It almost looks solarised.
Does anyone perhaps have any idea what might have caused this?
Many thanks,
Michael
KlausWehner
Hi Michael,
First of all, a warm welcome to the forum!
Regarding your first issue with the Rollei IR 400:
rotation cannot cause the kind of defects you’ve described.
Without having seen the film, I would tend to think it’s a fault with the film stock itself.
Regarding the second example:
it’s a bit difficult for me to tell what’s part of the subject and what’s a defect.
You mention a strange texture.
That makes me think of a typical fault that has been occurring repeatedly with roll film recently.
Occasionally, a reaction takes place between the backing paper and the emulsion.
In the process, some of the black colour from the backing paper is transferred to the emulsion (including the print).
Best regards,
Klaus
Michael_71
Hi Klaus,
Thank you very much for your quick reply and your friendly greeting!
You write, "Rotation cannot cause the kind of errors you have described.
Without having seen the film, I would be more inclined to think it’s a fault with the film stock."
I’ve attached a photo of the contact print of the film showing the streaks. Could it be a light leak? The only strange thing would be why it only appears on some of the films in this film pack.
“Regarding the second example:
it’s a bit difficult for me to tell what’s part of the subject and what’s a fault.”
I can well understand that.
Unfortunately, the contact sheet is still too wet to photograph. My photo of the negative isn’t very sharp either. Unfortunately, I only have my mobile phone to digitise it.
On the negative, there is a lighter object in the centre. Above that, a uniform blue sky without clouds should be visible. However, what can be seen is more of a cluster of dark spots with bright halos around them. So, a pattern, but not a regular one.
I’ll send a photo of the contact print later.
Many thanks,
Michael
KlausWehner
Hi Michael,
That’s tricky!
The development looks uneven.
Perhaps there wasn’t enough developer in the tank?
(Under unfavourable conditions, developer can sometimes leak from a faulty can into the water bath).
The film doesn’t look entirely clear either. Has it been fixed properly?
Best regards,
Klaus
Michael_71
Hi Klaus,
It’s developed sufficiently. It just looks that way for some reason.
I can possibly imagine that there wasn’t enough developer. I experimented twice with four 120 films in a Jobo paper tank. The volume wasn’t officially specified, so I tried to work it out myself. That may well have gone wrong. Unfortunately, I can’t remember whether this film was included in the second attempt.
