Pre-soaking film before developing actually fixed my streaky negatives

I kept getting these weird uneven streaks on my Tri-X 400 rolls, especially in the sky areas. Everyone on here kept telling me it was my agitation technique or my developer temp was off. After 6 months of trying different methods and wasting a dozen rolls, I decided to try a 2 minute pre-soak in distilled water at 68 degrees before pouring in the developer. First roll came out perfectly smooth with zero streaks. I know the popular opinion is that pre-soaking messes with development time, but for my water and my tank setup it was the fix. Has anyone else had a similar experience where going against standard advice gave you better results?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_jessica9d ago

Oh man, I've been there with Tri-X streaks! Tried everything too and nothing worked until I swapped to a pre-soak. @the_joseph people mean well but sometimes the standard advice just doesn't fit your specific setup. I use a quick 1 minute pre-soak at room temp with a couple gentle inversions before pouring in my developer. It softens the emulsion up and lets the chems hit it more evenly, especially in places with hard water like I've got. Saved me so much headache and wasted film.

the_joseph9d ago

Pre-soaking fixed your streaks, huh? Guess all those people yelling about agitation were just wrong, go figure.