I have been using FP4+/HP5+ 4x5 with HC110 & PMK Pyro formula [with help from G Hutching's excellent book on Pyro] for 5 years. I have recently noticed I have a problem with some of my negs [same problem affects HC110 and Pyro negs]. The problem is that I can see on some negs with the naked eye [no magnifying glass needed], blotchy areas of increased density. The effect is most noticeable in ares of smooth tonal gradation such as blue skies and dunes. The effect is replicated on any print made from the defective neg.(posted 8671 days ago)The strange thing is, I can develop 4 negs in a stack in an open 10"x8" tray and only one will exhibit the problem.
I would describe the blotches as areas of increased density in the neg that have no particular shape, but which resemble interconnected flattened loops with a strong 'North-South' allignment i.e. the loops appear longer parallel to the short side of the neg than to the longer side of the neg.. They are never longer parallel to the long side of the neg. Where the blotch is its density falls off very gradually and smoothly to the background density of the general subject matter either side of the line of the blotch. The blotches can appear in a connected but random pattern, with typical dark blotch width of 1mm with any where between 4 and 7 running through a given 10mm width of film and with the whole of the area of the neg affected. On most of my negs there are no blotches at all, and the development density accress the neg is even across the whole of the neg [and in the case of Pyro negs the stain is even accross the neg]
Here's how I develop the negs... I tansfer one neg at atime into the pre soak I pre soak in distilled water at 2degC above dev temp, I make up dev using distilled water. I tansfer one neg at atime into the dev. I slant the 10x8 tray up at the far end so I have greater depth of dev at the near end I keep the stack tidy in the lower left hand corner of the tray - the deep end I remove the bottom neg quickly and drop it on the stack and sink the stack and repeat this one more time than the number of negs in the stack, then I rotate the stack in the horizontal plane through 90 degrees and repeat the shuffle. My technique is not fast enough to comfortably do this with 6 negs in 15 seconds so I am now working with 4 negs in stack. Hope you will be able to respond. Thanks in anticipation. Highest Regards Peter Moore Mob +44 (0) 7770 471 476 - UK number peter.moore@ceragon.co.uk