Damn stripes on my negatives

[Harley Goldman]

I have been dealing with issues of stripes at the top of my negatives. I thought I was due to my Jobo drum not being level, but after making sure the drum is level when spinning both directions, I still got stripes. I got them in two different processing batches and with completely different holders.

Jobo 3010 drum, Acros 4x5, rollo pyro. I pre-wash for 5 minutes with 250ml sodium metaborate solution, the process A (7.5ml & B (15ml) in 500ml of water for roughly 10 minutes. fix with 50 ml TF4 in 150ml water, then final rinse 2 minutes in 250ml of sodium metaborate solution, then rinse forever. Other than the stripes along the top, no issues with the negatives. They are nicely evenly developed.

I have enclosed a scan of the striping.

Holders? Processing? Any suggestions?

Thanks

[Greg Blank]

Never seen that in twenty years of PMK use, but then again never used Meborate in the prewash. I wouldn't....you have to be especially careful with Metaborate it does not always stay in solution and after a month either needs to be replaced or water added to keep it in solution. Good thing its cheap to make from grocerie store available chemicals.

[Harley Goldman]

I make up the metaborate from crystals at the time I process. It does not sit around, but thanks for the idea. I use the rollo pyro kit from Bostick and Sullivan.

[bob carnie]

Could you scan the whole negative , I think I know what those marks are..

[Nathan Potter]

These lines appear to be some sort of contamination affecting the emulsion. As Bob suggests a view of the whole negative might provide some clues. One of these lines emanate from what looks like a clip at the upper left of your image. Could the stripes be from contaminated water spots left during drying?

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

[Harley Goldman]

These stripes are at the top of the film, i.e. the same short side as the edge serrations (you can see the classic Acros hole in the scan). It is the end that is at the top of the Jobo drum holes. I dry my film using clips and they are hanging on a rack at an angle. Any drips would be at a diagonal.

I can scan the full negative tonight if my explanation is still confusing.

[Kodachrome25]

I am not sure if you noticed it or not, but at the top of the black line on the left of the frame, the three patterns are mimicking your film holder's loading slots...this might be some odd light leak....

[SergeiR]

Might sound stupid, but.. Which way your emulsion facing, when you loading film? Inwards (facing core) or outwards (facing drum sides)?

[Nathan Potter]

These stripes are at the top of the film, i.e. the same short side as the edge serrations (you can see the classic Acros hole in the scan). It is the end that is at the top of the Jobo drum holes. I dry my film using clips and they are hanging on a rack at an angle. Any drips would be at a diagonal.

I can scan the full negative tonight if my explanation is still confusing.

Harley, clear enough. OK, not drips. But the traces still look like a contamination effect of some sort. Is the darkening which gradually diminishes toward the bottom of the frame actually silver density or a surface contaminant? Silver density might suggest a contaminant that coulda been on the film prior to the Jobo and which could have accelerated the silver development irregularly within the streak.

Never seen anything quite like this.

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

[Nathan Potter]

A second thought - These are a bit like some electrostatic discharge tracks I've seen on occasion. Bright initially but then trailing off as the charge dissipates in the surrounding medium. I think this could happen in a solution if the solvent is of a high enough resistivity. Dunno about rollo pyro though - not a chemistry I've messed with, although I've come to greatly appreciate the results.

Nate Potter, Austin TX.