Troubleshooting developing Portra 800
 

hey everyone, I just performed a shoot with a single roll of Portra 800, new from amazon, in date.

Developed using correct times with replenished fuji C-41 chemistry in a jobo 1500 tank.

I metered the film at ISO 640, spot metering for the face.

https://i.imgur.com/0b5rAXT.png Digital shot context, same ISO setting, same shooting method.

Here's some negatives from the first 'test' part of the roll.

https://i.imgur.com/5oUyXZT.png Negative 1 (completely unaltered)

https://i.imgur.com/94a35TQ.png Negative 1 (auto colour corrected)

https://i.imgur.com/lGdkEVJ.png Negative 2 (completely unaltered)

https://i.imgur.com/fckkJSH.png Negative 2 (Auto color corrected)

I literally just mixed new batches of developer, bleach and fixer with the correct quantities of replenisher and starter as per usual.

What on earth is happening here?? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thankyou!

I haven’t done any C41 processing, but have a lot of experience with B&W. Assuming the film was ok, and not damaged by exposure to excessive heat, for example, I would say that this is a chemistry related problem.
Firstly, since I understand that developer temperature is very important, I would suggest that you check your thermometer for accuracy. If your processor uses a heated water bath, check that it is achieving and maintaining the correct temperature.
If these checks are ok, I would suspect the chemicals themselves. Are they properly mixed, and used in the correct order? Is there any scope for contamination as a result of preparation procedure, or storage? It is possible that they are faulty to begin with, either due to some manufacturing issue, or because the kit has been lying around the retailers premises for a lengthy period. I have twice bought chemicals for B&W that were well out of date, and these came from apparently reputable retailers.
There are people here with good experience of colour work, and they may recognise this type of problem, but checking your equipment and system should help you on the way to a solution.
Alex.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I'd prefer to see the negative strips, it looks like a processing issue, maybe incomplete bleaching/fixing.

Ian

semmess, what Lostlabours has said. Your links direct me to a site that blocks me until I agree to its wishes which no doubt means it ends up knowing things about me to its advantage and given that the only real accurate source of evidence is pictures of your negatives taken by a digital camera then show us them here. My acquaintance with imgur has now ended. Not even a one night stand as they say:D

Mike

That 'site' the link brings us to is annoying -- I do not want to 'Accept' anything BUT on a 'quick flash of the image' before it is overlaid I would say the chemistry is dead and the negatives are dreadfully 'thin'

can' t you post directly here as I didn't go there either

BUT all........... if you KEEP clicking/closing and click again it goes away

Just post them here ?????


.

Poor colour reproduction
 

They look to me as if the negatives were under exposed or under developed. The sure way to decide which is to look at the wording on the rebate of the film. If they are 'thin' I would suggest underdevelopment.
Either by not having it warm enough for the time it was developed or too short a development time at the right temperature.

It could be all was processed in accordance with the temperatures 3.15 mins/seconds at 38 degrees C in which case the developer was expired/exhausted, or the bleach and fix were not done for long enough. Typically 6 mins @38 degrees C. This could also be the result of using colour bleach and fix for too short a time as well. I always give 7 minutes even through the kit says 6

Looking at the scanned images, even the colour correction software has been unable to correct the problem with the tones on the face being distinctly 'off colour' . Perhaps if you could let us know your method of working, with times, temperatures, make of developer and had it been used before. Also how long since it was made up from the concentrate and how it was stored.

The only other thing that comes to mind is the film expiry date has passed or it has been stored near to a source of heat such as a radiator,

Thanks everyone
 

Thanks for the advice. Turns out the issue was being caused by two things; Slightly contaminated developer and the inversion setting on my Jobo machine being set too high.

I developed the rest of the negatives with a fresh batch of developer + slower speed on the Jobo, worked a charm.