Can ECN-2 developed negatives appear blurry if the developer temperature is off slightly?

[Seth Baldwin]

I developed a roll of 35mm vision3 250d and 500t for still photography recently, and my exposures appear to be blurry in focused areas, and also highlights that were in focus but not light sources have a subtle glow to them, again like it's been blurred. I have shot many rolls of portra 400 with this same lens with very sharp results so I don't think it's the lens. For some lower shutter speed conditions using the 500t roll, blur was expected. But for pretty much all of my 250d shots I was shooting the subject in pretty decent daylight between 1/250 and 1/500 and they still turned out blurry. So my guess is it was a flaw in development.

This was my first time developing with ECN-2 and I might have been a degree or more off with my developer. I know it's important to be accurate with the developer and stop, but if the developer is off, can it actually cause the film to look blurry? Because everything else besides the developer went well, the prebath removed all the remjet, I added the stop in right after developer, bleach, fixer, and rinse all timed correctly.

Would it make sense to assume the blur is caused by the developer being off in temperature by about a degree or so?

Trying to pin point what this could be so I can avoid it next roll.

Cheers.

Edited January 6, 2021 by Seth Baldwin

[Martin Baumgarten]

Sorry, no......the film is either in focus or it's not.  Low contrast, incorrect processing causing severe color cross-over, can make an image seem softer...but upon critical examination...if it's in focus....it's in focus.   Despite what you said about that lens....I would just double check everything.  A critical focus examination of the camera's optical system would be helpful.  If you can mount the camera on a tripod, bring it close to some newsprint taped to a wall, and focus.......if you open the back of the camera, keep the shutter open, and use a small piece of frosted glass or ground glass with the etched/ground side against the film plane.....you can then examine it with a strong loupe and compare the focus against that of the viewfinder.  If nothing else is available, you can also use some Wax Paper or even white typing paper....cut to fit the film plane and help taunt with tape on the sides.  Use a strong desk lamp aimed at the newsprint to help get a bright crisp image to focus on and check focus.

   If all is well, you will know it's not the lens.  Although....some lenses can fail in focus due to something going off inside.  I have a clean 24mm lens that just is totally off focus out of center.....optics are fine...but some internal adjustment went off on a name brand lens before I got it.

Another issue.....if you wear eyeglasses.......and/or favor one eye for focusing.....compare the focus setting with both eyes.....if one seems better.....it could be an RX change needed for eyesight.  Those small focusing magnifiers also work great...a bit of a bother...but great for focus checking.

[Seth Baldwin]

Well I've shot many rolls of portra 400 with this same lens combination and the focus has been considerably sharper. Its not like this was an issue in exposures where I maybe missed focus off a subject, even in cases like that you should still see sharpness where you missed focus, but you don't, it's all considerably softer in areas in focus compared to rolls of portra I shot. For example, lights have a streak like glow to them, like you'd expect to see shooting lights behind foggy glass. But my lenses were clean. Can such color cross-over from incorrect processing create such streak like softness?