Digitaltruth Photo

When I develop film everything is being stripped off the film; image, manufacturer marking, I cant even see the grain. This had happened to me before and I replaced all of my chemistry (after stripping 4 rolls of vacation pics!) and development worked just fine. When it started happening again I tried replacing my chemicals one at a time. The first to go was the developer. (Ilfosol S) I replaced it with D76 and used the very same stop, fix and wash. Worked like a charm. The first rolls I developed with this bottle of Ilfosol S came out just fine. I have exchanged email with Ilford support and they are clue nada.

Any one got a guess on this.

It sounds to me like the film is not being developed. It doesn't make sense that the image would be formed and then "stripped off" by the chemicals unless you have introduced a bleaching agent during processing. This has to be highly unlikely, unless you happen to have a bottle of household bleach, Farmer's reducer or sepia bleach that you might be using by accident. Assuming that is ruled out, then it would appear that no development is taking place (hence the edge markings not being evident - these are pre-exposed, but not predeveloped). If the film is not being developed, then the fixer is clearing all of the silver and leaving you with a transparent roll.

The most likely cause of this is human error - forgetting to add developer to the solution and "developing" the film in water. However, as it has happened to you on several occasions, that seems unlikely. As the developer was working for you before, it is possible that it has lost its activity for some reason. Even so, you should see some image on the film. The only thing I can think of is that you are experiencing some kind of "sudden death syndrome" of the product, similar to what has happened to some Xtol users. Some people using Xtol found that it would lose all activity all of a sudden for no apparent reason. Kodak identified the problem as relating to the storage issues of ascorbic acid, and the only other film developer currently on the market which uses ascorbic acid is Ilfosol-S. As far as I am aware, there are no reported issues with Ilfosol-S exhibiting this behavior, but it is possible that some combination of elements in your darkroom is causing the developer to fail.

I would suggest that you shoot a test roll and cut it in half. Then develop half of the film in D76 and half in Ilfosol-S, using all the same equipment, stop, fix etc... If you do this simultaneously or in the same session and the Ilfosol-S fails but the D-76 does not, then obviously the Ilford product is at fault.

Are you sure that the bottle of Ilfosol-S you are using is not out of date? You can supply the batch code to Ilford to double-check. If for some reaosn you have an old bottle, it is possible that it has lost all activity simply due to aging.

Please let us know what you discover.

Hi, just joined this worthy group! Here is my twopennyworth; have you checked that you are in fact DILUTING the stop bath? I have heard of people stripping films as they were using acid stop bath NEAT.

Regards, Peter.

leecrump wrote:When I develop film everything is being stripped off the film; image, manufacturer marking, I cant even see the grain. This had happened to me before and I replaced all of my chemistry (after stripping 4 rolls of vacation pics!) and development worked just fine. When it started happening again I tried replacing my chemicals one at a time. The first to go was the developer. (Ilfosol S) I replaced it with D76 and used the very same stop, fix and wash. Worked like a charm. The first rolls I developed with this bottle of Ilfosol S came out just fine. I have exchanged email with Ilford support and they are clue nada.

Any one got a guess on this.

You may be contaminating the developer, causing it to cease functioning.

I strongly suspect that the developer concentrate is no longer active, throw it away and buy a fresh supply of developer, making sure you carefully check the developers expiry date. They go off quite quickly once opened and the concetrate is left in partly filled bottles. Tetenal Protectan gas can help to preserve the solution.

Jon Mided wrote:It sounds to me like the film is not being developed. The only thing I can think of is that you are experiencing some kind of "sudden death syndrome" of the product, similar to what has happened to some Xtol users. Some people using Xtol found that it would lose all activity all of a sudden for no apparent reason. Kodak identified the problem as relating to the storage issues of ascorbic acid, and the only other film developer currently on the market which uses ascorbic acid is Ilfosol-S. As far as I am aware, there are no reported issues with Ilfosol-S exhibiting this behavior, but it is possible that some combination of elements in your darkroom is causing the developer to fail.

Are you sure that the bottle of Ilfosol-S you are using is not out of date? You can supply the batch code to Ilford to double-check. If for some reason you have an old bottle, it is possible that it has lost all activity simply due to aging.

Exactly.

Your problem here is Ilfosol S. Once the lip is opened on the bottle of developer, I found it expired rapidly. In my experience, if you dilute it or not, then store it in a black airtight chemical container, you will be asking yourself what happened to my negs!!!
I found this out the hard way in testing sensitometry and parametric curves with Ilfosol S. The final folio I processed Pan F+, at 32 ISO, with Agfa Rodinal 1:50, agitation on the minute, then the water stop bath recommended in the film cookbook. Worked a treat for me.
That my two cents, mate!

I agree that your developer was very weak, contaminated or exhasted
The developer is the chemical most susceptible to to get exhausted and most easily contaminated. To get an indication of your developer's condition (especially for film, paper can always be redone), take a piece of scrap undeveloped film (exposed to light) and put it in a container with a bit of the developer and agitate it and see how long it takes to turn black (or very dark/opaque) This can all be done in normal light, no need to turn off any lights or put it in a light tight container, you can watch the development process.
If it takes a lot longer than the recommended developing time discard the developer and start over. Better safe than sorry and this test only takes a few minutes. I do this test even with freshly mixed developer. In a commercial lab, a control strip is sent through the processing equipment before any processing is started.
One shot development is also the best method to use for consistent results and to safeguard against exhasted or contaminated film developer. Discard the developer once used always use it freshly mixed, do not mix and store it.



happening again I tried replacing my chemicals one at a time. The first to go was the developer. (Ilfosol S) I replaced it with D76 and used the very same stop, fix and wash. Worked like a charm. The first rolls I developed with this bottle of Ilfosol S came out just fine. I have exchanged email with Ilford support and they are clue nada.

Any one got a guess on this.[/quote]