I encountered this, using An early version of Kodak T-max developer. I
attributed it to my water quality, and as you describe found I could rub it off
the surface of the emulsion. It looked to me as if a metal in my water supply
was being precipitated on the surface, this conclusion is based purely on the
appearance of the film. I switched developers, and the problem did not
re-appear.
All the best
Laurence Cuffe
On 19 Jun 2016, at 19:45, Bob Younger wrote:
Hi All,
Has anyone experienced film having a blue, iridescent coating on their film
after fixing. It wipes off with water and film wipes. It's on the emulsion
side. I did two side-by-side batches this morning. One batch I took out of
the fixer and put into a water bath while fixing the second batch. The sheets
in the first batch, that went into the water bath after fixing ended up with
this blue coating or film on them. The batch that came straight from the
fixer into the wash did not. Other than sitting in a water bath for a few
minutes both were processed identically.
I'm using alkaline fixer and used the same water bath as a post-development
stop bath. So, there may have been traces of developer in that water bath.
Developer is Pyrocat HD.
This has happened before, but this is the first time I've had a side-by-side
comparison with only one variation between the two. I can certainly dump the
water bath before using it as a holding tank after fixing. But, what would
cause that coating to form?
Thanks,
Bob Younger
