Pauli Peura , Jan 25, 2009; 04:04 p.m.
Hello everybody.
I developed yesterday and today some 120 rolls of Kodak Plus-X 125 film.
What I noticed after first batch was some random somewhat faint dots on
even colored areas on the negatives. I have provided an example
of the situation below. The image has been taken against my monitor screen
with my small digital camera, so that is the reason why you can see stripes
from the LCD screen on the picture. Anyway, when increasing the contrast
in the picture, the dots can be clearly seen.
For the developing I used:
1) Normal tap water
2) No presoaking of the film
3) Ilford ID-11 at 1:1 dilution for 8.5 minutes, T = 20 C.
Two proper turns every minute.
4) Stop bath Classic STP 1+20 ~1 min, T = 20 C.
5) Fixer ADOFIX 1+9 ~4 min, T = 20 C
6) My normal wash at T = 20 C tap water.
7) Agepon water bath at the end.
A) ID-11 was mixed yesterday, according to Ilford's instructions
at T = 40 C first part A, then part B. I bought the ID-11 power about
two years ago and it has been stored at room temp after that.
B) The films have been shot last autumn and have been kept in
plastic bags in our fridge.
The negatives look otherwise good, but the dots are the problem. What I thought for the
first time was that I hadn't turned the JOBO dev. tank properly for the first 30 sec when I started
to develop the first batch. Also I suspected that I hadn't banged the dev. tank properly after
every turning I made, so I made extra sure next time that I turned the tank every minute
and that I did tap the tank properly always after turning to get rid of the possible bubbles on film.
And after the second batch I noticed that I had again similar dots.
I did use the same batch of ID-11 developer every time (3 different developments) , so that might
also be the reason for this (= developer had something wrong )?
After third batch now I did throw the ID-11 away and I might try to mix a new solution for the next try.
I can also say is that I have dots mainly only on frames 12,11,10 and maybe 9 on these
negatives (6x6 frames). The last frames go first into the reel, so they are located closest to the
middle of the reel. My JOBO tank takes 3 rolls at once, but I did not notice difference between
rolls that had been on top or on the bottom of the tank.
I did also try searching for this problem for the old posts (and google generally), but I found
only more obvious problems with dots (or let's say that dots were completely white / black).
For example there surely has not been chemicals splashing on these negatives.
I have mainly used Ilford's FP4+ and HP5+ films with the same developing techniques,
and I have never seen anything similar from those films. For example The day before
I developed about six rolls of FP4+ films with no problems (developer Microphen 1+1).
Any suggestions? Hopefully somebody would have experienced similar things.
-- Pauli Peura
Kodak Plus-X 125 film with random dots. High contrast intentional, also LCD stripes visible.
John Elder , Jan 25, 2009; 05:16 p.m.
I don't know what the spots are. However, I highly recommend using distilled water for the development of film. It eleminates any variables do to tap water content. Also your final rinse-soak should be in distilled water.
Ronald Moravec , Jan 25, 2009; 05:19 p.m.
I am going to guess there is a condensation problem because they are confined to the outer wraps of film & paper.
Frost free refrigerators and freezers go thru a heating & cooling cycle to evaporate the frost and a plastic bag is insufficient protection as there can be moisture present inside. If the film was inside the original foil wrapper, you would not have that problem.
Pauli Peura , Jan 25, 2009; 05:50 p.m.
Ronald wrote:
Frost free refrigerators and freezers go thru a heating & cooling cycle to evaporate the frost and a plastic bag is insufficient protection as there can be moisture present inside. If the film was inside the original foil wrapper, you would not have that problem.
This suggestion sounds very convinsing to me because of the long storage time of the films.
Maybe Ilford FP4+ and HP5+ just react differently to the moisture present inside the fridge. I might just in case look through those negs with very careful eye too...
I wonder wheter presoaking the film would have helped in this case?
-- Pauli
Robert Cossar 
, Jan 25, 2009; 08:54 p.m.
Hmmmmm....they look more like air bubbles to me. If you enlarge them greatly, do they retain perfect roundness? If so....then I think it has to be bubbles.....regards, Bob
Neal Currie , Jan 25, 2009; 09:37 p.m.
Looks like air bubbles to me too - but by far the worst case of it I have ever seen. Pre-soaking can help reduce air bubles (I think, anyway).
Air bubbles get stuck to the film, and they prevent developer from getting to that section. The result is that the bubbled section doesn't get as much development as the surrounding area, so on the negatives, the density is reduce. On the print, the density is increased.
Pauli Peura , Jan 26, 2009; 10:09 a.m.
Without seeing these kind of things before I was too thinking about these air bubbles.
But I wonder then why weren't these bubbles visible on all flat colored negatives or most of them, now I have about 3-4 / 12. And clearly the dots appear on frames number 12,11,10-9ish. These frames are closest to the center of the rolls so maybe there was not enough water moving (or tapping)...... Weird thing.
Anyway I think that this calls for few test rolls of Plus-X 125 and developing those in ID-11 1+1.
Dave Wilson 
, Jan 26, 2009; 11:44 a.m.
I think it was the refrigerator. Never refrigerate open film, just stick it in a sock or clothes drawer in a regular dry room and it will last a long time. I run film that I shot 5-7 years ago of landscapes and other things and never once have trouble. Once film is open refrigerators and freezers are not a good idea. Just my opinion, take it for what it's worth.
John Elder , Jan 27, 2009; 02:27 a.m.
By the way folks, Ilfford's reccomendations on developimg Hp5+ is NOT to presoak the film. I only use Hp5+, so I don't know if that is true for all Ilfford films.
Lynn Jones , Jan 28, 2009; 02:27 p.m.
Hi Pauli,
Since the dots are not sharp edged they aren't undissolved chemical marks. That only leaves two possibilities:
First: a fine spray of water or condensation stiking the emulsion which will start the development processing a bit sooner, making the spots as a plus density on the negative and a minus density on the print. If that is the case, you get smooth edged spots, but they are rarely circular, usually they tend to drag a bit.
Second: Air bells which means that you didn't give adequate initial agitation causing minus density smooth edged spots in the negatives or plus denisty on the print.
Since the positive image is "plus density", I vote for air bells.
John's comment about Ilford not recommending pre soak, I wonder why. While I don't do it regularly, I have done this with every b/w film in my experience for certain things, I wonder what Ilford says about that. Lets hear about this, I'd be very interested.
Lynn
