| If you don't know what a properly exposed neg looks like, the page linked to above does show you!
The film base should be clear, but may have a slight color tint. This is normal and should not worry you.
If the film rebate is anything but clear with crisp black lettering, it has been inadvertently exposed to light somewhere in your process or your chemistry is suspect to be bad, really bad (but you said it was all fresh so let's eliminate that).
The part of your negative that holds the shadow details should have vaguely identifiable tones and details, with emulsion density slightly thicker than film base clear.
The part of your negative that holds the highlight details should look pretty dense, almost opaque, but you should still be able to see through it.
It's that simple, and the 'correctly exposed, correctly developed' frame in the article linked to above clearly shows this. That is how your negative should look. Like I said, don't worry if you have a slight purple tint to your negative. It's OK. It will still print or scan just fine.
What you should worry about is if the color of the film base is so thick that it obscures the shadow details and lends any actual film density to the rebate of the film. The film base should definitely be clear.
If you have a milky looking residue on the emulsion, the negative hasn't been fixed long enough. Usually that can be helped by soaking the film in water and re-fixing. Then go through the washing regimen again to wash out the fixer.
Hold up your negative towards (not directly against) a sun-lit window and compare it with the correctly exposed/developed negative in the article.
- Thomas |