Hey All,
Hope you've all been well! Finally back from my overseas trip (been a few months) and after unpacking everything, cleaning and storing camera gear etc I eventually got around to developing some B&W rolls that I'd used overseas.
Running a little low on D-76 and this batch was mixed around May 2013 so it isn't super fresh however I've been diluting it as 1+1 and extending time to compensate. This arrangement has worked out relatively well when used with Ilford Pan 50, Kodak Tri-X 400 and T-Max 100.
Now this is where it gets weird; last night I set up my Paterson tank to develop a roll of Kodak Tri-X 400 (120 format); after a multitude of profanities and almost four times as long in getting it reeled up correctly in comparison to 35mm, we finally got there!
My normal habit for any developing is to pre-soak the film in 21 degree tap water while I mix up the 1+1 D-76 solution. So it was soaking for about a minute and then I came to dump the pre-soak...
BLUE...the water came out blue.
Now I have developed this emulsion before, both in stock and 1+1 solution and no colours have ever come out before?!
I was quite a fair bit perplexed and continued to soak and dump until the fluid lost most of the colour; after continuing as normal with the 1+1 for almost 12 mins (the roll is pushed to 1600), I fixed in Ilford and then anti-watermark bath before removing the film from the tank and examining.
The exposure was as good as expected given the conditions the photos were shot in - no stress marks or air pocket marks but there are roll length bands which have formed. Their order is:
-------------- (straight)
-------------- (straight)
~~~~~~~~~ (wavy)
-------------- (straight)
They are way too uniform to be a result of over-agitation or expired chemicals (the images themselves are crisp enough)
The only thing left I can pin it on is the number of times this roll would have entered an x-ray machine throughout my travels (at least 10 times I would say)
But what of the BLUE?!