Help! Blank tmax 400

[Kimmutikainen]

Actually sitting in my bathroom now and looking at a completely transparent film developed in id-11 stock. Tmax 400 120film.

7.5 min in developer
1min in stop bath
5,5 min in fixer
Water wash ilford method.

What the heck. This is my 4 th film developed so i am kinda new,but have not had problems earlier. That was kodak 125.

[rince]

Hi Kimmutikainen,

could you specify what you mean by 'blank'? Can you see the frame numbers and the Kodak TMAX 400 print?

1. If you can see the markings for frame numbers, etc, that would mean you processed an unexposed film.
2. If you can not see any markings etc, but the whole strip is blank everywhere, that could mean that you fixed the film before you developed it.

Number 2 would happen if you e.g. switched fixer and developer or if your developer was not active due to incorrect mixing etc ...

Kindest regards
Dennis

[hrst]

This might be the traditional one! You use fixer instead of developer. It is the only real danger to lose everything completely in a few seconds. Any other mistake usually produces some kind of images, usually printable.

My tip is to forget the usual instructions: "put all the chemicals in the nice row on the table before you start etc." If you make sure that you have no fixer around and desperately start looking for it when the film is stopping/rinsing, you won't probably make this mistake .

Also, you can dip the cut-off exposed leader of your film to the developer-to-be solution for a minute or two before developing the films. It should get dark grey or almost black in about two minutes. This way, you can see that the developer is at least somewhat alive.

[Kimmutikainen]

I can see all the frame numbers and kodak tmax 400 mark, but there are no pictures.its imposible that its blank.i used the film 2 days ago...

[hrst]

Ah, if you see the frame numbers, then there is only one explanation: you didn't shoot it. You may have loaded it the wrong way, forgot the lens cap on or have a shutter problem etc.

[rince]

So obviously this is a matter of an unexposed film. Processing would have been fine in this case.
Make sure you put in the film correctly. What camera do you use? Also test if your shutter is actually working. Depending on your camera it will allow you a dry run without a film in the camera. Set your shutter to somewhat like a second and shoot a frame looking into the lens or camera to see if the shutter actually works.

[pentaxuser]

I can see all the frame numbers and kodak tmax 400 mark, but there are no pictures.its imposible that its blank.i used the film 2 days ago...

You used the camera two days ago but didn't use the film. To narrow down the possible causes you can answer a number of questions:

Was it a SLR or rangefinder? If it was a SLR then you couldn't have left the lens cap on as you then can't see anything. A rangefinder viewfinder is separate so you see the scene but if the cap is on the lens the camera does not see the scene.

Did the frame counter move each time you took a picture? It is possible that the film hasn't been caught by the take up spindle but this is unlikely as you would have passed the film over the pressure plate and all the pictures would have been on the same frame so there should be one frame that is almost or completely black as all exposure were made on one frame.

pentaxuser

[Kimmutikainen]

I just developed a film shot yesterday, came out fine...

I am using a bronica gs-1 with waist level finder, so the cap was not on so have no idea what may have caused this. It is also impossible to shootmwith the darkslide inserted so it is not that.

I am 100 % sure i did everythibg right during development as well.

Br
Kim

[pgomena]

I've used X camera for years and still loaded the darned film backwards recently. It never pays to be in a hurry.

Peter Gomena

[mhcfires]

I managed to develop an unexposed roll (35mm) which I thought I had shot, and ran an exposed roll through the camera twice. It DOES happen.