[pure-silver] Re: a recent problem with fine dust on negs
- From: "Kurt J. Griffin" <kjg@xxxxxxx>
- To: pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 29 Jul 2009 22:30:59 -0700
That's an interesting question I hadn't even considered. They seem
to be within the image. I didn't make a contact sheet to see if
they showed up within the between-spaces. I'm looking through the
back of an old enlarging lens for magnification, but later I'll
print a whole strip and see if anything shows up I'm missing
visually. Thank you, Richard.
Janet
Since it's quiet around here, I'll add my new thoughts. I had a
similar problem last summer that has kept me puzzled, but which I now
think I finally have figured out. I had larger spots (dark on neg,
light on print) when I developed some 120 BxW:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kjgriffin/2630065990/in/photostream/
Despite this group's suggestions, I couldn't figure it out. It
wasn't until I saw the comment that it had affected only your greys,
not extreme blacks or whites that I went back to my rolls & saw that
the same is true with my shots.
As I was washing film the other day, I realized just how many bubbles
were in the water once I started drawing "cold" water that was in
pipes outside the house at 36 C. I think my usual developing doesn't
get the hotter water until near the end of the wash. When I looked
at my records for the spotty film, it was a rare 2nd round of
developing right after the first batch (which was fine). So, my new
hypothesis is that the tap water I was using for a stop bath (to
avoid potential pinholes) had bubbles coming out of solution and
creating small areas where the developer was able to continue to act
longer, producing the darker spots on the neg. The same must also
have been happening on the toe/shoulder of the curve, but the curves
are likely shallow enough not to show up in the print. That's my
crackpot theory. Feel free to laugh until I can do the prospective
experiment.
I don't know if this could cover your problems, but I could
certainly see a change in dissolved gas or minerals between your two
water sources. It stands to reason that something allowed small
areas of extended/more intense development. In any event, I'm now
collecting early water in a beaker and letting it settle for a while
before I try to use it as a stop. No recurrence of the spots since
then, which is what really matters.
Kurt Griffin
Tucson, AZ
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