Roger,
It sounds to me like you've identified your agitation problem, but just don't want to accept that it is, indeed, a possible culprit here. Pushing the negatives down "as quickly as I can with the palm of my hand..." is a sure recipe for extra edge density caused by turbulence at the edges AFAIC. Protecting the middle of the film from reaching fresh developer right away with the palm of your hand just exacerbates the effect.
Try slowing down and submerging your negatives more slowly, making sure that fresh developer flows over the center of the negative while it's being agitated. I'm willing to bet that your edge-density problem will magically disappear.
However, you have a point about the mottling being the same with both development processes. Upon closer inspection, it looks like possible condensation on the film before exposure even, or some other handling/storage defect. If that is indeed the case, then you've got more than one problem to fix. I've heard that FP-4 needs a rather long pre-soak if you choose to pre-soak (a must with LF negs and tray developing) due to surfactants incorporated in the emulsion. Try a minimum 5-minute pre-soak and see if that helps.
Best,
Doremus
Those negs were so flat, FP4@ISO 16 then the dev cut in half, then scanned on a scanner that made them even flatter, then tweaked with as much contrast possible in all the settings. No negative would survive that much adjustment without artifacts. Looking forward to trying different things. Thanks for all the suggestions.
I've used HC-110 for over 30 years and have not had any problems whether tray processing, in a tank or on hangers. I presoak for 1 minute and then into the developer. Never had issues at any dilution. And there has never been a problem with mixing it either, even though it's a thick syrup, it does require a little stirring but nothing aggressive.
better. i was very gentle with the film. no pushing. 5 min presoak with agitation during most of that time. gently touching and pressing with the flat of my hand and fingers on the film just enough until it is submerged. then float the next sheet on top, repeat. rotate the stack 1/4 turn after each series of 8. shuffle and rotate, 5sec-10sec for each shuffle, for the first half of the development, about 4 times, one for each side of the film. then let them sit untouched in a stack for 30s-45s breaks during the final half of the processing, which allows about 2 more rotations. the film, in a much looser stack, slowly goes to the bottom of the tray. previously I would push it all the way to the bottom each time, and keep the stack tightly controlled. 9min HC110 1:93, 9 minutes @72 degrees in 8x10 tray. there is still some center to edge unevenness although the last one includes lens vignetting. I'm not sure what the "clarity" slide does in Camera Raw, but it seemed to bring out midtone differences.
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