IR film dev question

sineadw

Because it's been a whole 24 hours since the last IR question :rolleyes:

I developed my first roll of Efke IR820 Aura today. Nada on it. Zip. Zilch. Totally clear apart from a slight pink tinge - I hadn't washed it when I checked. Now it was always going to be a test roll so I'm not *too* disappointed, but still...

I dev'd in Ilfosol 3 1 + 9 at 20 deg for 5.5 mins (as massive dev chart told me to) with 30 secs agitation and 10 secs per minute after that. Stopped in 1 to 4 vinegar to water for 60 secs continuous agitation and then 10 minutes ilford rapid fix with 30 secs agitation and then ten secs per minute.

I was very *very* careful to load and unload the film in a darkbag. There's a slight possibility I might have taken the film cannister out of its little black holder thing in a moment of stupidity (I can't remember doing it, but it's plausible). Would that have totally exposed the whole roll? It says on the data sheet that it might cause fogging for half the roll, but not full exposure. Oh and I had the film window covered in tin foil. And the camera has never shown issues with light leaks in all the times I've used it. And it's totally manual so no problems with anything reading the film.

Flummoxed and annoyed. Anyone any ideas?

DaireQuinlan

sineadw wrote: »

I developed my first roll of Efke IR820 Aura today. Nada on it. Zip. Zilch. Totally clear apart from a slight pink tinge - I hadn't washed it when I checked. Now it was always going to be a test roll so I'm not *too* disappointed, but still...

Are there any edge markings on the film ?
How old is your ilfosol ?
Has it been opened and used before ?

sineadw

Nope - no markings. The developer was bought a few days ago and opened today..

sineadw

Ok just reading up there - means I didn't develop properly? DEFINITELY used dev and not stop or fixer.. Odd..

Ghost Train

Was the developer expired maybe but if you got it the other day it should be fine

sineadw

No - I just checked it there by putting a bit on a leader and it went black almost instantly. It's odd - all I'm reading says definitely either plain water or fixer instead of dev, but I specifically remember pouring dev into the jug as I had to fix the silver foil bit at the top of the bottle before I did, and I keep the fixer in bottles waaaaaay over the other side of the room to prevent just that. I just can't figure it out..

DaireQuinlan

Hmmm yeah I was just about to suggest a leader test, I've had ilfosol suuddenly fail on me before.
No edge markings and clear film means either a catastrophic quality control failure on behalf of efke, ie they're spooling blank film, or you made some mistake with the dev, or fixed first. There isn't manyy other options unfortunately.

sineadw

I must be going mad so thanks for the help. Will just have to go again!

ThOnda

Have you tried CTRL+Z? It serves me well in most cases...

I am sorry to hear that. Next time it has to come out perfectly!

PaddyahAon

LOONG time since I darkroomed but my worst experience was similar to yours - totally blank film after processing. Heart attack - had photographed a friend's rock band in Bushy Park, had to schedule an embarrassed reshoot.
I was going for extra edge detail so I used a different developer than my usual - it wa Acuspecial, I think and the length of time was extra long, something like 18 minutes, agitating every 30 secs. Developer measured out, temperature bang on 68F - dev, rinse, fix, rinse, lights - nothing!!!
The problem? I discovered a small vial of perfectly measured out Acuspecial on the bench and realized I had neglected to add it to the tank!!!

upaho

I don't understand this harking back to film, even for IR. FFS go digital. Then ctrl +Z will work!

Nisio

you're right, you don't understand

DaireQuinlan

upaho wrote: »

I don't understand this harking back to film, even for IR. FFS go digital. Then ctrl +Z will work!

I'm sure if you do a quick google search for "film v. digital" you'll find any amount of fora where you can troll for responses. This really isn't the place to do it.

Calina

upaho wrote: »

I don't understand this harking back to film, even for IR. FFS go digital. Then ctrl +Z will work!

Mod note.

You are trying to derail the thread. If you're not interested in film, do not post in the film threads, it really is that simple. In particular do not keep telling people to go digital in film threads because the community and the mods - for example - me - we consider that trolling and that's a bannable offence on this forum. People are free to explore film photography as and when they wish and have the right to discuss it here without someone like you coming along telling them to go digital.

Regards,

Calina/photography mod.