Fomapan strange developing results, edges of film not developing?

[shawn2nd]

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Hey Guys!

Hoping a more experienced developer can chime in here, my last two rolls of Fomapan 400 I've developed have had like weird anomalies on the edges of the film where the sprocket holes are. The frame numbers are coming out as small "blobs" and on the roll I developed this morning, it looks like the chemicals aren't reaching the edges of the film as they're completely dark?

I haven't shot Fomapan in a while, typically I'm on HP5 but wanted to try some budget films again. I will note, this last roll was kinda hard to get into the spiral so I'm wondering if my spiral is a bit gunked up or so and maybe needs a deep cleaning. Optically, it still looks quite white though haha.

Pics attached, thoughts?

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[jakontil]

That probably due to the reels or spirals u r fitting into… it happened to me sometimes, film might be sticking right to the surface of spirals or reels

[LocalHero1953]

Or a light leak? Dodgy film cassette?

[jakontil]

If it happens at the end of either rolls and you are bulk loading it, might also possible a slight leaks

[shawn2nd]

1 hour ago, LocalHero1953 said:

Or a light leak? Dodgy film cassette?

 

1 hour ago, jakontil said:

If it happens at the end of either rolls and you are bulk loading it, might also possible a slight leaks

Hey guys, shouldn't be a light leak. I'm not bulk loading so the cassette is directly from Fomapan. Camera should also be solid, M6 recently CLA'd this year. Maybe I should try doing a deeper clean of the spiral, any thoughts on how to do this? To date, I've only been rinsing it with water after each development session. 

[Tom R]

44 minutes ago, shawn2nd said:

 

Hey guys, shouldn't be a light leak. I'm not bulk loading so the cassette is directly from Fomapan. Camera should also be solid, M6 recently CLA'd this year. Maybe I should try doing a deeper clean of the spiral, any thoughts on how to do this? To date, I've only been rinsing it with water after each development session. 

I thoroughly soak all reels and processing containers in Clayton Titan Blue (diluted), followed by  brushing the faces of reels as part of the wash procedure. I don’t know if the OP uses any kind of wetting agent, PhotoFlo, etc., but some observe that these agents sometimes leave soapy residue along the edges of the spirals on plastic (Paterson, etc.) reels. 

Edited July 17, 2024 by Tom R
Trimmed first sentence.

[BernardC]

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It's a light leak, because the negative is darker. What's interesting is that it seems to match the edge numbering, at least in the first image.

Have you contacted Foma? It could be an issue with their edge numbering system.

[shawn2nd]

17 minutes ago, BernardC said:

It's a light leak, because the negative is darker. What's interesting is that it seems to match the edge numbering, at least in the first image.

Have you contacted Foma? It could be an issue with their edge numbering system.

Not yet, it was my last roll with Fomapan that I have, and the negatives still look scannable. I'm waiting for them to dry, and pending the scans, maybe I will just avoid Fomapan as a whole moving forward 😅 It's really just with these last two rolls of Foma where I'm having these issues. 

[pop]

When part of the film is dark, it has been exposed to light and it has been processed by the developer. Otherwise it would be clear (transparent).

[250swb]

22 hours ago, shawn2nd said:

I will note, this last roll was kinda hard to get into the spiral so I'm wondering if my spiral is a bit gunked up or so and maybe needs a deep cleaning. Optically, it still looks quite white though haha.

 

 

 

If this happens and the edge of the film is grey and undeveloped it's because you wound the film onto the spiral emulsion side outwards and the spiral is stopping developer and fix getting to it. If it is black and fully developed and fixed it's because of a light leak at some point. The main light leak highlighted in your photos is on the left so given the orientation of your negatives it will be coming from the top of the camera, possible the rear door, and you have a random light leak on the bottom and this my be more about how long you've left between shots. Either way if your camera has foam light seals check to see if they've gone sticky.

[shawn2nd]

Thanks all!

[Danner]

I bet that is a manufacturing flaw.  The edge lettering is blown-out, like they had the brightness turned way up and overexposed the lettering onto the film edge.

Assume this film wasn't pushed processed.  The rest of the exposed area looks decent.