Efke 25 problems.

[false_Aesthetic]

Hey,

I'm developing efke 25 1 at a time in Xtol 1:3 for 7' 30"

The density is fine however I'm getting hella mottled development-totally uneven crazyness.


Procedure:

1) 2 min H2O bath.
2) 1 sheet goes into 400ml of soup. Tray gets rocked left to right twice at 0 seconds then front to back at 30 seconds.
3) H2O "stop" for 30 seconds
4) Then fix with a hardener.

Anyone have thoughts?

Should I provide a scan?

T

[steve simmons]

My guess is the flow over the surface of the film is uneven and surgey (). Why one at a time? Try four or so and try the procedure I've used for many years. There is a detailed description in the Free Articles section of the View Camera web page.

steve simmons

[Michael Graves]

Are we safe in assuming that you're developing face up? If so, is the film staying immersed in the developer? And Steve, as one writer to another, wouldn't that be surgiferous?

[John Berry]

If your going to tray develop use a continuous gentle agitation. If your doing 4x5 DON"T use 5x7 trays. It's too easy for the wave action to overdevelop the edges. Better yet do as Steve recommends and do the shuffle.

[steve simmons]

I like surgey, it is more politically timely

steve simmons

[Rob_5419]

The mottling may be contact surface + agitation pattern related, if your tank has anything other than clean flat lines. I always fix in a fixer and then harden afterwards.

Doesn't hardener extend fixing times? Is it possible your negatives aren't properly fixed?

Go on Sherlock - a scan would be helpful.

[false_Aesthetic]

I am developing face up.

The reason I do it one at a time is that I found the film extremely fragile... I'm trying to avoid any possibility of scratches and . . . . fingerprints (seriously, I've NEVER EVER EVER seen fingerprint indentations on fp4+, hp5+, tmax or tri-x but they've happened with the efke film.)

Here's a pict of the neg. (ignore the fact that the neg slipped in the film holder).

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Incidentally, this wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that I have a 8x ND and a orange 16 filter on the lens would it?

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Thanks!

[Rob_5419]

Looks like your agitation technique needs more working on (i.e. less) - sorry.

(Nothing to do with the filters)

[brook]

brush development might be a good idea if your already doing one sheet at a time face up, if you have a DBI light all you need is a cheap hake brush.

[Ed K.]

FA -

You didn't mention how long your development is. If your issue is uneven development you might find that increasing the development time will help. Also, be sure to mix your chemicals well prior to pouring in the tray. When I say "increase development time", I don't mean to increase development. If you're trying to do 3-4 minutes in the soup, mottling is pretty easy to do. If you increase dilution and time so that it takes more like 10-12 minutes, things will probably be more even. If you pour a concentrated developer, or developer with a different temperature into a tray of water and then start putting sheets in right away, you could get the mottling too. And, really grasping at straws, if you have a little light coming onto your developing tray, perhaps even that could do it.

Try mixing the chems really well first, using clean trays, and adjusting your dilution to have a longer development time.

As to filters, we'll assume that they are clean, no? If not, that would be an interesting trick to have flare on one of them causing this. It really does look like mottled development.