How do you Rinse/Dry negatives

[Gereonb]

I am having terrible results in the drying department. Mostly get streaks/areas of water drying on the negs that have lots of silver spots. I have tried to eliminate the stabiliser and photo-flo as a cause by using the demineralised/deionised water on sale for ironing, but i am unsure of how to handle the film, i.e.:

- take it off the spool while rinsing ?
- manually rinse film using fingers in the flo ?
- when hanging up use fingers to remove the water ?
- do the photo squeegee things improve it ?
- not touch the film at all and hang it straight from the spool ?

It seems the silver (or just dark) particles are suspended in the water so removing as much water as possible when drying is necessary else they dry onto the film.

 

[Gereonb]

Here is a rather extreme example from one of my negs, you can clearly see the white crap suspended in the water on the bottom half of the frame.

 

[nikon_sam]

I'm not sure it's the same process for color film but for B&W I rinse as indicated then dump out all water from the developing tank add a pinch of Photo-Flo then place reel/reels back in tank then fill the tank with water...I allow the film to sit in the Photo-Flo for a bit then (using Paterson reels) open the reels dump the film back into the Photo-Flo, place tank with film in shower, pull film from tank and hang (clip clothes pin to bottom of film)...
I do not touch the film until it's dry...
That's how I do it and it's worked for me...

 

[Particular]

You didn't specify what process you are developing. I am assuming C-41.

I am having similar problems with the Tetenal powder kit. I also use distilled water, but still get marks. My sense is that they are the stabilizer crystalizing on the film while it dries. Curiously it only happens on the base side, not on the emulsion side. I have been wiping it down with my fingers and even with a pec-pad (lint free cloth), but they persist. I basically end up having to remove the marks with Rexton film cleaner, which luckily works well, but is a pain. I am considering getting a bottle of liquid stabilizer from kodak to use instead of the powder. Hopefully that will resolve it.

 

[Particular]

What is curious is that I don't have any problems with 120 negatives that I develop in the same batch and treat exactly the same way, just with 35mm.
I develop in a jobo tank, and after washing open the reel and drop the film into an open container with stabilizer + LFN wetting agent, and after a minute or so I wipe it down with my fingers and hang it over the bath tub.

 

[useless generation]

For B&W what i do is fill and dump the tank with water for 5, 10 then 20 inversions. Then fill the tank again with ilford wetting agent and swish it around and dump. Then i run the hot shower to steam it up and take the negative strip off the reel and hang it in there. If there is alot of excess water i use my fingers insted of film squeegee as i find they scratch the negatives. Then i let it dry and once its dry and flat when its in the negative holders i hold it up to the light and use a fine micro fibre towel to carefully rub any water marks off the shiny side of the film.

 

[Gereonb]

Hi CNNY, i am using the tetenal C-41 kit but the fluid one.
I have ran my Dev and Blix though coffee filters to get out any particles.
After the blix i rinse the spool in closed tank for 4 minutes using warm tap water.
I have separate baths of stab and of photoflo both made using distilled water.
I have tried only-stab, stab&flo, only-flo all with the same results (silver/dark spots on the base side of the film only !).

Next roll i am going to try to hang with no touching like nikon_sam suggested, i also just got a film squeegee so will try that on the film after next.

 

[Gereonb]

Sooo ...
- standard rinse through with tap water after the blix (reel still in tank)
- reel out of the tank and dipped it in bath of tetenal stab for a minute or two
- film straight off reel and hung up using jobo clip, no touching with fingers

Good results, no water marks, no spots, very little scratches or dust. WIN!.
I will try another film this weekend using the squeegee and compare.

 

[mfogiel]

Try this:
after the wash with running water, empty the tank, and fill it with demineralized water additioned of a few drops of photo flo and about 5-10% of total volume of clear denaturated alcohol. Move the reels a bit in this solution for 1 minute. Then take out the reels, hung the film and rinse the film strips with the solution that is left in the tank. After that, take the bottom clips of your film strips between your fingers and pull them away from vertical for a minute, in order to allow the liquid to flow away along the edges of the film. That's it.

 

[alfredian]

Distilled = Demineralized Water

Distilled = Demineralized Water

After rinsing w/running tap water (hypo-clear first) just move the reels to another container with distilled/demineralized water in it. Swish & swirl the reels around, dunking up & down. This removes all the water. If you are very thorough, move the reels to a second, fresh container of distilled water and repeat the swishing & dunking, then just hang from clips to dry - don't touch the film with anything.

It should dry without water spots, etc. If you have powder residues remaining, you may need to filter w/paper (coffee) filters before you use the chemicals.

Years ago I used Photo-Flo & squeegees, sponges, fingers, etc. and always had spots & streaks. Distilled water, agititated, removes the stuff before it has a chance to dry on.

 

[Johnmcd]

Step 1. For B/W films I use the Ilford method of washing (ie. 5 inversions then empty, the 10 then 20). I use normal tap water. Then 5mls of Photoflo to a litre of water which I pour half into the tank and swirl around a bit. Then upstairs to the bathroom.

Step 2. In the clean hand basin I empty the tank (of photoflo mix) and the remaining 500ml of photoflo mix. I then unravel the film (35mm or 120mm) and attach a hanging clip to one end and a large paper clip to the other (as a weight). I then submerge one end of the film and slowly draw the whole length through the photoflo mix, making sure no bubbles are left on the film. My objective is to make sure I have an even 'coating' of photoflo on the film as I bring it up to the vertical. This way it flows down and off the film quickly and evenly.

Step 3. I then hang in the bathroom and let no one inside until they are dry so that any opening of the door will not cause dust to fly about. If I am in a rush and it is winter I place a radiator style heater in there as well (no fan operating).

I DO NOT use fingers or equivalent. I used to for many years and had mixed result. At the very worst it scratched the film. But by doing the above I never have water marks or scratches.

Hope this helps.

Cheers - John

 

[Haigh]

I rinse twice in distilled water with a few drops of Ilford rinseaid? washaid? I then hang them up in a room and leave them so as not to stir the air. Works well for me.

 

[Gereonb]

I found my ideal method now.
My Tetenal stab seems to leave some residue if i hang it straight from there.
What i now have is a last bath of Demineralised water with photoflo in it, it is a rectangular bath and i dump the film right off the spool into that, i clip a clip on each end of the film then hold the film between my right and left hands and draw it through the bath making sure the top end comes out first so the most water is left at the bottom end then just hang it.
Perfect results every time, not one single spot or streak.

 

[zauhar]

I appreciate your bringing this up, as others state that there is no need for an additional photoflo rinse at the end, as the stabilizer has detergent in it.

However, like you if I don't use photoflo at the end, my color negatives are a bit of a mess, in my case with some gucky residue that simply won't dry. I resorted to use negative cleaner (pec solution) to clean them off.

Randy