Kodak Kodalith MP ortho film 2557, know anything?

[Ethan]

So, the plot thickens. I did some more experimenting with this film today, and though I'm closer to figuring it out, some aspects still illude me. The first negative I developed came out great, here's a bad photo of it.



You will notice that like the ones with dichroic fog (if thats what it is) from yesterday, where the negative is higher in density, it becomes white, not black, making the image a positive if viewed with reflective lighting. This aspect of the film, whether intentional or not, is what really intrigues me about it, and I'd like to find a way to reliably develop these half-positive images.

As for the dichroic fog, if thats what it is, I'm still not sure what in my process is causing it. Yesterday I assumed it was probably spent fixer, since I didn't replace the fixer after my first few tests. However, today I made sure to periodically check the fixer, and hypo-check indicated that it was still fine. I then thought it might be the developer, but I replaced the developer and still got the fog. This would make me think it is just caused by having the wrong developer, if not for that the first negative/positive came out fine. Also, as this film is red light safe, I was able to watch the negatives as they developed and it almost looked as though the fog appeared while the film was in the stop bath. However, the stop bath has an indicator, which did not show any issues, and I can't be sure that it showed up during that step, due to the low light.

I think I can rule out the developer as causing the issues. It can't be that it's just the wrong developer, because the first time it worked fine, and it can't be that the developer went bad, because I replaced the developer. This leaves me with two things I can think of that might be causing the fog:

1). Something happened with the stop bath after the first print, that although not sensed by the indicator, messed with it enough to create the fog.

or

2). Something happened with the fixer that although not detected by Hypo-Check, messed with it enough to create the fog.

I'm going to do some controlled testing next week, in order to determine which of these (or something else) is causing my issues. Do any of you have used kodakalith films before know if the dense but white areas are just something these films do, or is it maybe caused by me using the wrong developer? Or do any of you have any more ideas on which step could be causing the fog? Either way I'm definitely going to experiment more with this film, it's too weird to not mess with.

[Gary Beasley]

Any chance the film is simply not fixing in the time you are leaving it in. Also have you tried a snip of it undeveloped in the fixer? Kodalith usually fixes out very clear. Fixing should be to completion, not according to any timetable.

[Ethan]

I don't think thats the issue, if I remember correctly, the fog can be seen on the negative in just the red light, which the film is not sensitive to. Fixing for longer is worth a shot though I suppose.