[Frameworks] Film Woes

[Beebe, Roger W.]

I don’t think we have enough info to troubleshoot, but I agree that this is a development problem rather than some fogging from the airport x-ray.  (I’ve x-rayed plenty of film on accident & have been pleasantly surprised how minimal the damage has been.)

What developer are you using?  I know when I’ve used Dektol, even when greatly diluted, my processing times are crazy fast (30 sec?  even less?).  I’d do a simple test with your developer—do tests with small strips at 30 sec, 1 min, etc.  Don’t put it in the bleach—just take it out after stopping & take a look.  If one of these seems to be giving you a good result, then introduce the bleach step to see if that’s the culprit.

I’m hardly an expert—I mostly do pretty sloppy cameraless stuff, so development times are pretty imprecise—but there is a pretty straightforward way to figure out where the problem is.

(Oh, and there’s always just dumb mistakes too.  A friend posted to FB the other day that she accidentally switched her stop & developer & couldn’t figure out why an image never formed until she realized her mistake!)

Hope that helps.
Roger

From: Frameworks <frameworks-bounces at film-gallery.org> on behalf of Kelsey Velez <velezkelsey at gmail.com>
Reply-To: Experimental Film Discussion List <frameworks at film-gallery.org>
Date: Tuesday, April 20, 2021 at 8:33 PM
To: Experimental Film Discussion List <frameworks at film-gallery.org>
Subject: [Frameworks] Film Woes

Hi Frameworks Friends.

I shot about 7 rolls of b&w reversal in Florida and New Mexico over the past year, a lot of it I’m very very excited about. Unfortunately my primate brain forgot to take it all out of my backpack at security in Dallas and it passed through a new high-powered X-ray scanner. The officer I asked said my film would be “obliterated”.

At worst I thought my footage would come out foggy considering it’s fairly slow (200 iso), but while processing one of the less favorable rolls I’m coming to the conclusion that either, yes, my film is obliterated or my ratios/timing are off. My film is coming out clear.

X-ray? Bleach not diluted enough? Too long in the developer?

I’d like to know before I continue processing this roll so I can decide whether to keep going or send it in for processing at a lab.

I’m using a gallon of water to most of a liter of developer. I used double the ratio of 1g to 250ml of potassium permanganate and 13.5g to 250ml of sodium bisulfate.

Any help or advice is appreciated!!!

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