Help what happened to my 4x5 negs?

[rachel v.]

I tray processed my first 4x5 T-max 100 film sheet,(I used film with expired date) I first developped 2 sheets in the tray and I was really pleased with the result they were perfectly developed (used X-tol 1+3 for 6 minutes and 3/4 with 30s agitation). Then I processed 4 sheets and hardly had anything on my negs only a very faint image who looked liked completly overexposed, the negative were rather pinkish than turning black and white,( I doubt it is exposure as the pictures were set in differents places). I used the same developer and inversion time, I suspect problems during development.Any ideas what happened to my negs?:confused:

Thank you for your help

[IanG]

That sounds like a very short dev time for Xtol 1+3, you don't say what temperature. It's around 2/3rds the time I use with Xtol & Tmax100 full strength.

I notice that the Kodak datasheet I have doesn't give a time for 1+3. You also don't sat what volume of developer, too little at that dilution and it will rapidly be exhausted, again contributing to under development.

The pink colour is a dye incorporated in the emulsion and Tmax films need longer than normal fixing times to remove this.

Ian

[rachel v.]

Thank you for your help Ian, the temperature was 20C in a tray containing 600ml, I used the data sheet at the back of the T-max film box to define the developing time. Next time I develop I will follow your advice and extend the developing time by a 1/3rd and use the developer at full strength.

Kind Regards,
Rachel:)


That sounds like a very short dev time for Xtol 1+3, you don't say what temperature. It's around 2/3rds the time I use with Xtol & Tmax100 full strength.

I notice that the Kodak datasheet I have doesn't give a time for 1+3. You also don't sat what volume of developer, too little at that dilution and it will rapidly be exhausted, again contributing to under development.

The pink colour is a dye incorporated in the emulsion and Tmax films need longer than normal fixing times to remove this.

Ian

[IanG]

Using full strength isn't economic as a one shot developer, you'd be better to try 1+1.

I use FS Xtol on a replenishment basis but I have a couple of Jobo 2000 tanks (30 years old) for my 5x4 work which is far more practical.

Ian

[CG]

Looking quickly at the Xtol data sheet, (and making the assumptiion that you re-used the same solution the first sheets were processed in) and extrapolating, I wonder if you might have gone a long way to using up the Xtol in the first batch of two 4x5s, and that the developer was unable to complete the job on the remaining 4 sheets. When you dilute that far, Xtol 1 to 3, it takes quite a quantity of diluted solution to do the job.

And as mentioned above, it is far better to treat highly diluter developers as one-shot for just the reason you have encountered. Just use one cycle and discard.

[Ed Richards]

Stick with 1:3. It takes about 100 ml of 1:3 for each sheet of 4x5. If your first negatives were, do not lengthen the time.

Xtol breaks down with exposure to air, so that you might have had the developer fail because of extended exposure in the trays. I would try to use it as a oneshot because of this.