B+W Processing Issue - Advise

[Boinzo]

Hi All. A good mate of mine shoots MF - 120 a lot (sorry I know it's not properly large - but please bear with me).

He has shot some B+W Pan F-Plus 120 Rolls and had them processed by a local lab. 3 times now his negs have come back a mess.

I keep telling him to do his own. But in the interim we are both a bit unsure of what is going on and wanted to see if some of the experts here could shed some light on the problem.

He has given me permission to post a couple of his scans (attached). Hopefully someone with more experience than me can suggest what the problem might be ...

I think it's reticulation or just plain not rinsed properly but am interested to get input from others.

[Greg Blank]

Old chemicals! Is the lab using a Dip and Dunk or what, If so I bet there is suspended stuff in their soup- could be sulfur depositing in the fix.

[Boinzo]

Thanks Greg. Not sure if they dip and dunk - but it is probable I guess. Since they have a fair volume to do. Anyway - that's a good suggestion I hadn't thought of.

[Fred L]

Could just be me but it seems the artifacts are only visible in the sky or uniform areas. Can't seem to see it in the rocks/ dark areas but it could be hidden and hard to see. I was thinking dirty processing, probably wash or photo flo step. Has your friend tried rewashing to see if it removes the spots ?

[nolindan]

Change labs. Whatever it is, it is the lab's fault. And the lab should have noticed something is seriously wrong...

[Greg Blank]

I agree most certainly change labs. It is in the whole image area, look at the second image shows up in the water of the tidal pool. When rapid fix goes bad as a concentrate it precipitates sulfur compounds. If you are doing home darkroom you can filter it out if your only seeing a small amount and the fix should still be good. I have used a coffee filter and then made dang sure there was non foating in the mixed fixer. My guess with this its been sitting in the machine and the machine has not been recently drained and scrubbed (I would hate to see thier transport racks).... "cleaning" in a lab that should happen at least once a week- IMOP.

[Boinzo]

I reckon you've nailed it Greg. It seems plausible to me that this lab - which is probably doing less and less of this work - will be trying to stretch their chemistry as far as possible. And also not caring as much about the outcome.

I'm pretty confident my mate will change Labs - to his on kitchen!

I'm going to give him a quick lesson so he can get started in DIY development. It's essential to get creative control anyway!

[polyglot]

I've seen this with stock D76 having chunks of precipitate floating in it that are highly active (hence the dense spots). When diluted back to 1+1 they go back into solution and it works OK again.

Definitely need to drop that lab and do your own.

[Boinzo]

Thanks for all the responses guys. I spent some time last night showing him the ropes to do his own development. He is ordering chemistry as we speak.
Appreciate the input.

[E. von Hoegh]

Thanks for all the responses guys. I spent some time last night showing him the ropes to do his own development. He is ordering chemistry as we speak.
Appreciate the input.

It really is easy to do your own, one you get off the toe of the familiarity curve. And very satisying! If he can read a thermometer, and follow instructions, he'll do fine. Looks like he has a good eye.