Response to Dull film on prints

Basically, look for something in your process that has changed recently. To exclude the final washing as the cause, first try a final bath w/o wetting agent (if you use one at all), then try adding a final bath in distilled water (w/o wetting agent) after your usual process. When using distilled water, you should not get any stains due to water hardness. (By the way, water-hardness stains can be removed quite easily by using dilute citric acid, but don't try this on a valuable print!) If the film persists even after the distilled-water bath, try washing a test strip or other unimportant print in distilled water only, skipping the usual tap-water washing. You need not wash to archival conditions, because that would require a lot of distilled water. Just wash a bit, then let the print dry to see if it is OK. Once you have ruled out the wetting agent and the water, work your way backwards through the chain. If - as you say they are - the chemicals are fresh, look for contaminations of the trays/tanks. Finally, also consider the possibility of a bad batch of paper.

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