What Happened here? Film Developing Help Please

[Tobias Key]

I'm having a problem with occasional strange steaks on my negatives and I'd like to get to the bottom of it.

My workflow is as follows
Ilford HP5+
Combiplan tank
ID-11 1+1 for 13 mins
I do to very slow inversions every 30 seconds, which take around 15 seconds to perform.
Plain Water Stop
Ilford rapid fixer for 3mins.

Wash by refilling and inverting the tank as per Ilford's recommendations, with 2ml of photoflo in the final wash (mixed beforehand)
All water is filtered with a filter jug.

The marks sometimes appear slightly greasy in nature.





The streaks in this case seem to run across the film in the perpendicular direction to my inversions.

My best guess is photoflo contamination in the tank, or old water getting trapped in the lower drain plug and settling on film after I load it, but I really appreciate any insights before I go crazy from the frustration of yet more wasted time and film.

[bob carnie]

Initial agitation is off,need to be more aggressive in the first 15 seconds... grey backgrounds will show every defect in process.

This is probably the most common problem in film processing.

[djdister]

Looks like Photoflo drying scum marks, so I'd check your washing/photoflo/drying process steps.

[Tobias Key]

Looks like Photoflo drying scum marks, so I'd check your washing/photoflo/drying process steps.

I think photoflo might be part of it, but I can't see any marks on the film. I think uneven development is more likely, but I'm not sure if it's not the time it takes to fill the combiplan tank, in which case it's unsolvable unless I buy a Jobo or sort out a darkroom for the first stage of the processing.

[Nigel Smith]

Not sure of the actual problem (very weird due to very distinct edges and shapes) but I agree with Bob, initial agitation should be 'robust'. Don't 'cocktail shaker' it but don't baby it either. I don't like your 15sec agitation every 30sec either actually... hardly gives the developer time to settle... but people do use continuous agitation so with appropriate time adjustment that shouldn't be an issue.

I don't think it's photoflo residual (have a close look at the negs... should be able to see that on the surface), however, 2ml of Photoflo sounds a lot. How much water are you mixing that in. 2-3 drops is enough in 1lt of water IMO. I'd also recommend deionised/distilled water for the final rinse (with the photoflo).

[Fred L]

I'm very curious about those rectangular shaped artifacts, if they weren't on the background. If they were introduced during a processing then that's baffling as it might indicate contact with something, possibly while drying ?

[RSalles]

Tobias,

What is your agitation procedure for palin water stop, if any?

1:1 is a very strong dilution, IMHO very good care of dev. procedures have to be taken as the developer is at it's maximum strength.

I would try a 1 min. constant agitation with plain water, following a acetic acid or similar stop bath for also 1 min. constant agitation, gently done.

Dark marks: increased dev in certains areas of the film would be my first bet,

Renato

[jp]

Use less photo flo.
check with Ilford; they've probably seen it all.
I don't use ID-11 but I do use a combiplan. I slowly agitate for the whole first minute, then 1 inversion agitation each minute for pyrocat hd.
Never had a problem with fill time with the combiplan, aside from my impatience.

[Michael W]

If you look at the shiny side of the film, held angled to the light, do the marks appear to be sitting on the surface, or to be part of the image? If they appear to be on the surface then it is some sort of mark that can be cleaned off, most likely water marks. You can prevent this in future by altering your process such as using distilled water for the final soak. If it appears to be part of the image then it will be something going wrong in the initial developing stages.

[Tobias Key]

If you look at the shiny side of the film, held angled to the light, do the marks appear to be sitting on the surface, or to be part of the image? If they appear to be on the surface then it is some sort of mark that can be cleaned off, most likely water marks. You can prevent this in future by altering your process such as using distilled water for the final soak. If it appears to be part of the image then it will be something going wrong in the initial developing stages.

The negative looks totally clean, I live in a very hard water area so I always use filtered or distilled water for the wash and I'm only too familiar with what water marks look like. At the moment I'm thinking that I should wash all my film processing equipment in the dishwasher, and beef up the initial agitation stage of the development. It's all very frustrating, I used to pride myself on my processing and printing in the good old days, so it's a grind to feel like a beginner again.