Sunday, September 7, 2014

Rookie Mistake

I developed some film this weekend. Two rolls of 35mm film went into my Patterson tank along with 500 mL of 1:100 Adonal. Did you catch that? I didn't until I took the developed film out of the spool to hang dry. And there it was... a strip of undeveloped (clear) film along the entire length of the film. I knew immediately what had happened because I had done this before. There had not been enough developer in the tank to cover the top of the reel! What!? I was sure that 500 mL was enough to cover 2x35mm rolls. So I looked at the bottom of the developing tank where there is embossed the volumes for different film types. I was certain I would see 1x35mm - 250 mL, but I didn't. It was 290 mL for each roll. So there you have it. Just a short entry this time to share this cautionary tale. Always read the instructions. Take nothing for granted.