Drying marks, drying marks, drying marks

[jrong]

THis is a problem that is driving me spare...

I always have problems when drying 35mm negs, and NEVER with 120 film. I use Ilfotol wetting agent, mixed in with water, dip my negs in the solution before hanging up to dry.

I don't use a squeegee because of potential scratching problems. I do however, run my fingers over the wet negs to remove excess water, and then leave the rest to dry.

The problem is, we have very hard water here in London. Or maybe its the Ilfotol. The film frequently dries with lots of awful residue and drying marks on the negs. I can't easily wipe off the marks with cotton gloves either, and often have to resoak, but that is just tedious. It is driving me nuts. I can't afford to use distilled water every time I want to wash negs.

Can anyone suggest anything to help????

 

[hiwatt]

😀 ....can you afford a Brita caraffe+filter? 'cause that'll sweeten tap water a lot. In fact that's what I use for diluting soups and for final wash and I'm fine (got hard water too to start with).

 

[peterc]

I have found that different brands of film seem more prone to drying problems than others.
My standard is one drop of Photo-Flo in a litre of water.
On Agfa and Maco films, I get spots and residue galore.
Fuji films ... not nearly as much work with my Antistaticum cloth is required.
Ilford films ... clean from end to end.
I have no explanation.

Peter

 

[stevew]

Film drying.

Film drying.

We all have our techniques. The method I've used for about 30 years:use diltilled or filtered water for the final photoflo dip.

After the film is hung with the emulsion facing me, I wipe with "Kimwipes" (a scientific grade paper towel) folded several times to cushion and absorb water. I wipe slowly down the back first, then fold the Kimwipe again and wipe down the emulsion side next removing all water. Then I wipe down the backside again removing all water.

If done carefully: no scratches and film that dries clean with no water spots.

Now if you had dropped the film on the floor and it has dirt on it, you would probably scratch it.

 

[berci]

Hey jrang,

I develop my negatives in Londonn too and had been having problems with drying marks even when I used some sort of wetting agent.

Too much of it can cause its own drying marks.

And then one day I found some very cheap de-ionised water in Tesco and it has solved my drying mark problem.

After the final long wash I fill the tank with that de-ionised (distilled) water and leave it for five minutes or sometimes slightly longer and then I just hang the film in the bathroom. Ah, and I do use a Paterson film squeege that has very soft rubber surface, softer than my fingers.

No drying marks at all.

Berci

 

[markinlondon]

You too, Jin. I seem to be going through a bad patch of this. There was a thread the other day where Bill Mattocks gave some very useful advice. I think it's down to central heating and low humidity, I know my film's drying much faster than it does in the summer. It seems to make no difference whether I use wetting agent or not. I might try drying in the bathroom after running the shower to boost the humidity.

Tried the Brita filter, some improvement. Next roll I'll use the wetting agent but I have to buy a new bottle first.

I only shoot 35mm so can't comment on different formats.

Mark

 

[markinlondon]

Berci,

how cheap is that deionised water?

Mark

 

[berci]

I use this:
Carplan De-Ionized Water1lt BottleProduct info £0.69

Tetra De-Ionised Water1 Litre £0.69 and the
Tesco Ironing Water 1 LitreProduct info £0.64 which is the same.

 

[eric]

THis is a problem that is driving me spare...

I

Can anyone suggest anything to help????

I can't afford distilled H20 either but what I found lately that works really well is to buy a liter of distilled H20, add your wetting agent to it, and then some rubbing alchohol. The alchohol helps evaporation and it also kills the scum. I've been resuing a gallon of this stuff so far for about 15 rolls.

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

You can use Eclipse (I think that's the name of the solution; I have it at home) to clean your negatives. It works like a charm. I did it for a few that had some streaks because I was a little bit impatient, and the last frames showed some residue. Use special application pads, and slightly rub...very very gently. Dries instantly.

 

[wintoid]

Yeehaaa here comes the cowboy. I'm in London too and recently had enough of drying marks. I now skip the wetting agent, run a bowl of warm water with Fairy liquid as if I was about to wash up dishes, and wash the film in that. It's covered in soap suds when I take it out, and I hang it up, and then sluice regular tap water once down each side. No more drying marks whatsoever!

 

[Ara Ghajanian]

Just to confirm: I was having the same problem and I switched to distilled water for my wetting agent. Problem solved. I also use distilled water with the developer, but I use tap water for every other stage in the process. Try it.
Ara

 

[x-ray]

You should not use deionixed or distilled water to mix your developer. A few years ago my Kodak rep said not to do that. Also deionized water may have a slightly different PH than tap water and alter the activity of your developer.

Distilled or deionized water and wetting agent is the trick. I use Kodak photoflo and dilute it about tripple what Kodak recommends. I had drying issues whan using the recommended strength. Also using pure denatured alcohol or isopropyl around 100% will also work extremely well if you soak your film in it for a couple of minutes and then hang to dry. In the 60's there was a product that I used to use that was a rapid drying agent and was pure alcohol.

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=5045

 

[jrong]

Thanks for all the input. I've yet to find a bottle of distilled water in either my local Sainsburys or Tescos. Methinks I need to find a bigger outlet!

I guess I've been using overly high concentrations of Ilfotol too.... I'll try filtering my water tonight and then using only a drop, instead of 2-3.

 

[jrong]

I managed to find de-ionised water in the bigger branch of Tescos near Hammersmith. It certainly took a lot of searching! Even my nearest Shell garage was "all sold out". I tried a bit of the water in a spray-bottle mixed with a minute amount of Ilfosol, and it worked -- no more drying marks!!!! I am astounded.

Cheers!
Jin

 

[oftheherd]

I have found that different brands of film seem more prone to drying problems than others.
My standard is one drop of Photo-Flo in a litre of water.
On Agfa and Maco films, I get spots and residue galore.
Fuji films ... not nearly as much work with my Antistaticum cloth is required.
Ilford films ... clean from end to end.
I have no explanation.

Peter

I noticed Ilford dried better than other films 30 years ago when I got back into photography, while in Korea. It was the most amazing thing to watch. I would check every few minutes. Ilford film would not allow water to sit in small droplets, but absorded into the emulsion. Kodak hanging next to it would spot from the little water droplets.

I don't know what Ilford did then, but obviously they are still doing it and other film makers would have done well to look into what they do differently. It is great film for the negatives it produces both in tonality and in lack of water spots.

Sheesh, now I need to go out and get some more.

 

[Rico]

Distilled water is simple and totally effective. Money-saving tip: reuse. In my darkroom era, I kept a jug of distilled water for final rinse. After a brief soak, I just poured it back. One gallon of distilled should last a few decades!

 

[jano]

distilled water and deionized water are two different things.. right? Both are low in impurities. I remember from chem lab years ago NOT to drink de-i water. It'll strip your body of nutrients!

 

[kaiyen]

Jano - correct, they are two different things. De-ionized water will help get a lot of the impurities out. Distilling water gets almost all of them out.

And reusing distilled water kind of defeats the purpose of using distilled water...

it's only $.64 a gallon here at wal-mart. I eventually bought my own little countertop distiller that I use. I run it nonstop for a couple of days and I got a good 12 gallons that lasts me more than a month. I have not seen any change to my power bill of note.

allan