Why did my C-41 film come out completely clear after processing?
Asked 4/14/2018
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I processed a roll of Kodak Portra 800 in a Paterson tank using Tetenal C-41 chemistry. After rinsing, the entire roll was completely clear: no images, no edge markings, and no frame numbers.
My process was 8 minutes at 30°C with agitation every minute. Could this be caused by exhausted developer or too little development time, or does totally clear film usually point to a different mistake?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
8y ago
2 Answers
11
It's hard to guess exactly what you did wrong, but one way or another there was no development at all. No matter what your camera did, you should still see exposed leader and frame numbers. Totally blank film is not the result of merely expired developer or a bit too little developing time. At 8 minutes and 86 °F, something should have been visible, even with very exhausted developer.
A number of mistakes could lead to this same result. You could have poured in water instead of developer. Maybe you flipped the fixer and developer. The bottles could have been labeled backwards. You could have messed up mixing the developer in the first place, like forgetting to include the actual developer and accidentally ended up with only water. Maybe the developer was neutralized by getting a significant amount of fixer or stop bath into it last time.
Open your developer and fixer bottles and smell them. They have a quite different smell, although if you're not used to the difference you may still not know which is which.
Put a few grains of baking soda on a piece of glass or something inert, then add a drop of chemical. Do this separately for each of your solutions. The stop bath and the fixer should cause bubbling. Nothing interesting should happen with the developer.
Rub a drop of developer between your fingers. It should feel a bit slimy, like soapy water does. The stop bath and fixer will not feel slimy. Make sure to rinse and wash your hands afterwards. You shouldn't generally touch these chemicals, but a drop for a few seconds won't cause any trouble if you rinse properly.
Originally by user7603. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user7603
8y ago
0
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Completely clear film with no edge markings or frame numbers usually means the film was never developed at all. If development had happened, even poorly, you would normally still see the edge markings and at least some density.
So this is unlikely to be caused by slightly short time or merely weak/expired developer alone. More likely causes are:
- developer and fixer used in the wrong order
- bottles mislabeled or swapped
- water or improperly mixed chemistry used instead of developer
- developer contaminated or neutralized
A simple check is to test the chemistry with a scrap of film in room light. Put a film snippet into the developer: it should turn dark/black. If it does not, the developer is not working. A separate snippet put through the non-developer baths should go from opaque to clear, which helps confirm which solution is which.
In short: total transparency points to a processing mix-up or dead developer, not just a small time/temperature error.
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