OK, guys, can one of you tell me why my home-processed B&W negatives have a gray-brown streaky film on them after photo-flo and drip or blow-dry? Is it whatever the City of Richfield puts in my tap water to make it taste better? Is it something in the photo-flo bottle?
It could be hard water. You could try Illford's method of washing. Buy a bottle of distilled water, after the fix (without hardener) fill the tank with distilled water, cover, invert 30 times, drain, repeat twice with fresh distilled water, finish with a 30 second dunk in Photo-flo mixed in distilled water. I've also found that I prefer Photo-flo mixed slightly weaker then the bottle says. I would buy a gallon of distilled water for photo-flo and mix it aprox 2/3 strength. If nothing else, this test should determine if it's the water or not. Also make sure you are fixing long enough.Tmax films release a lot of dyes during fixing. Butch Each man had only one genuine vocation - to find the way to himself. Hermann Hesse (Demian)
