Almost completely clear film, first time ever, WTF?

[David R Munson]

I've been developing my own b&w film for a solid 15 years now and I've got things pretty well worked out. Of course I still make mistakes from time to time, but not anything major any more.

But tonight, for the first time ever in 15 years, I had film come out completely clear. This was roll film, but I wanted to ask here because I trust you guys more than other forum groups. The obvious answer is that I put the fixer in first by accident, but I've never done that and I'm totally paranoid about doing that so I make sure by all practical means that I don't.

Is there *anything* else that can happen and make it look like you fixed it first? I have gone over it a hundred times in my head and I just can't figure it out. I measured the developer, mixed it, put it it, etc as usual. Everything was like it always was and yet....not frame numbers on the film edges, a little tiny black streak from a light leak along the edge of the film at one point, and extremely faint, not-remotely-salvageable suggestions of images on the film itself. The fact that there's that little tiny dark edge from a light leak at the end of the roll makes me think that I did, in fact, use developer first, but that something went horribly wrong. Thing is, I used the same developer at the same dilution before and after this on other batches of film with zero problems. The only thing that was different was the type of film. I considered that it might have been extremely underdeveloped, but at the time I used even if it were under, it still would have been a hell of a lot closer to normal than to clear.

This is driving me nuts. I'm stumped. Any ideas?

[BrianShaw]

Is it possible that you loaded the film into the camera incorrectly, with the backing paper facing the lens?

[Kevin Crisp]

Film popped off take up reel and didn't advance?

[Brian C. Miller]

There could have been a problem with the developer. If the developer became contaminated, or otherwise lost its potency, then you would be seeing the same results.

The key here is that there is, in fact, something on the film. Your developer was the culprit, not the chemical sequence. I can't imagine that you misloaded the film, or that it popped off a sprocket or something like that. The developer somehow died, and so the images weren't developed.

What developer did you use?

[Jim Noel]

If you can read the printing along the edge, you can eliminate developer as the problem. That leaves, not going through the camera, shutter not working and fixing first.

[bob carnie]

If there is no numbers and arrows then it was into the fix first.
unexposed but developed roll film will still show the numbers.

[ic-racer]

a little tiny black streak from a light leak along the edge of the film at one point, ?

Severe underdevelopment. Have you used this film before? If not, try double the time with your next roll of that film. Otherwise I suspect a dilution error in mixing the developer.

[David R Munson]

If there is no numbers and arrows then it was into the fix first.
unexposed but developed roll film will still show the numbers.

No numbers, no arrows, but ever so slight images visible with frames the length of the roll, and a dark streak along the edge from fog, but if I had put in the fix first that streak wouldn't have been there either, right?

There were frames barely visible, so the film was advancing, and other rolls of film from that day came out fine without any camera problems.

What developer did you use?

HC-110 Dilution G, which is a high dilution, but in three years of using dilution G almost exclusively, I've never run into this at all.

I remain baffled.

[David R Munson]

Severe underdevelopment. Have you used this film before? If not, try double the time with your next roll of that film. Otherwise I suspect a dilution error in mixing the developer.

I've used this film and this developer before, both together and separately, never had a problem with Pan F+ that wasn't due to some boneheaded exposure mistake on my part, which wasn't the case.

[jnantz]

pan f is asa 50 did you expose for asa 400 by mistake,
and then not develop according to the new asa ?