Black spots on negatives

[mshere]

I would be really grateful for some help.

I did a lot of film photography in the 80s and 90s, developing and printing hundreds of my own black and white films without any problems. I then moved into digital, but have recently restarted black and white film photography.

The problem is that all my negatives have tiny black spots of different shapes and sizes translating into white spots when scanned. I have developed about 12 films so far and have tried changing different things, but it seems to be getting worse rather than better. I sent one film off to be professionally developed and it was fine.

The setup is: Ilford Pan-F or FP4 (well in date and from different suppliers) Developer - started with Ilford ID-11, then bought a new packet as I thought that it might be caused by the developer not being dissolved properly then Adox XT-3 which someone recommended, and then Ilford Perceptol, all using distilled water and stock solutions. Ilfostop to stop, but have also tried just a wash with distilled water and fixing with Ilford rapid fixer 1 in 4.
I have kept the temperatures very close to 20 degrees. A wash with many changes of water and a final rinse with Kodak Photo-flo 200 1 in 200.

I then hang up the negatives to dry for a few hours.

The whole thing is driving me mad, as I have yet to develop a usable negative!

 

[Martin Henson]

What camera are you using , I’m wondering if the shutter has tiny pinholes ,

 

[mshere]

Thanks, it is an Olympus OM4 Ti, but I did try it on my older OM4 and it was the same. Presumably the spots would be in the same place on each negative if it was the shutter curtain.

 

[Martin Henson]

Theoretically yes, you need to check both cameras focal plane shutters, I’m think it is the problem if it’s happening on different films stocks. You need to remove the lens shine a bright torch light at the shutter in a very dark place , no good simply holding up to the light to check .
Also how do you cut the film after it’s wound onto a spiral, do you cut it with scissors right up to the foam light seals in the canister ?

 

[mshere]

Thanks will check the cameras. I do cut right up to the foam light seal - does that matter?

 

[Martin Henson]

Well yes because your cutting the black flock light seals and the tiny bits tend to stick to the film, not good practice, leave 1 inch after cutting

 

[Glenn]

If you are loading the film into the tank using a changing bag then it would be worth turning it inside out to check for dust etc.