Drying developed film

[ravid905]

I just finished developing my first roll of black and white. First off let me say thanks to everyone on RFF for the inspiration to give it a shot. It actually looks like I may have done a relatively decent job. Now to the question. How long do you leave it to dry? The film being flimsy when it first came out, I want to make sure I wait long enough before I start cutting it into sections.

I hate that I gotta wait until Wednesday to try to get some prints off of them, no negative scanner, and my darkroom is my dev tank , chems and my bedroom at night, but at least its a good start. Thanks again for everything.

 

[ravid905]

Sorry, I didnt notice there was a forum for darkroom, I usually follow the links I see on the front page.

 

[ChrisN]

Hi - it depends on the temp and humidity to some extent. I hang mine in the small bathroom, with the exhaust fan running, and find I can cut and scan after about an hour, maybe 90 minutes if I want to be on the safe side.

There may be a good reason for leaving it longer - does anyone know if the negs get harder and more scratch-resistant with longer drying?

 

[pesphoto]

Congrats on your first rolls. Glad it worked out. About drying, kinda depends on the conditions. As it dries watch how the film changes. When totally dry it has a slight curve on the shinier side. You'll want to have a hanger(clothespin) on the bottom of the roll so it doesnt curl.

 

[pesphoto]

oh, if youre really anxious a careful dose of a hairdryer on low will speed up your process.

 

[ravid905]

I have been keeping track of the temp for a couple of days, and it's a steady 22 celcius ( don't know farenheit ). Humidity isn't that bad either. I'm thinking that maybe I'll just leave it hanging over night, and cut it up in the morning. I probably scratched them on my own anyway, I had a hell of a time getting the film into the spiral. I tried it with an old out of date roll in the light, thought I had it down pretty good, but I guess it's a whole other ball game in the dark. There wasn't anything special on the roll, just a quick blast through the other day.

 

[pesphoto]

It takes a few tries to get the hang of the steel reels. Dont give up on them though. I remember some days spending like 20 minutes trying to get a roll on straight. Now its easy as can be.
The key is starting it off straight and dont make it bow too much if at all when winding it on.

 

[wintoid]

Temperatures here in the UK vary quite a lot from day to day, especially at the moment, so I find there's no good rule of thumb for how long to dry film. I've taken to touch the film with my fingers as it hangs.... not on a frame, obviously, but on the black leader. You can feel quite noticeably whether it's tacky. If it's tacky, I leave it a bit longer.

 

[jrong]

Film usually dries within 2 hours for me here, maybe a little longer if I have left it with lots of water left on it. I always squeegee my film with my fingers, and as an extra precaution against drying marks, I use lens tissue to dab off any big water droplets. Distilled water or not, I always used to get drying marks with 35mm negs until I started doing this.

I do not hang film to dry in a humid shower cabinet as some other people may do to minimise dust particles, so a few hours is sufficient to dry film.

 

[Avotius]

since im never in a hurry to dry negatives I let them hang overnight in my kitchen, which I dont cook in and about 5-6 feet away from a window opened a little bit

 

[ffttklackdedeng]

oh, if youre really anxious a careful dose of a hairdryer on low will speed up your process.

Ups, I wouldn't do this - the more air you blow on the wet film, the more dust you will 'burn in'.. Except if there are no dust particles in your flat 😀

Robert

 

[rxmd]

It is possible to rinse film in alcohol as the last bath. You get a dry film in five minutes, without drying marks either.

Philipp

 

[rxmd]

oh, if youre really anxious a careful dose of a hairdryer on low will speed up your process.

Robert Capa lost 90% of his photos from Omaha Beach that way.

Philipp

 

[pesphoto]

Ups, I wouldn't do this - the more air you blow on the wet film, the more dust you will 'burn in'.. Except if there are no dust particles in your flat 😀

Robert

Ive done it on occasion if I had to and it works fine if youre careful. Dont hold it too close and only once or twice up and down the strip speeds up the drying. Otherwise it hangs in my drying cabinet.

 

[RichardS]

When it's dry it is dry. And it is dry when there are no longer any specks, droplets, whatever you want to call them, of water on the film. It shouldn't take longer than a couple of hours unless you are drying the film in a place with very high humidity.

Using a squeegee on the film will help with the drying.

Dick

 

[ravid905]

Thanks for all the replies, they are dry now. I guess I just wanted to make sure I did as much right this time so as not to be discouraged in the future. One thing I can say though is my cutting technique really sucks. I think I might have cut slightly into a couple of adjoining negs. Oh well, just have to learn where exactly my scissors cut. All in all, a good experience, one of many more to come.

 

[kaiyen]

There is nothing wrong with using a hair dryer, per se. The issue is whethe dust gets in between the nozzle of the dyer an the film. The 3 dryers I've used so far hae sufficient filter in the back, on the intake, that very little if any dust makes it out the nozzle. I dry my film, with hair dryer, on the reel, in a cylindrical tuble. So dust doesn't get in from the tube, either. Absolutely, positively dust free. Curly as heck, but dust free and dry in 15 minutes.

If you go with a garment bag drying cabinet, put a fan on top. The enclosed space with 5-6 rolls of film takes forever becuase of humidity.

 

[vicmortelmans]

It is possible to rinse film in alcohol as the last bath. You get a dry film in five minutes, without drying marks either.

Hmmm, that's quite a remarkable technique. I may hope you're not kidding? Isn't alcohol a kind of solvent? (temporarily solves some problems, at least)

How long should the film stay in the alcohol?

Does film absorbs the fluids it's in, or is it just a surface reaction? If it absorbs, it should stay long enough in the alcohol to wash out the absorbed water.

What about reusability?

How many films can you hang out before the vapours start to cause a hangover the next morning?

For sure, you're not kidding? Are you?

Groeten,

Vic

 

[rxmd]

Hi Vic,

no, I'm definitely not kidding.

I normally rinse film for about a minute. Alcohol is a solvent, but then so is water, and film apparently isn't affected. There was a discussion on this topic on a German lab forum some time ago where one participant (a chemist) stated that he has been using alcohol for 20 years now without experiencing any process or archivability problems.

Maybe you shouldn't use just any alcohol because methanol can be quite poisonous. With denaturized ethanol it apparently depends on the denaturizing component according to the abovementioned chemist; camphor leaves a residue, petrol ether doesn't. You can buy it at a chemist's and ask. Non-denaturized 96% ethanol is available in the form of Polish vodka in shops over here, that's what I use. There are people using 70-80% isopropanol, too. In general the concentration should high (over 70%) just to ensure quick drying, after all if your alcohol is two thirds water you could have used water to begin with. Tetenal used to sell an alcohol-based quick drying bath called "Drysonal" (they still do). That's the expensive solution 🙂

Reusability is not a problem. You do lose some alcohol over time due to evaporation, but then it lasts for ages and is so cheap that this is not much of a consideration.

I guess the vapours from the alcohol are the least problem after all the other vapours in the darkroom.

Philipp

 

[danwilly]

When the film reverses its curl you know it is dry. Usually about 40 minutes in my Wisconsin climate. If there is a hardener in your fixer than it is less susceptible to scratching in the handling process. I use a fan and don't have any problem with dust. I keep a can of compressed air handy and spray every negative before placing it in the enlarger. There are alcohol-based alcohol film cleaners out there that work pretty good. Just wet up two fingers of white cotton gloves and "squegee" the film between your fingers.