Film Processing

Last week I set up my darkroom and processed a batch of sheet film.  This is the first time that I have developed any film in quite some time.  This was a batch of Ilford FP4+ film in 4" x 5" format.  I processed in Ilford Perceptol developer.

I have been having some issues with this developer in recent months.  It seems that the anti-halation dye on the back of the film is not fully washing out during processing, as it is supposed to.  I checked my notes and the film that I processed was from three different manufacturing batch lots.  It seems unlikely that there is a problem with the film.  I suspect that the diluted Perceptol developer that I am using just does not have adequate strength to fully wash out the dye.  I seem to recall that I had similar issues when I developed other films in this developer.  

The stain is very faint and I don't think it will create any issue in printing.  I since read that if the film is bathed in a stronger developer such as Dektol, it will wash out the remaining dye.  As this step is done after the film has been fixed, it does not result in any further development of the image.  I attempted this with a duplicate negative and it seems to have solved the problem.

This extra step is not only a nuisance, but a little concerning so I may have to stop using Perceptol and switch to a different developer.  Alternatively I may have to use this developer at a higher concentration.

For now, here is one of the new images from that batch.

This image was taken in early June of this year while I was out on a day trip with my friend Arturo.  We found this old century homestead in central Alberta, as we were on our way down to the Paintearth Badlands.  I shot this with a 90mm wide angle lens, and used a #8 Yellow filter to increase contrast and create some separation in the sky.