Issue when developing Black and White 35mm

i everyone! 

I have started developing my own 35mm films in my bathroom thanks to a manual and to your help in the forum. 

I had however a very bad experience where I ruined my film. However I checked several times the several steps and calculations and cannot understand why it happened. 

Is it possible for you to review my steps? It would be a marvelous help for me!

Here it is: 

Developer : Rodinal
- 1+25 = 580/26 = 22.3ML + 557.7 ML
- 7 minutes
- 20 degrees Celcius. 
Stop Bath: Ilfostop
- 1+19 = 580/20 = 29ML + 551 ML. 
Fixator: Kodafix
- 1+3 = 580/4 = 145ML + 435ML.
Wetting Agent: Ilford Wetting Agent
- two caps. 
Film: Film Washi Z 400
Tank: Two Reels Patterson Tank Universal. 

1. Be in the total darkness + changing bag. Cut the bait and place the film in the spire. Cut the end. Put the film in the spire in the bottom of the tank with the second empty spire on top. Close the tank. Turn on the light with the tank closed. 

2. Pre-wash bath.
- Agitate tank during 30 seconds.
- Wait for 30 more seconds and empty water.

3. Developer
Agitate during 30 seconds and then agitate every 1/2 minutes. Empty developer. 

4. Stop Bath.
Wait a few seconds before closing down. Let it 20 seconds and empty.

5. Fixator.
30 seconds of agitation and then 10 seconds of agitation every minute. Empty.

6. Washing Bath. 
- Prewash: 10 agitations and empty.
- 5 revearsals and empty.
- 10 revearsals and empty.
- 20 revearsals and empty.
- 30 revearsals and empty.
- fill with demineralized water and wetting agent, reverse 5 times and empty.

7. open the tank and take out the film with the help of a clip and dry.




I have found these informations with my manual, the forum, the Dev Chart, the data sheets. 

My film turned out completely white...

Thank you so much, so much, so much, if you could review my notes... I am kind of lost here.

Did you begin with fresh film? Also, I haven't processed film in well over a quarter century, but it seems you're going through more steps than I used to.....

If by "white" you mean clear and translucent, then the film was underexposed.  If you mean the film is opaque with a whitish emulsion side, then the film wasn't developed.

Be sure your developer is diluted properly.  Load the tank in complete darkness.  Pay attention to development and agitation time and temperature.  No need for a stop bath.  You can go from the developer to fixer directly.  The acetic acid stop bath is used in printing to extend fixer life.  When the fixing step is complete you can open the tank and wash the film.  If you don't see negatives then something went seriously wrong either with the initial exposure of the film development process.

I have developed thousands of rolls of black and white film over the years.  I have had a few mistakes along the way such as film touching itself in the tank but, basically, it is a trouble free, simple process.  E6 color transparency developing is quite a bit more complex but pretty fool proof as well.

G'day LVR

Beauty! you are giving it a go - well done

Firstly - ALWAYS examine the factory produced text along the sprocket holes ... if the developing process was 'correct' then the makers details and frame numbers will be clearly outlined in [almost] black. If you have black text, then your developing was good. If there's nothing there - or very feint, then you have a problem

2) Developing steps ...
= abandon the pre-wash - there is no good reason for this
= chemical mixing- seems quite okay, presuming chemicals are fresh
= agitation needs to be 'gentle' ... 3 or 4 reverse-agitations in first 30 seconds then one only gentle agitation each half minute. Too vigorous agitation will cause streaks from side-to-side matching each sprocket hole
= final washing ... far too much effort here ~ try a total of 3-4 changes of water over about 8 minutes. Drinking quality tap water will do - you do not need expensive bottled water. Can be done using continuous agitation

Hope this helps
Phil from the great land Downunder
www.flickr.com/photos/ozzie_traveller/sets/

What do you by fresh film? Are you talking about the temperature or do you refer to the date of its creation? I took it and stored it in the fridge and took it out for the night before developing it. It is a film that I have bought 2 months ago so I don't think it was expired...

Thank you Efmw for your answer.

Following your comment, my film had to be underdeveloped. However I checked my calculation and everything seems right. Maybe is there a problem with my agitation process?

Thank you so much for your advices as well, it is super helpful!! 

Thank you so much Ozzie_Traveller for following this process along with me again.

I have checked and the borders do not appear so the problem seems to be during the developing following your comment.

Is it okay to agitate with the black tube that comes with the Patterson Universal Tank ? That's what I did. Also I recently bought my chemicals so they are quite fresh.

Thank you so much for the other advices that I will soon apply. Maybe you understand why I've got this result?

G'day matey

Something is not quite right here and it seems that it's back to Sherlock Holmes days

Take the film leader - the bit that is cut off and chucked in the bin - and in daylight, in a bowl on the kitchen table, place the film leader into a small amount of mixed ready-for-use film developer and leave it there for 6 to 8 minutes. Then a qwik rinse under the tap and into a second bowl of fixer for 2 to 4 minutes then a second rinse under the tap

The film leader should be a rich black from end to end and side to side. Presuming that it is, your chemicals are okay. Keep the chemicals for use on a 'real' length of film - later that day or within the next 48 hrs

You also mention 'agitation' via the black tube attachment. Yes that's okay - stick the tube into place and use it to twirl the spool/s below.

I personally used the up-end and rotate the whole tank method ... Obviously with the grey plastic lid firmly on the top of the developing tank, once only, and each 1/2-minute I would gently rotate the tank upside down, return it to the right-way-up and place it onto the bench with a small 'tap' to dislodge any possible air bubbles clinging to the film surface

Hope this helps
Phil from the great land Downunder
www.flickr.com/photos/ozzie_traveller/sets/