Crazy to see I has similar problems when I originally posted this thread back in 2012. I've been away from large format way too long. Fast forward to 2021 and I'm trying to get back in the game.
Tray developed this last negative and come up with this result which produced black blotches through the middle of the negative. Light leak ? Uneven developing ?
Looks like light leaks to me.
Time to check for pinholes in your bellows and light leaks around the lensboard.
Doremus
Use an 11x14 tray and let the negative move all over the play during agitation and this problem will be gone.
Restaurant supply stores have clear plastic lettuce trays that are great for developing 8x10 film.
Is that a positive with black blotches? Then the negative has clear patches caused something that prevented light or developer getting to those patches. But what?Originally Posted by TimeShare
Crazy to see I has similar problems when I originally posted this thread back in 2012. I've been away from large format way too long. Fast forward to 2021 and I'm trying to get back in the game.
Tray developed this last negative and come up with this result which produced black blotches through the middle of the negative. Light leak ? Uneven developing ?
Photography:first utterance. Sir John Herschel, 14 March 1839 at the Royal Society. "...Photography or the application of the Chemical rays of light to the purpose of pictorial representation,..".
Agree with Kevin. In an 11x14 tray the next tray developing process you conduct add an unexposed sheet of film to the mix to either confirm or take the light leak question out of play. I would limit the number of sheets you process to be no more than four.
That’s what I had originally thought but took a high powered light source and placed it in the bellows in the dark to see if I could see any leaks and couldn’t detect any. I’ll have to do another check just to make sure !
My current tray is about 11x14 but has slightly rounded corners, I’m wondering if due to the rounded edges the rocking of the developer creates some type of uneven development in the middle.
The image I posted is a negative scan.
I’m thinking of trying brush development and stand development as two options to test for better consistency.
Spend about 10 minutes in the dark to let your eyes acclimate to the condition before you check for light leaks. All of my trays have rounded corners. Only stainless ones (the minority of trays used) have square corners so that is not an issue. Tray development works perfectly so don't give up on it. Persistence pays.
Persistence and Patience ! Frustrating when you think you've shot a great scene and the negative doesn't turn out. May have to resort to some paper negatives while I work this out.
Back to looking for light leaks ... thanks for the tip !
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks