What can cause TINY TINY white spots on a neg?

[ericantonio]

Hello folks.
This is the first for me. Been developing a LONG time. Recently, I scanned 4 sheets of 8x10. All of them had TINY TINY TINY little white spots on them. I can see them when I zoom in with my graphics editor. I checked with some negs from earlier this year and zoomed way in...nothing...All cleano clean. I checked from some 4x5's I did a few weeks ago (at least I think it was a few weeks, could have been 1 month, you know quarantine, nobody to talk to, seems like 1 month ago was yesterday). Not even sure how old the fixer I used was, but I don't think it was that old. I am using Clayton fixer.


I *DID* notice that when I poured the fixer onto the tray, there was some little black things in there, I mean, visible to the naked eye. So I poured it back in, let it sit, and poured it back onto a tray making sure I go slow and I didn't use the entire 1 Liter so the stuff on the bottom didn't come out.

I did another test, thinking maybe I didn't add enough flo. So this time I added a little more photo-flo before hanging. NOPE, tiny tiny.

Then I processed a roll of 120 film with the same stuff. Same developer, same stop, and same fix. Besides the usual scanner dust, I didn't see the tiny tiny white spots. I tried scanning the 120 film as much as I can so I can get a huge big tif file so I can zoom in. But I didn't see any. It could be cause I agitate it a little more in a tank that I would with LF in a tray? I don't know. Thinking out loud and hoping to get some ideas from you guys.

Also, I cleaned the scanner glass with Windex and same same.

Hoping you can see the image will be big enough from the screenshot I did with the 8x10 neg

Hoping someone has seen this before. I sure haven't.



Here's my method:
I don't do much 8x10's so I do it in the bathub.
1 sheet at a time. Face up.
So dev (face up), stop (face up) fix (face up). Sit in Fix for a while.

8x10 trays except stop bath, which I use as a pre-soak, and replace for next sheet.

[Two23]

Could it be the defect is in the film itself?


Kent in SD

[koraks]

Mix some fresh fixer and give it another go. Used fixer tends to throw down silver particles under certain conditions and those may stick to/in the emulsion quite firmly.

[ericantonio]

Could it be the defect is in the film itself?


Kent in SD

It could be but the overall image doesn't look to bad when scaled down to 1000 pixels wide. The shots I took with it early in the year are supah cleano.

[ericantonio]

Mix some fresh fixer and give it another go. Used fixer tends to throw down silver particles under certain conditions and those may stick to/in the emulsion quite firmly.

I will try that today. Sucks that I have onto the 6ths sheet to try it. Oh well....at least I'm saving gas $ by not driving these days.

I'll try to do it today.

[mdarnton]

Based on your margins, it looks like those are BLACK spots on the negative. And if they are white spots on the neg, do you mean white, or do you actually mean clear? Obviously the cause is going to be completely different, depending.

[Gary Beasley]

A coffee filter will help in many cases of floating particulates. If you dont have a filter funnel scrounge a filter holder from an old drip coffee maker, could even use the glass pot.

[ericantonio]

Based on your margins, it looks like those are BLACK spots on the negative. And if they are white spots on the neg, do you mean white, or do you actually mean clear? Obviously the cause is going to be completely different, depending.

Excellent question and great observation. Thanks. They look like tiny black specs on the neg with my loupe and light box. Actually some of it look like, maybe it's the way light is reflecting, but I can swear some look like tiny tiny purple spots.

I managed to setup a quick shot this morning in the kitchen and I bought some more blackout curtains for the bathroom door. Looks like my new place is not bad for doing it in the tub. I don't have a shower door or bath curtains so doing it in the tub is ez pz.

[ericantonio]

A coffee filter will help in many cases of floating particulates. If you dont have a filter funnel scrounge a filter holder from an old drip coffee maker, could even use the glass pot.

Was just thinking about this this morning while walking my senior bulldog.

I made some new Fixer, Clayton brand, and I just happened to have an extra brand new Amber 32oz bottle that I was using for C41. I don't see myself doing C41 anytime soon so may I'll repurpose those bottles into B&W chem bottles.

[paulbarden]

As others have suggested, I suspect this is from junk suspended in the (used) fix. Time to make fresh.

Q: how long do you keep fixer before discarding it, and do you use it to exhaustion? (using exhaustion tester)