I have been heving a problem with uneven development on the edges of 120 & 220 film. I am getting denser areas along the edges of the negatives when shooting subjects against grey or white backgrounds. Iam using stainless steel tanks and reels and developing in HC 110 B. The problem seems to increase on negatives towards the center of the reels. Can anyone help ?

-- jeff westbrook (jeff@interport.net), April 09, 1999

Answers

Sounds like you might be over agitating. I use stainless tanks too. I use a plain water pre-rinse at the processing temperature that I leave in for a minute or so. Then I pour in the developer, cap the tank, and begin agitating by doing an over-and-back cycle with a 1/4 twist every time I go from "over" to "back." Kind of like screwing on a jar lid while you are turning the jar upside down.

I carry out the initial agitation for 30 seconds, and then let it sit still for 30 seconds. From then on I give two over-and-back cycles every 30 seconds and let the tank sit still in between.

I also use HC 110 at your dilution.

I found that the pre-rinse seems to give me more even development, because the emulsion is already uniformly wet and ready to accept the chemicals.

Good Luck

-- Tony Brent (ajbrent@mich.com), April 09, 1999.

tony,, i hate to disagree, but this is a classic case of under development.

dr

-- drwood (drwood@drwood.com), April 20, 1999.

You might check to see that the roll film is tight around the edges of the film holder, if it buckles or is not tight, light can leak in around the edges and make the edges darker.

-- Eddy Koonce (Jhkoonce@aol.com), May 11, 1999.