Wiping/drying film

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I don't have the time to process all of my film, but I have never found a company that does acceptable work with Delta 3200 so I always do this myself.

After final rinse I was using photo flo but the increased wet time, and the propensity to attract dust, made me go to wiping the film with a Jobo squegee. I noticed a few scratched areas in a recent batch, and I wonder if the soft emulsion can be easily damaged by the rubber lips on the squegee.

Without a drying cabinet, what is considered the best solution to drying the film?

-- Armando Conti (basisaudio@cs.com), February 02, 2002

Answers

The following procedures have worked for many years with Plus-X and Tri-X films and I assume would serve for other films. First, use a fix with a hardener in it. Then use a squeegee with soft lips and be sure to rinse it well, wipe the lips with your fingers, and store it in a dust-free bag or drawer. If I'm processing film with a few inches of blank film on one end, I don't squeegee the images until I've dragged the squeegee over that blank film to see whether any scratches appear. But I use the squeegee only when wash water is cooler than 70 or 72 F. I don't use any squeegee or even touch the washed images If the wash water is much above 70 F, since I find that emulsions scratch more easily. In that case, after washing the film, I dip it in a mild detergent solution, shake it a little, and hang it to dry. (I don't actually see much difference between using the detergent and not, but something tells me to use it.) I still get some water spots with or without squeegee and detergent. In any case, I dry the film in still air in order to reduce dust.

-- Keith Nichols (knichols1@mindspring.com), February 02, 2002.

I never squegee film, as I'm not in that much of a hurry for the film. I soak the film in PhotoFlo after washing and then hang it from the shower curtain rod. While the film's washing I make sure the furnace is off (I have forced air) and run the shower with the bathroom door closed. The steam from the shower pretty much removes any dust in the air, and heats up the bathroom in the process, so it really doesn't take that long for the film to dry.

-- Jon Porter (kodiakalaska@hotmail.com), February 02, 2002.

Armando, I use Photo-Flo with distilled water & run the film between my wet fingers before hanging it up to dry in my studio/darkroom [converted bedroom]. The only time I had dust problems was when I started cleaning/sweeping my studio while film was drying - duhhh! I think you will find that almost everybody has a slightly different technique. So much depends on the person and the environment.

chris

ps. This works for me with all b&w films and I have not had any problems with T-Max 3200. The idea of using a squegee just does not appeal to me. I would be too worried about dust/dirt on the squegee. However, I know it works for a lot of people, and using fingers makes them cringe.

-- Christian Harkness (chris.harkness@eudoramail.com), February 03, 2002.


When I was in college, we used a film drying solution by Yankee. (Are they still around?) According to a review I read in either Popular or Modern Photography,years ago, it was an alcohol with film conditioners added. It worked like a champ! After washing, you'd dunk the the film in the solution, then hang it , no wiping. In 2-3 minutes the film was dry and ready for the enlarger. The fast drying time was said to reduce the time that dust could attach itself to the soft, wet emulsion. Does something like that still exist, and might it be the answer to the airborn dust problem? I have found a solution called Rexton Flash Dry at Adorama, which seems to be a similar thing. Has anyone had experience with it, or similar prducts? I used to squeegee my 35 and 120 with wet fingers, and experienced very few problems, except film cuts beween the fingers. Boy, that smarts! Carl

-- Carl Crosby (humminboid@aol.com), February 03, 2002.

Film-drying liquids are mostly acetone, I imagine. A substitute might be nail-polish remover, which is also acetone. It's a highly volatile and inflammable compound, whose heatlh effects can only be negative; so I would use it only when drying had to be accelerated beyond normal evaporation.

-- Keith Nichols (knichols1@mindspring.com), February 04, 2002.


I never wipe wet film with anything. For a final rinse i start with 500ml of distilled water, 10 drops (eyedropper) of photo-flo and 10ml of pure isopropyl alcohol (91% from drug store). Then I hang the negatives up in a quiet room with still air.

-- Tim Brown (brownt@flash.net), February 04, 2002.

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