What did I do wrong on these B&W negatives?

[adelorenzo]

I processed three rolls of 120 the other day. I always do a single roll at a time just in case I make a mess of something. Anyways, six frames at the end of the second roll had dark, foggy edges. Normally when I screw up it because I somehow loaded the film wrong, is that what happened here?

Here is an example (unprocessed) scan:

[Bob-D659]

Air bubbles along the edges maybe, or the emulsion side of the film sticking to the plastic reel and not allowing the developer to do it's thing.

[johnielvis]

could be from the reel when you develop it--that's what it looks like to me -- not enough agitation to get chemicals near the steel coils...this is 645 sized, right? if not then look inside your camera if this is 6x9....

but if 645 then maybe you do have loading issues or the reel is weird and gets closer to the image area...or somehow way too tight curl in the film that pushes the emulsion against the coils???? tough one...you'd be able to tell when you pull the reel out if it's been loaded wrong...

[polyglot]

Interesting. Are those dark bits on the film-edges or are they the inter-frame edges? I originally assumed they were edges and that this is 645, but the exposure printing in there (and lack of film-ID printing) is confusing and makes me think this is maybe your 690, but this doesn't look wide enough to be 45mm on 6x9 and if that 003-14 means "frame 14" then has to be the 645...

Anyway, the weird thing is that the exposure-printing seems to have been developed nicely despite the image near there being darkened. And it seems to go towards a middle-grey rather than black; see in the tree at upper-left it's no darker than at the right.

Is there any chance you accidentally got some gloved fingers in front of the lens or something? What do the negs look like, do they have any slight milkiness or brown staining?

[adelorenzo]

Thanks for the replies. Here's some more information:

This is a 645 frame and using a metal reel. Is it possible that the reel was wet when I loaded it and the emulsion stuck to it? I've loaded a lot of rolls of film wrong but this one felt and looked OK when it came out of the tank. And I suppose if that was the case then the film edges would look bad too and they don't. Film edges look good and the film ID printing is clear (Delta 400), it's just cut off in by the film holder in the scanner. As you can see the exposure data developed just fine.

Definitely not anything in front of the lens as there are 5 others (all from one end of the roll) from a few different times and places.

The negatives are a little bit 'milky' you could really see it when I made a contact print from this roll. I know that my fixer is on it's last legs could this be a fixer issue?

[polyglot]

Definitely smells like a fixer issue. Fix 'em again in fresh.

[dehk]

I say solution is not covering the top of the reel leads to uneven development at the edge.

[MattKing]

The negatives are a little bit 'milky' you could really see it when I made a contact print from this roll. I know that my fixer is on it's last legs could this be a fixer issue?

Bingo! - it is a fixer problem.

[summicron1]

dark foggy edges tell me the film is fogged -- you didn't keep that particular roll out of the bright light and/or you didn't have it wound on the spool tight enough.

the milky issue is separate -- the black foggs along the edge are fog, keep the film in the shade/dark and keep it rolled tight, maybe even carry a black plastic bag to carry it in, or film tubes (make one by cutting the bottom off a plastic film can and taping it to the top of another.)

[Bob-D659]

dark foggy edges tell me the film is fogged -- you didn't keep that particular roll out of the bright light and/or you didn't have it wound on the spool tight enough.

the milky issue is separate -- the black foggs along the edge are fog, keep the film in the shade/dark and keep it rolled tight, maybe even carry a black plastic bag to carry it in, or film tubes (make one by cutting the bottom off a plastic film can and taping it to the top of another.)

Except you are looking at a positive image, so dark areas are clear film.