Large Format Photography Australia

Morning everyone,

So I was putting the GX680III through its paces for the first time over the weekend, and developed the film (for the first time by myself I might add) a couple of days ago. I'd been shown how to do it by a mate, so I understood the process relatively well. The image below is typical of the 9 shots on the roll, they are all covered in 'dirt'. I'm not sure how else to describe it. The markings were on the film straight out of the developing tank, so I know it's not from poor drying. The film is Delta 400, which expired in 2000 and hasn't been refrigerated since. I tend to think that it's mould, or that the backing paper has somehow interfered with the emulsion (suggested to me by a friend).

Does anyone have any idea what's going on here?



For the record, I used expired Rodinal, so I wasn't expecting anything worthwhile to begin with!

Straight Rodinal won't expire it our life time..

I think your right its just bad film storage, I have had film that has the film numbers imprinted onto the negative. How the inside of the camera look? didnt pick up crap from inside it did it?

Probably as you describe. Does either side of the film look dirty? You could always try washing it again. Shoot a new roll of film and see if you get the same results. Certainly doesn't look like scratches, it's probably just bad film.

Thanks for the input guys. I've checked the inside of the camera itself, and everything appears as new. I'm going out shooting this afternoon with some fresh film, so will be able to definitely prove that it was just bad film. How will TMax 100 go with Rodinal? I value sharpness and resolution over contrast, which is probably why I'm not so wild about Rodinal.

I find rodinal with T-Max to be fantastic, great sharpness, although not as sharp as Ilford Pan F+.

To really take advantage of T-Max's SUPER fine grain, you need to use a staining developer like Pyrocat.. Having said that, the trade-off there (from my experience) is loss of resolution..

Hmm very interesting. I don't know much about the Pyrocat and Pyrocat HD formulas, so I might just stick with the Rodinal for the moment and see how I go. I've never used T-Max before either, so it's all a little bit exciting at the moment!

Rodinal at 1:50 with 120 and larger film is fine.

Talking of Rodinal with TMax, does anyone have any temperature compensation charts for that combination? As we've had a few days of decent weather here in Sydney, the cold water tap is coming out at 22.5c. I guess I could have a stab in the dark and try 9 1/2 minutes as I'm currently developing TMax in R09 at 11 minutes, 20c, 1:50 but wouldn't mind seeing some charts "just in case".

The rodinal leafet has a chart which only shows APX film but by way of example APX100 at 1:50 is 17mins which reduces to 14min at 22degC

The Agfa suggestions result in bullet-proof negs. I'll access some other data when I return home this evening.