Pan F 50 & ilfosol s "what's wrong with that !!

[GOLDFISH]

I just finish processing Two rolls 120 Pan F50 developed with ilfosol s "new and fresh one" and Iv'e followed what the data sheet said 4 min -15% "CPP2 jobo " so i set the timer with 3:30 min and the result is transparent sheet "without any frame " ....... any clue whats going wrong with the films ?

[Bjorn Nilsson]

If thers's nothing at all on the rolls (not even frame numbers), the developer didn't work at all. I havn't used ilfosol s, but do check that the developer does work. A strip of film or even paper will work. Just dip and hold it into the developer and if it's working the film will soon turn black. Then check so that you've got the dilution correct.
It could also be the "classical", i.e. you did pour in the fixer first, followed by stop and then finally developer. Many of us have been there...

Even though this is not the problem in this case, 3½ minutes is a very short dev.time. 4 minutes isn't much better. (I do prefer a minimum of 5 minutes.) You could use the developer at 1+14 to get 6 minutes instead.
Do you use the 5 minute prewash? (That will almost compensate in full for the -15% you're using.) I know that Ilford doesn't recommend a prewash and on the other side there's Jobo who says you should always use a prewash (except with Xtol). I have only had positive experiences with prewash, which is why I always use it.

//Björn

[GOLDFISH]

Björn..thanks a lot for responding .. Although the developer is new "I just open the bottel today morning " i will recheck it againg by A strip of film as you mention . because it seemed that the ilfosol is not working at all because numbers of the frames didn't exist..I didn't prewash "i'd love to" but according to ilford recommendation they said "generally we
do not recommend using a pre-rinse as it can lead to uneven development." .

[Bjorn Nilsson]

I know about Ilfords recommendation. As I pointed out that the prewash etc. was not the source of your problem so don't get hung up on that.
As I find it very unlikely that your new bottle of developer should be dead, you've probably had one of those very special moments, but again, check the developer to make sure.
For myself I always put the fixer bottle in the third compartment of my CPP2 (as I use 1 liter for some 10 rolls or 40 sheets of film), stop bath or water wash in the second compartment and finally, I always use that same first compartment for the developer bottle. The reason I do this is to avoid doing that mixup mistake, but also to keep the fluids at the same temperature. (I use the #4-6 compartments for bottles with plain water for washing.)

//Björn

[Sal Santamaura]

Ilfosol S is an ascorbic based developer. Long shelf life is not a characteristic of ascorbic developers. Ilfosol S has been replaced by Ilfosol 3, so the bottle you obtained might be relatively old and "dead."

Note that the latest Ilford Product Availability List dated March 2009 already dropped Ilfosol S:

http://www.ilfordphoto.com/Webfiles/20093161552402063.pdf

[JosephBurke]

........this is the primary reason I no longer use Ilfosol S........I found about it's short shelf life the hard way....on some 8x10 negs as well as some 120........

...my bottles were dead from the store..........I can't replace the lost images......

[GOLDFISH]

Thanks alot guys for such great responses and I'll do another experiment before throwing the rest of the bottel .

[sienarot]

What colour is the chemical? If it's a bright yellow, then the developer is good. If it's brown, you've got yourself a dead bottle. I like Ilfosol S, but I stopped using it because of it's poor shelf life. I understand its replacement, Ilfosol 3, is much better.

[hka]

Take a small piece of (35mm) film, dip it in the dev. If after 1:00 or 1:30 min. the emulsion is not turning black then the dev is not working well. Dump it.
Ilfosol is famous about its sudden death... and there is no "use before date" on the bottle.