Help me get my Film Flat!

[anaanda]

I develop a lot of film myself I just can't get the final product completely flat. Can anyone tell me what to do? I also shoot a lot of XP2 super and Kodak 400CN and its much easier to scan because it comes back from the lab FLAT!...

Thanks in advance

 

[kaiyen]

Which way is it curling? End to end or side to side? How are you drying it? At home? Dry environment? Humid one?

allan

 

[broadie]

This happens to me too....I develop Tri-x myself, and it always curls up (side-to side curling, the kind that makes it hard to put them in the sleeves). I've learned to better time my drying--I take them down after about a half an hour in the film dryer with no or low heat. They still come out a bit curled, so I press them between a large glass table and a set of large books...after a day or so they are nice and flat and can be worked with. Hope this helps! I'd be open to any new/better solutions as well if anyone has them!

 

[kmack]

I sleeve the negitives and then use a copy of Dreadnaught on top and a copy of Cryptonomicon on the bottom over night. Does the trick for me every time. Either is also great reading while batch scanning.

 

[lushd]

If it's end to end, I have found that leaving it hanging for an extra hour when drying sorts that out. I live in damp old England though, so film stays pretty relaxed.

Cryptonomicon is an excellent read as well as a useful weight.

 

[matti]

Since I stopped using plastig negative holders and switched to the paper stuff (whatever it's called) both my tri-x, Ilford and efke-stuff (yeah both three of them 🙂 ) turns flat in a couple of days in the binder. But the old stuff that still suffers in the plastic is still curled.

/matti

 

[kaiyen]

Film curls when it is dried without enough humdity. If you're using the hair dryer method, the good news is that the curl is almost _all_ lengthwise. It's curly as heck, but you can straighten that out pretty well. Just put a bunch of books and you're okay.

Side-side curl is harder. It is when you hang dry, there isn't enough humidity, _and_ you've hung it improperly from whatever hangers you are using. I use plain clothes hangers, and I have to be careful to clip just the very, very end of the film right in the middle. Then I do the same at the bottom end. If I clip too much and/or not in the middle, it starts to twist.

allan

 

[anaanda]

its curling side to side, its dry where I live in San Diego...so I guess I will have to put large books on top of the negs?? I haven't tried a hair dryer, I just let let them drip dry overnight....

 

[StuartR]

Taping the sides does wonders during scanning...even if you have a special holder. See if you can get the residue free tape from your local camera store. As for drying, if you are using your bathroom to develop (well...I do, I don't know if anyone else does), you can turn the shower on the hottest setting for a little while until it steams up the room. Then let the steam dissipate. It has the dual effect of removing most of the dust from the air, and making it humid. Otherwise, the book idea works well. I use the giant national geographic world atlas for stubborn negatives.

 

[boilerdoc2]

Nobody mentioned it but I presume you dip the wet, washed film in Photo Flo before hanging right?

 

[joshmlevine]

The last time I developed Lucky film it dried with a terrible side-side curve. I cut the film as usual and placed it into neg carriers. I then put this at the bottom of a heavy (photography) book, and left it in a warm room. When I looked again two days later, it was totally flat, and scanned without a problem.

 

[kaiyen]

The warm room part might have some merit. For a more extreme case of using warmth on bent negs, try:
http://www.dantestella.com/technical/bentnegs.html

allan

 

[broadie]

Well, in my case I use photo-flo, but that doesn't seem to prevent the side-to-side curling...I like the shower idea, I will definitely do that in the future.

 

[titrisol]

Hang them in the bathroom and just before you are ready to do it run the shower for a minute or two to "steam" the room and get enough humidity in the air
This will not onluy help with curl but also will settle the dust and eliminate static electricity from the room.

its curling side to side, its dry where I live in San Diego...so I guess I will have to put large books on top of the negs?? I haven't tried a hair dryer, I just let let them drip dry overnight....

 

[StuartR]

deja vu!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[sfb_dot_com]

Jenga works for me, and if you've got the giant version even better!!

Andy
ps staying in Cornwall at the moment, so dryness is definitely not the main problem 😛