geertvn
Established
I had drying marks even after using distilled water and photo-flo and only got rid of it after adding a little alcohol. (It's 96% ethylalcohol, I think.)
BW film developing - drying marks
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Ronald M
Veteran
Solids in the water cause marks. As suggested distilled water. Kodak Photoflow can be used at 1:200 with my softened tap water. If you do not use enough, the water will not sheet off. So depending on water quality, vary the dilution.
It helps to lay the reel on its side after final rinse with wetting agent for up to 5 min. Cover with inverted dry tank. Put sky up, ground down. This way water only needs to travel 30 mm. Tap to shake off drips, then hang.
Keep squeegees, sponges, cloths, fingers, and anything else you can dream up away from the film. None is really ever clean including your fingers, and even if they were, you risk grabbing a piece of debris and scratching the film..
It helps to lay the reel on its side after final rinse with wetting agent for up to 5 min. Cover with inverted dry tank. Put sky up, ground down. This way water only needs to travel 30 mm. Tap to shake off drips, then hang.
Keep squeegees, sponges, cloths, fingers, and anything else you can dream up away from the film. None is really ever clean including your fingers, and even if they were, you risk grabbing a piece of debris and scratching the film..
Godfrey
somewhat colored
Just did that last night with two rolls of Minox subminiature negatives. They dried perfectly with no mineral stains ... very hard water in our area. It did a better job than Edwal's wetting agent did.
sepiareverb
genius and moron
Sprint's End Run is my current preferred choice, mixed with Sistan and distilled water and (broken record here I know, but I can count on one hand the times I've had ANY issues with dust or water marks on my films) a wipe with a Photo Wipe. The End Run comes in a 1L bottle which lasts forever- or nearly so, I'm still in my first bottle in 15 years and I run a LOT of film.
John Bragg
Well-known
Great thread full of good suggestions. I have recently modified my method of drying film.
Final wash in Tetenal Mirasol. Shake water off film whilst still in the spiral quite vigorously. Hang up to dry (no squeegeeing). I now get the best results I have ever had. As a final note I also used to squeegee but it is too hit and miss with a risk of scratching.
Final wash in Tetenal Mirasol. Shake water off film whilst still in the spiral quite vigorously. Hang up to dry (no squeegeeing). I now get the best results I have ever had. As a final note I also used to squeegee but it is too hit and miss with a risk of scratching.
BW400CN
Bessamatic forever!
Kodak Retina III S - T-Max 400 - Adonal von Michael Relguag auf Flickr
Oh yes I´ve got water marks dust and everything I don´t want.
But I know where my mistakes on this first film since over 30 years have been! I should wash it with distilled water and steam the bath to get the dust problem away. Also made some mistakes with filling my Paterson daylight can - so the next film can just be better!
michaelwj
----------------
Reading this thread makes me think my drying marks are from too much wetting agent. I'll have to rethink, and maybe actually measure it, rather than being a little slap-happy with the last step.
Michael
Michael
tumblinglight
Member
diy washing/ drying aid
diy washing/ drying aid
I got an idea from this clip
http://www.google.ro/url?sa=t&rct=j...g2BG6QWcdpZUWFIVqbejrhg&bvm=bv.55980276,d.Yms
and made from the cover of a bulk cd box that i turned upside-down and made 4 holes at the bottom a nice film washing device. Let tap watter flow and less stains for me. No photo flo or squeege.
Afterwards, i dry the film onto the reel that is inserted into another cd bulk in a centrifugal fast movement. At the bottom the reel lies in contact with a absorbant kicthen wipe cloth (3m and the like).The box is hanging with a rope from the central axis of the box. Just be careful not to hurt your finger while spinning the box/rope. Autdoors is safest.
It helped me.
diy washing/ drying aid
I got an idea from this clip
http://www.google.ro/url?sa=t&rct=j...g2BG6QWcdpZUWFIVqbejrhg&bvm=bv.55980276,d.Yms
and made from the cover of a bulk cd box that i turned upside-down and made 4 holes at the bottom a nice film washing device. Let tap watter flow and less stains for me. No photo flo or squeege.
Afterwards, i dry the film onto the reel that is inserted into another cd bulk in a centrifugal fast movement. At the bottom the reel lies in contact with a absorbant kicthen wipe cloth (3m and the like).The box is hanging with a rope from the central axis of the box. Just be careful not to hurt your finger while spinning the box/rope. Autdoors is safest.
It helped me.
Ronald M
Veteran
Wipe with nothing. Sooner or later the debris you are trying to remove will catch and leave a scratch. Does not mater how clean it is or even if perfectly surgical clean.
If you must, use distilled or deionized water. Photoflow 1:200 to 1:400 as works for you. Soak for a full minute with agitation.
Remove reel , tap on a thin towel on counter top or just let it sit and drain 3 minuter, then a few light taps to dislodge water where surface tension has kept it along one edge.
Hang, then squirt some final wash rinse at the top, then move down 9", another squirt, and down, squirt, etc. Now do other side starting at top. My squirt tool is a 1 ml transfer pipette. No need to flood it at this point.
Return in 3 hours with slide cutter or scissors. Put away so it remains clean so you do not need to figure how to clean it later.
Best of course is a filtered, heated drying cabinet. A large expensive luxury few can use.
My darkroom has hepa air and 3 micron water filters to avoid contamination.
Hospital clean is the secret, not after the fact treatments when damage is done.
Short of setting up a real lab with film developing machinery, this is the best I have ever been able to do.
If you must, use distilled or deionized water. Photoflow 1:200 to 1:400 as works for you. Soak for a full minute with agitation.
Remove reel , tap on a thin towel on counter top or just let it sit and drain 3 minuter, then a few light taps to dislodge water where surface tension has kept it along one edge.
Hang, then squirt some final wash rinse at the top, then move down 9", another squirt, and down, squirt, etc. Now do other side starting at top. My squirt tool is a 1 ml transfer pipette. No need to flood it at this point.
Return in 3 hours with slide cutter or scissors. Put away so it remains clean so you do not need to figure how to clean it later.
Best of course is a filtered, heated drying cabinet. A large expensive luxury few can use.
My darkroom has hepa air and 3 micron water filters to avoid contamination.
Hospital clean is the secret, not after the fact treatments when damage is done.
Short of setting up a real lab with film developing machinery, this is the best I have ever been able to do.
Chris101
summicronia
I voted "Yes I do" and sometimes I get drying marks. Embrace them!
leicapixie
Well-known
A minor thing is that the marks can be from
wetting agent, left on reels..
It affects developer and there are marks..
Wash reels very well, hot water,
use vinegar to clear off old soap.
I am not sure how one cleans plastic reels.
wetting agent, left on reels..
It affects developer and there are marks..
Wash reels very well, hot water,
use vinegar to clear off old soap.
I am not sure how one cleans plastic reels.
Highway 61
Revisited
This is why steel reels rule !
Chris101
summicronia
A heavy duty toothbrush. I agree that steel reels clean - and load - faster. But I have worked in public darkrooms where they have only plastic reels. It's good to know how to use both kinds.
SayCheese
Established
Yes I do.
To be honest, I'm like on an inverse learning curve: The first rolls I ever developed (a couple of years ago) turned out very well. Since then, i have dealt with most every problem that can occur in film developing.
Right now I'm trying to get rid of some sort of banding in dense areas of the negative as well as drying marks and scratches. Lots of usefull hints in this thread.
Note to self: have to clean my tanks and reels and use less Mirasol!!!
Klaus
To be honest, I'm like on an inverse learning curve: The first rolls I ever developed (a couple of years ago) turned out very well. Since then, i have dealt with most every problem that can occur in film developing.
Right now I'm trying to get rid of some sort of banding in dense areas of the negative as well as drying marks and scratches. Lots of usefull hints in this thread.
Note to self: have to clean my tanks and reels and use less Mirasol!!!
Klaus
taemo
eat sleep shoot
I used to get lots of water marks even after using photo-flo, what I used to do was rinsing the film with tap water then hanging the film in the basement for a couple of hours.
After buying a small squeegee from The Camera Store, I haven't got any water mark anymore.
One of the best $15 investment I've ever done
After buying a small squeegee from The Camera Store, I haven't got any water mark anymore.
One of the best $15 investment I've ever done
kiss-o-matic
Well-known
I'm using Driwel by Fujifilm, as instructed in this thread. It's awesome.
JChrome
Street Worker
Can someone help me identify a waterspot? It's strange because it isn't calcium buildup or anything like that. It looks more like an indention of the film... like the film had something bend it inward in that spot. To illustrate I took this photo of it.
There are two white lights behind it. The lower left light has a little blob at the very bottom. I believe this is a watermark but am not entirely sure...
There are two white lights behind it. The lower left light has a little blob at the very bottom. I believe this is a watermark but am not entirely sure...
noisycheese
Normal(ish) Human
I submerge my developed B&W film in a tank full of a wetting agent (Kodak's Photo Flo) for one minute - it actually ends up being longer as I develop four rolls at once - and then squeegee the film using a CLEAN film squeegee that looks like a pair of tongs with a double set of windshield wiper blades in the inside of the tongs.
As long as your squeegee blades are in good condition (not damaged) and are CLEAN (rinse them in running water to make sure there are no dust particles on them to scratch your negatives), you shouldn't have any scratches from the squeegee on your negs - or any water marks once the negs are dry.
Some people dislike squeegees, claiming they will scratch your negatives. I have used this procedure for 15+ years on tons of negatives and chromes (35mm and 120) and have never had a problem with scratched negatives or chromes as a result of using a film squeegee.
Hope this helps...
Chris101
summicronia
Or you can take the reel with the film still on it, and rap it against the palm of your hand a few times to knock the wetting agent off, then just hang them to dry. I used to squeegee, but all it took was one scratch on what would have been my Pulitzer picture to put me off the practice forever.
newtorf
Established
Not sure if anyone has mentioned this. I used to use pec pad to clean CMOS sensor of my DSLR as well as lens. So I wondered why cannot I use it to wipe off the drying marks on the films? Guess what? I did it yesterday on a roll with lots of drying marks. The result is perfect. No drying marks, no scratches. I did it today on a different roll. Same result. I wrap the pec pad on both side of the film and purposely pressed hard while pulling the film through the pec pad. No scratches at all. Even dusts were removed as well.