Weird issues about developing Kodak 5219 with ECN-2 and manual rotatory developing tank

[Greenhilltony]

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1. The 5219 was exposed and developed both rating at EI 800. So the developing time was extended for 40 seconds. The other process are as the manual tells of the ECN-2 kit I bought. Noted: I tend to overexpose one stop than the meter suggests at daylight when the meter is pointed to the lightened ground. I have got decent results and better histogram distribution on digital. 
2. The film density looks very high, the film roll looks darker than the previously lab-developed 5219.
3. My father uses Silverfast 8 and Plustek 8200iSe to scan my film. He turned on the ISRD feature to remove dust and scratches. However, with the ISRD on, the images are fine on preview, but all corrupted at the final output. Normally, when clicking into the infrared layer, only dust and scratches are shown.

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4. However, on this 5219, it shows the whole image in the infrared layer. He took a picture of the screen display:
5. The SilverFast claims that the ISRD function does not work for BW film and Kodachrome because there are silver grains on the film, which reflect or deflect the infrared ray, and let the ISRD function mistakes the grains as dust and scratches, corrupting the whole image. Examples are easily found on google.
6. Summarize the information I collected, I highly suspect the bleaching process with this ECN-2 kit was incomplete on this roll of 5219. It left a layer of silver grain upon the emulsion. I googled and learned the “bleach by-pass” for cinematography film processing, which creates the special visual effect with the silver atop the dyes.
7. To support this, the provided image from the Plustek 8200i “Quick scan”, shows highly washed color and overexposure in scanning:

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[quietglow]

100% agree with your conclusion: either the bleach or the fix steps didn't complete properly. Scanners typically deal very well with ECN2 film as they tend to be less dense (because they're made to be scanned), but your example looks like it was struggling to deal with the density.

Fwiw, I started making my own ECN2 chemistry from scratch and it's both better and massively cheaper than the kits.

[Greenhilltony]

11 hours ago, quietglow said:

100% agree with your conclusion: either the bleach or the fix steps didn't complete properly. Scanners typically deal very well with ECN2 film as they tend to be less dense (because they're made to be scanned), but your example looks like it was struggling to deal with the density.

Fwiw, I started making my own ECN2 chemistry from scratch and it's both better and massively cheaper than the kits.

The kit we use this time combines the bleach and fix in one-step ("Blix" solution). We have also tried C-41 to develop the 250D and 500T (after the remjet-removal bath), only a few frames cause error in the ISRD, especially at the highlight areas. We also got a roll of completely free of issue C-41 developed 250D.

There is one question about the proper agitation when we use the Paterson tank, put two rolls inside, use 250 mL solutions with non-stop rotations on a little stand like this：

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My father says this tank needs 600 mL solutions to let both two rolls totally immersed. He tried 500 mL once, the top roll ended up only the upper-half developed properly. So he tried the 250 mL solutions and constantly rolling this time. But as the rolling now is for constantly refresh the contact of film and the solutions, how do we apply the additional agitations? Or it doesn’t matter if we are already rolling it with half-filled tank?

[quietglow]

My concern with that setup is the temperature drop over the developing time. Unless the room is very warm, it'll be significant enough to cause color shifts.

Also, I have never had satisfactory results using blix as opposed to separate bleach and fixer steps.

Here's my methodology.

The 30 seconds of agitation, then 2 flips each 15 seconds essentially replicates continuous agitation. I keep the tank in a 107f water bath (the extra degree covers the heat loss to the container etc) between agitations. I don't bother with the bath for bleach and fix as these are not really temperature sensitive. 

Attached photo is on 250d (my fav ECN2 film) shot with an M4 and a LLL 8e replica.

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