odd stain on tmax 100

[andy]

First off, please forgive me, this is about 120 film, I shoot a mix of 120 and 8x10.
I've just been processing a number of rolls of tmax 100 in tmax developer at 72 degrees using
hewes reels and tanks, fixed with sprint rapid fix, washed, perma-washed, photo-flo'd and dried.

ok, so here is the odd problem--after the wash there is a strange greenish/blue stain on the film, it seems to be
primarily on the emulsion side--it almost looks like the film wasn't properly fixed.

first solution, throw it back in the fix for a couple of additional minutes, but it was still there.
now the odd thing, is that if I wipe the negative at this stage with my fingers it goes away, but it's tricky to make sure it's all gone.

then back in the permawash and another final wash--

I'm using fresh chemistry and filtered water, I'm not sure what's causing this or where it's coming from--

any thoughts?

I'll see if I can wrangle a photo of the stain--

[Jay DeFehr]

Sounds like dichroic fog. Does the stain have a metallic sheen? If so, how old is your fixer? You might be redepositing silver from your fixer onto your film, and so more fixing won't help. Make up fresh fix and see if the problem goes away. Good luck!

[mike rosenlof]

I had a similar sounding issue with 4x5 TMX developed in tubes. The problem was the developer was not getting to the back of the film to remove the antihalation layer. I do my second fix in small sandwich trays which does get solution to the back, but the fix didn't remove the stain, it seemed that only the developer would.

My solution was to soak the film in the used developer (I always use dev one-shot) for a couple of minutes after the fix! Worked great, At that point all of the unexposed silver halides should be gone, so no change to the image. A sodium carbonate solution, about 1tsp / liter also worked, but the old developer was just sitting there, raising the pH seemed to be the key.

Not sure if this is going to help with 120, but the coloring fits. I had this problem _only_ with TMX (not sure I ever shot any other Kodak films in 4x5).

[E. von Hoegh]

I had a similar sounding issue with 4x5 TMX developed in tubes. The problem was the developer was not getting to the back of the film to remove the antihalation layer. I do my second fix in small sandwich trays which does get solution to the back, but the fix didn't remove the stain, it seemed that only the developer would.

My solution was to soak the film in the used developer (I always use dev one-shot) for a couple of minutes after the fix! Worked great, At that point all of the unexposed silver halides should be gone, so no change to the image. A sodium carbonate solution, about 1tsp / liter also worked, but the old developer was just sitting there, raising the pH seemed to be the key.

Not sure if this is going to help with 120, but the coloring fits. I had this problem _only_ with TMX (not sure I ever shot any other Kodak films in 4x5).

Ditto.

[Corran]

When I take my TMX out of the BTZS tube it has that stain. The fixer eliminates it, I don't have to do any crazy stuff like above. Every once in a while there is a persistent streak that rubs off when I go to the final wash.

I'm using Ilford Hypam if that makes any difference.

[andy]

the developer problem makes sense symptomatically--it looks like the anti-halation layer, I'm going to mix new fix as well and try again, although I did mix it fresh today, I'm not a fan of sprint, and I'm not hesitant to blame it, though I did check it with hypo-check and it was good...

thanks!
I'll let you know what happens.