TMY in PMK = spots/mottling?

[Drew Wiley]

It's the tiny mottling on the more detailed version that look like condensation to me. But why individual frames of roll film would have severe edge density unevenness looks more like a processing issue. As far as PMK stain, I find it entirely predictable and never uneven unless the development itself somehow was. Certain sheet film will naturally get a tad of extra density as the very edges of each sheet. But it's hard to say how this neg actually looks like from a web posting. If there are tiny white spots, it could be water mold, but that's mainly a Springtime issue. In cold weather, the Part B PMK sometimes get a cloudy deposit that settles, needing the B bottle to be well shaken or else held in a warm water bath awhile to certain ingredients unfrozen.

[Willie]

Are you sure it is not the water droplets in the fog?
My monitor screen doesn't show what I think is them well and they look like the fine water droplets that float in the air, making fog.

[paulbarden]

It's the tiny mottling on the more detailed version that look like condensation to me. But why individual frames of roll film would have severe edge density unevenness looks more like a processing issue. As far as PMK stain, I find it entirely predictable and never uneven unless the development itself somehow was. Certain sheet film will naturally get a tad of extra density as the very edges of each sheet. But it's hard to say how this neg actually looks like from a web posting. If there are tiny white spots, it could be water mold, but that's mainly a Springtime issue. In cold weather, the Part B PMK sometimes get a cloudy deposit that settles, needing the B bottle to be well shaken or else held in a warm water bath awhile to certain ingredients unfrozen.

Drew,
Part B was well shaken before measuring out the quantity needed, and it was stored at 65F before used.
The edge density is introduced post-processing as intentional vignette. Bear in mind this is a finished (processed) image, not a raw scan of the neg. The original scan shows zero unevenness of density in the higher values, edge to edge.

I’m going to assume this is a peculiarity with TMY used under foggy/cold weather conditions, perhaps enhanced by PMK. Bergger Pancro 400 shot in identical conditions with the same camera and processed in PMK did not produce this mottling effect. *shrug*

[jp]

I mostly use TMY2 in foggy/cold conditions and am not familiar with your problem. I have used it with pyrocat hd, hdc, and PMK. I do not redevelop after fixing. I'd repeat my suggestion of refixing/washing the negative and trying again. Shoot some more, develop it normally, fix/wash it plenty, skipping the redevelop step.

[paulbarden]

I mostly use TMY2 in foggy/cold conditions and am not familiar with your problem. I have used it with pyrocat hd, hdc, and PMK. I do not redevelop after fixing. I'd repeat my suggestion of refixing/washing the negative and trying again. Shoot some more, develop it normally, fix/wash it plenty, skipping the redevelop step.

All good ideas! Thank you, I will pursue more testing.

[John Layton]

Paul...when did you purchase this particular batch of film - and what is the expiration date?

[paulbarden]

Paul...when did you purchase this particular batch of film - and what is the expiration date?

I did not purchase this lot of TMY; it is from a batch of TMY I was sent directly by Kodak in 2017 to replace film from the known compromised batches:

Batch 0155 022, dated 05/2019

[Drew Wiley]

Thanks for the clarification, Paul. And what I perceived as fine mottling on the film might been some kind of scanner artifact not even present on the actual negative. But sooner or later, maybe some suggestion will land on target. I have only gotten the condensation issue twice in my entire life - once onto a sheet of 8X10 TMY on an very cold wet day, and once at high altitude very early in the morning after a heavy rain onto two frames of 120 Ektar in a roll film holder. I stopped doing the after-fix re-immersion into developer several years back after it was determined by Gordon Hutchings himself not to have any real value. Unpredictable edge density and fbf on certain films due to that practice are far more likely a source of issues than initial PMK development itself. I've been shooting various Kodak roll films all along (plus sheet films) and have not gotten a single bad roll. Maybe I was lucky that whoever I bought
film from (several sources) pulled any suspect batches before they had a chance to be sold. I did double check the batch numbers, which alleviated any suspicions about what might be stored in my own freezer.