Troublecheck

Orio · Expire: 2012-12-04

What could cause:

1- more grain (a lot) than usual
2- film horribly curled (on the short side - tunnel effect)

in a film-developer couple that was already previously tested with very good results?

Nesster · Expire: 2014-02-20

If anyone knows, let me know too Smile

I think it's a) the alignment of planets and phase of moon b) atmospheric conditions and sunspot activity c) rare quantum flucutations causing the developer to change d) inconsistent technique on my part, in order of importance.

Excalibur · Expire: 2014-04-21

Underexposed neg? Some b/w shots scan better than others? plunging the film in ice cold water for the wash? Developer not fresh?.........erm I don't really know.

Sevo · Expire: 2012-12-03

One common reason is reticulation. Which is gelatin shrivelling, caused by thermal or chemical shock - usually it is due to the water being too cold relative to the chemistry, but I've also seen it when I forgot that I had changed from 25% to glacial acetic and mixed my stop four times as strong as allowed.

Apart from that, spent developer (or even worse, fixer polluted developer) can of course cause just about any imaginable harm to the negatives...

Carlsson · Joined: 26 Jul 2008 Posts: 793 Location: Portugal

Yes, temperature difference between developer-water for the grain, agitation too.
And perhaps too fast dried for the curling.

Orio · Expire: 2012-12-04

Thanks. I think water temperature for the wash was the problem. My bathroom faucet has two separate handles for warm and cold and find the right mix is very difficult. Also because it tends to change over time. I think I will have to use only the Ilford method Sad

About too fast drying, I don't know. The film dried over the night inside a closed metal cabinet. While it's easy to avoid longitudinal curling (by applying a weight at the bottom end), there's nothing to do about the latitudinal curling I am afraid. Question

scsambrook · Expire: 2011-11-18

It's a long time since I developed my own films, but too much heat when drying certainly can cause short-side curling - and you don't need so much that that the emulsion melts! Done it a few times when I was in a hurry to get prints made. Try washing again in water/wetting agent solution around 70 F/ 21 C - let it soak really well and then let the film dry in a relatively moist atmosphere, like bathroom, away from any heat source. It might help.

More grain with a familiar combination is harder to explain. Others have mentioned reticulation, and that CAN look like grain in a mild form

martinsmith99 · Expire: 2013-11-18

Is this grain in scanned images?

I've been tweaking my scanning technique and getting less grain and one thing I have found is by setting the levels narrower and not asking the scanner to stop all the clipping I get much cleaner scans.

Maybe you could share your workflow.

GrahamNR17 · Expire: 2012-09-06

Can you do a very high resolution scan of one frame, then zoom in close to inspect. It might be your first experience of reticulation Sad