Strange pattern on Fomapan 100

blnoli

blnoli

Registered User
Joined
Jul 9, 2019
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Hello All,

has anyone seen this before and could give me some advice how to avoid it please.
In the sky of the picture below i have some strange patterns.
I assume it is maybe caused by too much wetting agent and uneven drying. Could that be the reason? What do you think?

Fomapan 100 4x5
D76 1+1 ISO050 N 13:00 min
Ilford Rapid Fix 5min
Stearman Press SP445
Fotospeed wetting agent 3-5ml / 500ml

1660

Many thanks in advance for your help.
Wish you all a nice weekend
Cheers
Oliver
 
Looks like foaming or something similar during development. Could be a build up of wetting agent in the tank, over zealous agitation.

Give all parts of the tank a good wash in warm water, if you use a pre-soak keep any wetting agent to the bare minimum level, keep agitation gentle.

Ian
 
Hello Ian,

Many thanks for the reply. I am washed my tank in warm water as suggested.
Just back from a longer trip and scanning the latest results.
Let's see whether the strange pattern is gone.

Cheers
Oliver
 
Are you using the new v4 holders? Looks very similar to the "tracks" cut into those holders.
 
Firstly, are you sure it wasn't in the sky? Something visible to film, but not to the eye. The question has to be asked although it seems unlikely.
Are you giving a decent pre-soak? A decent length of fixing – twice the clearing time? Do you live in a hard water area? Have you tried (although I don't recommend it) squeegeeing the film dry?
As it's quite a detailed pattern, I can't believe it's from agitation.
 
The mottling is all over the image, not just the sky/sea. Do some basic troubleshooting:

Is the scanner causing the problem? Carefully examine the negative on a light table with a strong loupe, if the mottling is on the film it will be clearly visible, if it is not there then the scanner is somehow creating the problem.

If the mottling is definitely on the film then re-fix and re-wash the negaative using fresh fixer (don't forget to agitate during fixing) and re-examine with the loupe. Is the mottling still there?

If the mottling is still visible then you have to think about other things:

Is condensation the issue? Did you take the film from a warm environment into a colder one for the shoot without letting it warm up?
Do you pre-soak your film? The jury is out on whether one should do this or not but perhaps it does ensure even development.
Did you use a stop bath - either proprietory or plain water?
Were all the liquid temperatures with a degree or so of each other - especially the wash water? Many years ago I saw this kind of 'stress pattern' on film that had been inadvertently dropped into very cold running water after fixing. This is different to the normal reticulation that can occur with mis-matched temps during development and before the film becomes properly hardened.

Just a few thoughts that might help ......
 
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One more thing. Ian G is very keen on not overdosing with wetting agent. No doubt he speaks from experience as he's mentioned it previously. I've never seen a problem.
When you hang up the film to dry, it should be completely wetted all over with a single layer of liquid, with no pooling, spotting or rivulets. It needs to hang in free air, not in the holders.
You need enough, but just enough, wetting agent to deliver this. The amount will vary with the hardness of your water and perhaps with extremes of temperature. It will drain and dry better if hanging from a corner so that he liquid runs to a point where the final droplet can, if you like, be blotted off by touching, not wiping, with a clean tissue.
When you try re-fixing, do it in a tray to ensure proper access to the back of the film. We've discussed the limitations of the Stearman tank before on this forum.
All of Keith's advice is excellent. You might try cleaning the scanner glass, if there are no marks on the actual film.
 
Hello All,

many thanks for the various replies.
The mottling is clearly visible in the negative - no scanning issue.
Pre-soak 3-5min
Hard water - yes very hard water but I use deionized water for dev, fix and final rinse.
Fixing Ilford Rapid Fix 5min - clearing time was 1:30 min.
I do squeegeeing after final rinse in deionized water to get rid of white spots.
Temperature was 20 Grad for dev, fix, water and presoak normally 21 -22 depending on my room temperature.

I have only seen that mottling for one batch of Fomapan 100.
Not seen with Trix, HP5 or FP4.

For now i will give up searching and will revisit when I use Foampan 100 again.
BTW: I bought 22 boxes of FP4 a 25 sheets from 2007 for a good price.
Hence FP4 will be my go to film for the near future anyway.

Thanks anyway
Cheers,
Oliver
 
One other possibility is the film sheets sticking together a bit in the box. I've seen rather similar problems with Fomapan 120 film and the backing paper so I wonder if it's not the mechanically strongest emulsion.
 
I have had similar and stopped using wetting agent. however hard I tried it still seemed to foam even at very low concentrations and minimal agitation. Try a soak and washing again in distilled/de-ionised water, if it goes away it will probably have been the wetting agent.

Nick
 
@blnoli, in my experience with the SP-445 I've definitely had issues with one film and not others. Therefore, it doesn't surprise me that the Foma 100 may be causing issues for you, while other films are fine.
 
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