Developing film, share your tricks with us!

[douwe]

Hi,

I have been working on getting my film as clean as possible to make it easier to print and scan. That means no scratches, no water marks and no fixer residue. So I've come up with a few tricks to improve my technique:
- When I pore the fixer into the tank, I place a coffee filter holder with a pre-wetted filter on top of the tank to filter out any residue from previously used fixer.
- The last wash is in de-mineralized water with half a cap of dishwasher rinse aid (contains the same chemicals as photoflo, but is cheap and easy to get)
--And my newest trick: when I do the last wash, I leave the de-mineralized water with rinse aid in the tank. I take out the patterson reel, and I take the film out of the reel. Now I put the film back in the tank and I pull it out again by one end. Very slowly! This causes the water to flow off of the film very evenly, which means less water marks!

So now that you know my newest trick, tell me yours! I'm sure we can all improve by sharing experience about the little things that make the difference between a nicely developed film, and a perfectly developed film!

Cheers,
Douwe

 

[oftheherd]

Is that a half cap of dishwasher rinse per 16 oz of rinse water? Seems a little much.

What film are you using. I remember years ago, you simply could not get water spots on Ilford film. Something about it that the water spots that tried to form, were simply reabsorbed into the film before drying as spots. Almost like magic. I don't know if Ilford is still the same way or not. I have some I need to try. I've been using too much C41 b/w lately.

 

[douwe]

I use a 1 litre bottle of de-mineralized water, and I use the cap of that bottle to measure the rinse aid. I probably use 1ml or so.

 

[newspaperguy]

As I'm (now) a country boy, with well water,
I always use distilled water to mix my chems
and for the final dip with a
rinse agent.

 

[douwe]

And I use fuji neopan 1600 and tmax 400, this one was shot on neopan 1600, with a contax carl zeiss 135mm f/2.8 sonnar. Wide open at 1/30s with a monopod.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Paterson water filters on the taps: http://www.rogerandfrances.com/subscription/mt paterson water filter.html and diagonal drying: http://www.rogerandfrances.com/subscription/ps how process 35-120.html (towards the end)

Cheers,

R.

 

[Keith]

I keep one of those big glass pickle jars with the full sized neck full of photo flo solution. If you hang the film vertically and lower it into the jar slowly it curls naturally back around itself inside the jar .... then remove it slowly and hang to dry.

Sometimes if I'm a little impatient and want it to dry faster I scratch the hell out of it with a Jobo squeege ... I've become very adept with the cloning tool! 😛

 

[sniki]

After final dip, I simply hang the film and wait until completely dry.
Rather - very beginning - I remain faithful to old school practice: dip, soak and rinse out all my films before develop them; they seem to appreciate.

 

[ruben]

Unfortunately I have stopped using film. However if one day I go back I would try three unconventional practices:

a) use the Jobo processor, which I own since long ago but never dared to break traditional tank processing.

b) use photoflo to shorten the water time, which is not such a non traditional sin.

c) after the film is dry I would not cut it and not sleeve the strips, but rather find the way to store it in one piece within a device broad enough as not to curl it.

Cheers,
Ruben

 

[Disaster_Area]

The best trick I've found lately is to hang my film on an angle. I have one clothes line hanging about a foot above my head and a second string at about knee height. I use those black metal clips to secure the film at the top and one securing it at the bottom with the film hanging at about a 45 degree angle. This way any water gravitates to the bottom edge and runs down the bottom... this leaves all the water marks and dust on the bottom sprocket edge and not running down the middle of the film.

 

[Mablo]

When I still hanged my film I had persistent dust problems. Then someone sold me an old Kindermann film dryer for a couple of tenners and my troubles were gone. No more dust!

 

[Melvin]

I run hot water to steam up the bathroom and settle any dust before hanging the film. When developing I don't wear sweaters or other soft clothes that have a lot of fibers and dust in them.

 

[pakeha]

When developing I don't wear sweaters or other soft clothes that have a lot of fibers and dust in them.

Thats a good tip Melvin.
How far should this be taken?😀

regards
CW

 

[Sparrow]

[/B]

Thats a good tip Melvin.
How far should this be taken?😀

regards
CW

Well ... our cat knows to stay out of the darkroom 😉

Humidity is the best way to keep the dust down, above 70% or so any static charges disperse, slower drying but less dust

 

[Freakscene]

[/b] Thats a good tip Melvin.
How far should this be taken?😀
regards
CW

When I worked in a commercial darkroom we had an air ioniser and microfilter, the water was reverse osmosis and filtered to 0.22 microns. I wore a hair and beard net and wore a lab coat that had been washed in RO water and I sprayed everything down with a fine mist of water before handling films.

Life is nothing if you're not obsessed.

Marty

 

[dwaoka]

I make sure that everybody goes to sleep before I'm finished and ready to hang wet films. It means that nobody is using bathroom (no dust flying around) during the night wen they're drying.

 

[Sparrow]

When I worked in a commercial darkroom we had an air ioniser and microfilter, the water was reverse osmosis and filtered to 0.22 microns. I wore a hair and beard net and wore a lab coat that had been washed in RO water and I sprayed everything down with a fine mist of water before handling films.

Life is nothing if you're not obsessed.

Marty

At college the ventilators were filtered and there were beeswax panels on the walls to collect airborne dust they seemed to work quite well, I tried spray-mount in a similar way but it only remained tacky for a week or two.

 

[arthur sadowsky]

Hey Douwe,

my congrats on the great set of pics! I checked your Contax b/w's on Flickr and really love them: please keep up your talented work!!

(And yes, anything Contax rocks - nothing can touch its quality and performance🙂!!)

And I use fuji neopan 1600 and tmax 400, this one was shot on neopan 1600, with a contax carl zeiss 135mm f/2.8 sonnar. Wide open at 1/30s with a monopod.

 

[robert blu]

The most useful trick I adopted is the salat spinner after the final rinse before drying. Since that no more water marks.
robert

 

[matt352]

Chamfering the ends of negatives makes sleeving them easier.