TiMo
After the development, I ended up with a completely blank roll of film (Tri-X 135). I mean completely blank. Not a trace of an image or the edge markings is visible.
The camera is fine. The developer is fine too. The film leader looked normal as well.
Nothing was mixed up during development.
So there must have been something wrong with the film. Has anyone else had the same experience?
Cheers
gurkensaft
Hi Tim,
How is it possible that the film wasn’t advanced? (With an automatic camera, for example, the feed lever might not have been extended far enough; with a manual camera, perhaps the pawl slipped out of the take-up spool…?)
It’s happened to me too, and I only noticed when rewinding.
It’s very unlikely to be a fault with the film if the pawl has slipped.
Regards, Torsten
TiMo
Hi Torsten,
I’ve tested the camera since then and the film was fine. If the fault you described had occurred, at least the first frame would have to be black because it would be hopelessly overexposed. But it isn’t. The entire streak is blank.
Best regards, Tim
MirkoBoeddecker
The tongue as well?
TiMo
The tongue too?
That too.
hallertauBW
Hi Tim,
Perhaps your film canister wasn’t light-tight? I once left out the black plastic sleeve that slides onto the film spool in my Paterson canisters. I ended up with the same result.
Best regards, Guido
TiMo
Hi Guido,
Another film was later successfully developed in the same canister. Besides, if the canister hadn’t been airtight, there would have been silver in it that would have reacted to the light. However, the streak is blank/transparent. No emulsion has reacted to the light.
Best regards, Tim
bernhardmangelsgmxde
If Kodak had made a mistake during the manufacturing process that led to such a result, a large number of users experiencing the same problem would very soon be reporting it on all analogue photography forums. With films from a certain manufacturer, there is a problem whereby, if the development time is too short, the film comes out practically blank. As this manufacturer also stated an incorrect development time in the instructions, there were repeated reports from users describing this problem. I would guess that Tri-X is sold about 100 times more often than these films... and that, with such problems, a great many angry users would also speak out. So I don’t really think that the Tri-X itself is the problem.
Can we really rule out 100% that the developer wasn’t mixed up with the fixer? Which developer are we talking about? When was it bought, and how was the dilution performed?
piu58
The leader isn’t black, and there’s no text to be seen = it hasn’t been developed, just fixed.
I know that with mistakes like this, you’d bet your eyesight on having done everything right. But it’s not possible for just a single roll of film to have been processed incorrectly. If thousands of rolls had been processed incorrectly, we’d have known about it long ago. Besides, Kodak probably processes a few rolls from every batch themselves; that’s part of quality control.
TiMo
Because I’m an idiot!
I’ve just rinsed out the bottle that contained the developer. There’s a bit of silver precipitate in there, but that doesn’t matter. The point is, I thought I should leave the water in there a bit longer and give it a good clean.
Then it occurred to me that I’d thought that before. That was about six weeks ago. I must not have poured the water out then, because something came up during the final cleaning. Later, the bottle with the water inside and the label ‘MZB Solution A’ on the outside went onto the shelf with the chemicals. It sat there until yesterday, when I took out the supposed developer. I then developed with water. Well done!
Bloody hell! Thanks for your help and sorry for wasting your time.
Tandemfahren
Haha, spread the word: Ti-him is a proper bloke!
Years ago, the phone rang just BEFORE I was about to mix a few kilos of epoxy resin... so that evening I ended up laying 10 square metres of top-quality laminate all by myself on a very expensive boat... it was a right mess – words can’t even begin to describe it.
So mope about it for a bit and then it’ll be fine; it’s a lovely classic story for long, boring evenings with your grandchildren! (“Yeah, Grandad, developed with water, never mind, we know the drill...”)
Cheshire-grin-sized
Frank
