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Old 8th June 2021, 12:30 PM
Simon Burrows Simon Burrows is offline
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Default Clear negs

Hello,

I've just developed some Ilford Delta 400 in Ilfosol 3 (1+9) and when I tipped out the developer the water was very grey?

Mmmm I thought, but I carried on with the full process. But yea my negatives were completely clear with no images?

Any ideas ?
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Old 9th June 2021, 09:38 PM
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Sorry to hear about your troubles - very frustrating I know!

Grey is probably fine - that will just be the anti-halation layer dissolving - that's normal.

Two most common causes I think:

1) Something wrong with the developer or you accidentally poured in the fixer first. In this case there will be no manufacturer's text and numbers along the edge of the film as they won't have been developed (these are exposed on to the film during manufacture). Also, the leader of the film will be blank, even though it will have been exposed to light when you loaded the camera (I'm assuming 35mm film here).

2) Something wrong with the camera and no images were recorded. In this case, assuming the processing went OK, you will have text and numbers along the edge but no images. The leader of the film will be black as that was exposed when you loaded the camera.
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Old 9th June 2021, 11:21 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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Hi Simon. Bob has covered all the likely causes very well. If you can give us answers which cover Bob's causes this will eliminate some causes or confirm them

Until we get those answers we can only speculate which will not be particularly useful in getting to a cause

Thanks

Mike
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Old 10th June 2021, 06:56 AM
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It really is a process of elimination.

A common example is that the film didn't catch onto the take up spool after loading. Photographers shoot merrily away not realising no film is being exposed and it only becomes evident at the processing stage.

A quick snap of the film can be helpful to determine, as Bob suggests, if it occurred either pre- or post processing.

Whatever it is, I can promise you, we've all been there!
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Old 10th June 2021, 01:15 PM
Simon Burrows Simon Burrows is offline
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Thank you for the replies, Bob there was no text on the or numbers along the edge just completely blank. it was 120 film, I'm wondering now I must have used the fix first. Bit of a newbie fumble maybe
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Old 10th June 2021, 01:23 PM
Terry S Terry S is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Burrows View Post
I'm wondering now I must have used the fix first. Bit of a newbie fumble maybe
We've all done it at least once Simon.

Terry S
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Old 10th June 2021, 02:52 PM
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That's bad luck - but as Terry says, we have all done that before now... Very annoying it is too!

Ilford Delta in 120 does indeed have text along the edge so yes, if there is nothing then it does look like the fixer went in first.

You can check it was not the developer at fault next time before you use it by cutting off a small bit of film leader (only a few cms/half an inch is fine) before loading the reel and wave it about in the working strength developer for a minute or three in the light - it should go black (make sure you are not looking at the anti-halation layer which is itself generally black - let that dissolve off). If it doesn't go black, then something is up with the developer, though even when developer goes off, there is usually some feint image left so the most likely culprit is too-early deployed fixer .

Good luck!

Last edited by Bob; 10th June 2021 at 03:13 PM.
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Old 10th June 2021, 04:58 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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Sorry about your bad luck, Simon but it is now 99.999% certain that fix went in first. I have done this once myself and I had already developed many rolls successfully. So I could have sworn that I did not make this mistake but I did. It is worth marking the two graduates for Dev and Fix with labels. I found dymo-tape labels good for this. Not only can you stamp out the names on the tape but can use two colours such as black and red

Mike
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Old 11th June 2021, 09:11 AM
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Martin Aislabie Martin Aislabie is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Burrows View Post
Thank you for the replies, Bob there was no text on the or numbers along the edge just completely blank. it was 120 film, I'm wondering now I must have used the fix first. Bit of a newbie fumble maybe
The only other question is - how freshly opened was your developer ?

Ilfosol 3 is known to have "sudden death syndrome" - ie you have had the bottle open for a while, everything has been looking fine and then suddenly, the developer dies.

The sudden death happens after the bottle has been open for more than 6 months and there is no warning - no discolouration, no thinning of the negs or anything else to warn you.

Freshly opened sealed bottles should be fine.

Martin
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