Your photo sharing community!

Share On

Well, I did it. and nothing came out. : (((

I followed the directions as closely as I possible could and I'm not sure what happened.

I used Ilford Ilfosol developer - last night, trying to find out what went wrong, I went to the ilford site and it said that because it's a one shot developer that it's for immediate use. Does that mean that I should have made it to use for right then? I actually mixed it up on Thursday and used it Monday night, was this too long to wait?

I hope that was the problem because I really thought I had everything down.....

Plus, I hung the negs to dry anyway, and they came out a little streaky......what caused that? maybe the sponge?

If you have the time, I really need your help.

Thanks!

Julia

p.s. Thanks for your advice before....what I finally settled with was that developer is o.k. to throw down the sink with septic and the fixer and stop bath goes back in the bottle anyway, and the shop I go to a lot said I could bring the exhausted chemicals back to there for recycling.

Julia,

I have never developed any ilford films so I probably wont be much help. I do remember in my beginning photography class in high school (I think that was in '04) acouple of kids coudnt get anything to come out on their rolls either. The instructor went tinto the developing room with them to see what they were doing wrong. They were leaving the safelight on while loading their film into the cannister. Hopefully you didn't do that. I would make sure that you have your roll of film completly secured to the take up spool (I have not done that a time or two). I now always check to make sure that the rewind handle is moving each time I advance my film so I know that I have a fresh frame of film. Other than that or the chemicals I havent a clue. Sorry to take up so much time with worthless rhetoric.

Russ

I develop Ilform film at home too. Happened to me once, and it was because I wasn't in a totally light-tight room. (Lost all 36 exposures, and the roll was a good one...I think.)
Ilfosol's one-shot means, of course you know this, one time use only, and it needs to be at 68deg. F. Make sure of this. Any warmer and it'll go off quicker. Make it the night before.

Are your streakies along the length of the film or across it, originating from the sprocket holes? Or it might be the sponge, as some don't like developer. I bought a two sided squeegie wiper, and I love it.

Saw your gallery. VERY impressive. Your career has been decided for you. if you have this level of skill already...I've seen much worse from "pros" that make good coin.

Scott

I tend to agree with the above. very likely it was stray light that ruined the film. no matter how dark you think it is in your darkroom, often it is not dark enough. you may be able to handle paper and print materials under subdued light or a "safe light" but these things will always kill undeveloped film. since my makeshift darkroom has an air vent that can't be secured from light, i have to use a changing bag to load the film on the reel and get it into the tank. i pre-measure all the chemicals i will need for the processing and put them in separate containers ready to pour in as needed so i am not spending unneeded time trying to measure out chemicals in total or near darkness. so far as the streaks go, make sure everything that touches the film is wet. pre-wet all the squeegees and sponges you might use so they won't have a hard surface to scratch the film. and after my final rinse of the film, just before i am ready to take it off the reel i either dunk the reel in a tank with photo-flo solution in it. (correctly proportioned of course) or i put a few drops of photo-flo concentrate in the final rinse water and let it stand a moment before i take the reel out of the tank and unspool it. this is a wetting agent and acts to smooth out the finish to control spotting sort of like the "jet-dri" additive for your dishwasher keeps the spots down on your glasses.

sorry your first roll didn't succeed. more attempts and more practice will take care of it.

Thanks SO Much!

I think that making the developer ahead of time could have been the issue. I have a roll of Tri-X just waiting to be developed - hopefully tonight or tomorrow - and I'm just going to mix the dev. right before hand - I really hope that's it. Cross your fingers!

Thanks also for the nice comment on my photos - I've really been trying and sites like this have been helpful beyond anything I could have imagined.

Is there anything at all on the film? Can you see the letters on the side?

If the film is totally black, then you've got a light leak problem. If the film is totally clear, no images or letters, then you may have put the fixer in first. If the numbers/letters are there, but no images, then everything has been developed correctly, but the film did not advance in the camera.

I mix chemicals for a public darkroom, and our developer, HC-110, is usually prepared a few gallons at a time. As long as the developer is kept in a light-tight container and doesn't have too much air in the bottle, it should have been fine.

Hi there,

Many others are convinced you have light leaks in your darkroom set-up. As a previous poster mentioned, it's impossible to say what is going on without more information. Is there ANYTHING on the film? Can you see the frame numbers and the Ilford lettering along the edges? Is the developed film totally black, or just clear film base? Anything remotely like an image?

As for Ilfosol developer, I used it for a long time with Ilford HP5+ and PanF+ with success. One characteristic of this developer is that it can go "off" quickly. If you bought your bottle within the last couple of months, it should be fine. Once the bottle has been opened you should try to use the whole thing within a few months. Keep the concentrate in the bottle and dilute (I use the 1+9 dilution) only what you need, right before you process your film. Make sure you mix it well. The diluted developer has poor keeping properties, so that's why you should dilute immediately before use. As another poster mentioned, you need to make sure that the development time is appropriate for the temperature and film type.

Good luck, feel free to contact me if you need more info.

Attached image was done on Ilford Delta 400 professional, developed for the recommended time at 22C in Ilfosol 1+9 diltuion, then printed on Ilford Multigrade IV RC paper.

Any one shot developer should be mixed within a hour or so of actually using it. Most one shot developers will oxidize (I think) and not function properly.

Anytime you premix and store any developer you should be sure to eliminate all the air from the container you are storing the developer in. This includes paper developer too.

Thank You all so so so much!

I do believe that pre-mixing the developer 4 days before hand was the culprit. : (

I have just successfully (I hope, I think) developed a roll tonight. The only difference was that I mixed the developer just prior to using it.

I am sooooo psyched. I'll be taking them to the shop tomorrow, hopefully, to get them printed, and then I'll see just how I did.

If they actually did come out well, then I will be totally into the next step and trying to print one.......woohoo!

again, many thanks for your help, this was the only forum I knew of to ask these questions....

take care,

Julia

Julia,

I am waiting on pins and needles. Did it work?

Russ

Hey Russell,

It sure did! I got a whole roll of shots - it was just thrilling! I can't wait to do it again - and when I get the courage up, I'm going to try for a contact sheet - though that seems much more involved......

Thanks for your help : )

here's one of them....

take care,

Julia

Julia,

I don't think it has to do with the mixing beforehand. Developer, when stored, becomes weak, and will only result in a less dense negative. The dry streak is probably because you didn't use Photo-Flo or a wetting agent to release surface tension. Don't beleive me? Bring some Photo-Flo to your local lake and pour it into the waters. The release of water tension will cause all the ducks to sink. :)

I'm wondering if maybe you mixed up your chemicals on accident and ended up throwing in stop bath or fixer instead of developer.

If it is in fact safelight fogging, a 20x30 changing bag can be purchased at BHphoto for $22. This will allow you to enjoy Wheel of Fortune and Jeapordy while loading your film into the developing tank.

The developing steps:
- Pre rinse in water (2 min.) [using normal agitation]
- Developer [using normal agitation]
- Stop Bath (0:30)
- Fixer (8 - 10 min.) [using normal agitation]
- Rinse (30 - 60 seconds)
- Hypoclearing Agent (2 minutes) [using normal agitation]
- Final Rinse (5 minutes)
- Photo-Flo
- Squeegie

By the time you're done with everything, your hands should be fairly most, so you can run the film between your fingers to squeeze the water, then hang to dry overnight. Or you can pick up a PVA Chamois in the automotive part of Target or Walmart for $5.99. Cut into small sections so you can use as a squeegie. Immerse the squeegie into the photo flo bath too, so that it will kill the water tension resulting in scratch-free negatives. Be sure you get the PVA ones. The cotton ones are bound to scratch your negatives. Also, be sure to use photo-flo in a separate tub, do not allow photo-flo to make contact with your tank/reel.

"Why shouldn?t I leave the film on the reels with the tank off the processor?

Plastic developing reels exposed to multiple baths of wetting agent will eventually get coated with the agent. The reels will have a rough coating on the surface. They will become difficult to load. It will seem as though the reel is "sticky" even after being rinsed thoroughly. It requires a physical brushing or scrubbing to remove the buildup, and even this is not a reliable technique.
Because the surface is coated, it tends to retain some wetting agent on the reels; no matter how hard or often you wash them. This leads to a release of small amounts of the wetting agent while the reel is in the developer. The surface tension of the developer closest to the spokes of the reel is lower than in the center of the width of the film. When this happens, there is more development action at the edges of the film than the center. The density of the images on the film will be higher at the edges (except reversal films, which would exhibit the opposite density shift.)

Stainless steel reels are also affected by wetting agent. A coating of wetting agent will eventually produce uneven development, just as it does with the plastic reels." - JOBO-USA

Boy, thats a lot of Photo-Flo information.

Good luck!!!

Randal M.	David R.	Michael B.	Le B.	Darryl B.	slavko m.	The P.	Debra G.

	Sign Up Now! \| Log In \| Help
	Your photo sharing community!