White spots all over the image:- c41 Unicolor home

raysujoy · May 25, 2010

Hi,
Recently I decided to try c41 processing at home. So, I purchased Nova film processor and got 3 packs of 1L Unicolor chemistry from www.freestylephoto.biz. Till now I have developed 9 films and all of them have same problem - the scanned image from the negative is having lots of white spots. I have attached one of the photos in case if you would like to see the problem. I live in southern Ontario where the water is hard. After having this problem, I decided to use distilled water for all the steps (including the chemicals + wash + final rinse etc) - but no luck. I have also tried Kodak photo-flo at the last stage of the development but did not see any improvement. I dry my film in the suit cover. Any help on this will be appreciated.

Thanks in advance!
Sujoy.

nickandre · May 25, 2010

mix your final rinse with distilled water. I believe you add 9 mL of Kodak final rinse concentrate to the liter of distilled water. That way there's no gunk to precipitate on your film. Do not final rinse with only photoflo. You must include formaldehyde or another germ killer.

raysujoy · May 25, 2010

Thanks for your reply.
I use photoflo in the ratio 200:1 (as per instruction) but did not use formaldehyde so far. I will try this one too will let you know the result.

Regards,
Sujoy

raysujoy · May 26, 2010

I googled but I can't find formaldehyde here in Ontario. I am still searching... Meanwhile please let me know how much formaldehyde I need to use.

Regards,
Sujoy.

Athiril · May 26, 2010

eBay search for formaldehyde you should find some, its inexpensive for 500ml 30-40%

It wont prevent white spots, it's for preserving dye.

To prevent white spots, you need to use distilled water for your final rinse as said above, the white spots is calcium or other minerals in your water drying on the film when it evaporates with no where to go.

You can re-use your final rinse water though.

1+1+200 is what I normally recommend (5ml photoflo, 5ml 40% formaldehyde, 1 litre of water) divide down to your usage, iirc I've seen PE give an amount doubling in the formalehyde, 1+2+200 (5ml photoflo, 10ml 40% formalehyde, 1 litre water).

raysujoy · May 26, 2010

I have used distilled water for all the steps including final rinse. The photo that I have attached has been processed with distilled water in every step (meaning that the chemicals were made using distilled water, the rinse was with distilled water etc). I have to try using formaldehyde but again as you mentioned, it won't prevent the white spots. Then where is the problem? Is the Unicolor chemistry that I got is faulty?

hrst · May 29, 2010

You have to dry the film in a dustless place and avoid dust in every step. You should also use a dust blower to blow away the dust when you scan or print your negs.

wblynch · Jun 1, 2010

I also used that Unicolor kit from Freestyle and when I mixed the stabilizer I noticed a stringy emulsion-like substance floating around. I filtered the stabilizer through a coffee filter to get the junk out.

It looks like your scan has some 'squiggly' artifacts that could be that stringy stuff or it could be from creases in the film from imprecise loading.

Have you inspected the film surface closely to see if there are substances on there? Dust or other specks?

raysujoy said:
Hi,
Recently I decided to try c41 processing at home. So, I purchased Nova film processor and got 3 packs of 1L Unicolor chemistry from www.freestylephoto.biz. Till now I have developed 9 films and all of them have same problem - the scanned image from the negative is having lots of white spots. I have attached one of the photos in case if you would like to see the problem.

I live in southern Ontario where the water is hard. After having this problem, I decided to use distilled water for all the steps (including the chemicals + wash + final rinse etc) - but no luck. I have also tried Kodak photo-flo at the last stage of the development but did not see any improvement.

I dry my film in the suit cover. Any help on this will be appreciated.

Thanks in advance!
Sujoy.

kompressor · Jun 1, 2010

Try out a small 250ml kit with Rollei Digibase C41 from Freestyle. ill bet for 99% sure that the white spots are gone. I have seen such spots in Minilabs running VERY hard chemistry from Kodak and Fuji. Hard chemistry beacuase the low trough put of film in their area.

raysujoy · Jun 1, 2010

Thanks for all your suggestions and help !!!

Last week I called up Photo System Inc (the company that makes Unicolor kit) to seek help on the issue that I am facing and spoke with Alan. He is very knowledgeable and thought it could be one of following problems:-

1.Faulty agitation technique causing pinholes.
2.Residual photo flo drying on the negative.

I think for my case 2) was the problem. I tried to clean the faulty negatives using dishwasher liquid( I read somewhere that it helps to clean tiny unseen spots in the negative) with sponge and found dramatic improvement.

Yesterday I developed another film and made sure that residual photo flo has been removed properly. I have to say result was impressing but not 100% perfect (meaning still had 1 or 2 minor marks). Afterwards I cleaned the negative with dishwasher liquid the result was 100% perfect!!!

Please find the attached images.

According to Alan, the equivalent of formaldehyde is already present (no need of this step) in the stabilizer and also formaldehyde is a toxic substance to use.

Anyway, it seems my problem is solved and I have to say that I am very happy the way Alan and you all came forward to help me thanks a lot!

Regards,
Sujoy.

hrst · Jun 2, 2010

kompressor said:
I have seen such spots in Minilabs running VERY hard chemistry from Kodak and Fuji. Hard chemistry beacuase the low trough put of film in their area.

Can you elaborate a bit about "hard chemistry"?

Chris Douglas · Jun 3, 2010

I also am using the Unicolor kit for C-41 and was disapointed the first time I rinsed in "stabilizer". I could see right away that the droplets on the film were going to cause spots so I experimented by adding photo flo. Just enough so the water sheets off. BTW I'm using distilled water for all solutions except wash. I'm still not completely happy with the results, and am thinking about getting some Kodak stabilizer off Ebay to try. I would use formaldehide but it is tough to get cause some loony kids are soaking cigarettes in it and poisioning themselves. !

raysujoy · Jun 6, 2010

I developed couple of films since my last post and all I can say that "dishwasher liquid" works like a magic. I scanned the film before and after using the the dishwasher soap (just to make sure there is degradation of the image)and did not find any difference. Please let us know the result of kodak stabilizer.

hrst · Jun 6, 2010

Don't expect a long life for your negs after that dishwasher liquid treatment. The final rinse / stabilizer should always be the last chemical to contact with film. There is no problems with decent final rinses / stabilizers (Kodak/Fuji).

raysujoy · Jun 8, 2010

hrst said:
Don't expect a long life for your negs after that dishwasher liquid treatment. The final rinse / stabilizer should always be the last chemical to contact with film. There is no problems with decent final rinses / stabilizers (Kodak/Fuji).

You may be correct but without this step there are lots of spot in the negative - any idea how to get rid of this problem? None of the suggestions did work so far. I can try using kodak stabilizer.

hrst · Jun 8, 2010

A proper final rinse / stabilizer should be as good as dishwasher, probably better. Try the Kodak stuff and dry in the same manner that got you the good results with dishwasher liquid.

Photo Engineer · Jun 8, 2010

You must use a final rinse or stabilizer with a bacteriostat as the final step in the C41 process to give the best stability. If you use plain Photo Flo you can have problems with fungal growth on the film.

Do not do any additional cleaning or washing or use photo flo after the final rinse or stabilzer. The results may look good today, but sometime in the future they may not. Both Kodak and Fuji sell the stabilzer or final rinse as do some other companies.

Dishwasher fluids can be harmful to color films.

PE

i40west · Jun 8, 2010

I've actually had success wiping off C-41 drying marks with an anti-static cloth.

raysujoy · Jun 9, 2010

Thanks for the suggestions. I will try with kodak stabilizer and will post the result.

White spots all over the image:- c41 Unicolor home

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