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Old 23rd October 2016, 07:39 AM
John King John King is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: County Durham
Posts: 3,318
Default C41

Marks like this can occur when a film is kept in a fridge but is not allowed to regain room temperature before opening the foil wrapper, and is caused by dampness on the emulsion. This dampness does not have to be visible to cause the problem. Were the marks on every frame?

My other impression is a problem with the actual processing. What quantity of developer had you mixed before processing the very 1st film? Part used developers, especially C41 colour, do not always take kindly to being left for a couple of days before using them again. This may have exacerbated any problem relating to that in paragraph one.

Another possibility is, unless your measuring beakers, film spiral and internal parts of the tank are SPOTLESSLY clean there can be a small amount of chemical carry over. This is possible even if they are rinsed out afterwards. I found this out to my cost when I mixed my last batch of RA4 colour printing developer. I had to dump 2 litres of chemical from the NOVA Processor when it became contaminated. I now use only glass measuring beakers which eliminates one source of the problem.
I'm assuming you are using some sort of processor.

What brand of C41 are you using, Not that it makes much difference because they are all generic and can be intermixed.

I have been processing C41 since 1990 or so and have never used colour developer more than once and have never had this problem. I always work on the principal of 'use once then discard'. It may be more expensive but my results are consistent.

To cut down on costs, I have found that buying say a 2.5 litre kit, mixing the developer all at once but storing it in brown glass bottles (preferably in a dark place such as a cupboard) the pre mixed developer will keep without degrading over at least 2-3 months.
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