removing water marks from dried film?

dogbunny

dogbunny

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So I developed my first roll last night and everything went pretty well. I used D76, Ilford rapid fixer and distilled water for a stop bath. For the final rinse I used tap water run through a Brita filter (ran out of distilled water) and a drop of dish soap. I have water marks over most of the film. They do come off if I rub them a bit using a mircofiber cloth that I use for cleaning my computer screen. I'm just worried about creating scratches or otherwise damaging the negatives. As the marks come of fairly easily, I am pretty certain they are just water marks and not chemical residue. I guess I will try to pick up some photoflo for the next roll.

In an unrelated question, I waited for them to dry, cut and sleeved them, and put them in a heavy book over night, but they all still curl pretty bad. How could I have avoided the heavy curling? The film was Acros 100.

Thanks in advance.

DB
 
I just breathe on them and wipe with a cloth or T-shirt- the water marks have always been on the not-emulsion side in my experience. works fine for me.

if they're still curly, maybe you need to squish them longer?

cheers.
 
Well, the Photoflo is a good idea.

For your stop bath, I would recommend several changes of regular tap water (at correct temperature) or an acid stop bath. Either of these methods will minimize carryover of the alkaline developer over to your fixer.

For a final rinse, the Photoflo you mentioned will work well. If you use distilled water, you would probably not need any Photoflo, or a drop or two at most (this is what I use). Brita filter, if it is less than 30 days old, will take a lot of minerals out of your tap water, but it will still contain plenty to dry on your film.
 
If you dry your film in a very dry environment, it will tend to curl more than if it is dried in a damp environment.

When the film looks dry and is dry to the touch, just, it is not near as dry as it would be if you left it to dry for about ten hours. If you let it fully dry, it will curl much less.
 
thanks for the responses

thanks for the responses

jmcd said:
When the film looks dry and is dry to the touch, just, it is not near as dry as it would be if you left it to dry for about ten hours. If you let it fully dry, it will curl much less.
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Thanks, That is probably the issue. I waited a couple of hours. I should have been more patient. As Mooge said above, the spots appear to be on the smooth side. Okay, next time I will try photoflo, only distilled water and I will try to be more patient before taking the negatives down to cut them up.

Groovy. Thanks,

DB
 
my experience is dry the film with the window open, let the breeze blow away the moist on the film surface. it takes about 1 to 2 hours to fully dry and ready to be sleeved.
 
There is no need to use distilled water for anything except the final rinse. I don't know about HK's water, but I live in the Arizona desert, where the water has over half a gram of dissolved solids in every liter (which is a lot.) This has little effect on the actions of developer or fix solutions, which contain many grams of chemicals per liter. Since the final rinse is what remains on the film while drying, it is important to introduce as few dissolved solids as possible. Dish soap, while effective as a wetting agent, is not formulated to dry without residue, even at high dillutions. At the recommended dilution, Photoflo does not leave a residue.
 
A little Kodak or Edwal Film Cleaner with a cotton ball will take care of it...
I haven't seen water spots on my film in years...I'm using tap water for everything...rinse in water then let it sit in Photo-Flo for a bit...hang to dry in the shower...
 
"I just breathe on them and wipe with a cloth or T-shirt"

Ditto, it works for me.

Also, I've used photoflo and gave up because I was still getting spots with it.

A final water rinse, a couple sponges to squeegee it down, and hang it in my home made drying box for the night and it's good.

As for the curling, I have used some films that just curl really bad, period. I don't know about Acros because I have not developed that one myself, but with some others, there's just no getting away from it.

About using a chemical Stop-Bath - just be careful. I found out the hard way that some developers really don't like anything but a water-stop-bath. I've wiped complete rolls because of this. Read all the writing on the developer bottle carefully and make sure it's save to use a chemical stop-bath for that specific developer if you decide to use it. Water-stop works just fine though.
 
Pirate said:
"I just breathe on them and wipe with a cloth or T-shirt"

Ditto, it works for me.

Also, I've used photoflo and gave up because I was still getting spots with it.

A final water rinse, a couple sponges to squeegee it down, and hang it in my home made drying box for the night and it's good.

As for the curling, I have used some films that just curl really bad, period. I don't know about Acros because I have not developed that one myself, but with some others, there's just no getting away from it.

About using a chemical Stop-Bath - just be careful. I found out the hard way that some developers really don't like anything but a water-stop-bath. I've wiped complete rolls because of this. Read all the writing on the developer bottle carefully and make sure it's save to use a chemical stop-bath for that specific developer if you decide to use it. Water-stop works just fine though.
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Which ones? I'm not doubting that it's happened to you: it's just that it's never happened to me in 45 years or so. Nor do I recall any warnings ion developer bottles, but then, there are far more developers I haven't tried than ones that I have.

Cheers,

R.
 
Rollei developers say not to use a chemical Stop-Bath. It's in one of my threads here. I didn't notice it on the label but after a roll or two came out wiped clean, one of the guys here read the label for me and informed me of what I'd missed. I was using Eco-Pro Stop Bath. I switched to a water-stop and everything has been fine since.

When using Tetenal Neofin Blau, I never had a problem with a chemical stop-bath.

I'm about to start using D76 for the first time and will use a Water-Stop with it also.
 
When using the Rollei dev, after the stop and while I was doing the rinse, I noticed a lot of dark stuff in the liquid I was dumping out. Later, pulling out the blank film told me it was all the pictures I had taken. Live and learn.
 
+1 for photo-flo. And I remove the water by using two cellulose kitchen sponges (used only for film, not for anything else), one on each side of the film. I hold them very lightly, applying almost no pressure at all, just enough to keep them from falling; and move them very slowly down the film, taking maybe 30 seconds. Firm pressure is to be avoided, due to risk of scratching (I've never scratched film with this procedure). Sponges go back into their ziplock bag when finished, to keep them clean and moist. I replace the sponges from time to time. New ones are moistened with photo-flo and rung out. From there on out, the photo-flo picked up from the film keeps them conditioned.
 
A huff and a soft cloth removes water marks nicely (they show up even after using rinse aid in the final soak). The best cure for film curling/bowing that I found, was to switch to polyester-based Rollei Retro films. ;)
 
A small trick I use to deal with the "curly" films (and I won't name brands but Fuji Acros hasn't been one in my experience) is to roll the film up into a loose loop about 3" - 4" in diameter and have the "curled side" facing out. I leave this for a night and usually a lot of the curl is gone. To do this I use the "tubes" I get from the pro labs who do my 120 E6. They use these cardboard tubes to wrap the film after sleeving it. It eliminates any possible bends in the film occuring in their shop enroute to the customer.

For extreme curvature I will sometimes roll the film (both 135 and 120) back into an empty 35mm film cannister " curved side out". This method usually needs a half day. FWIW, I always use cotton gloves for handling the film
 
how do you see watermarks? i just developed my first roll an hour ago, can i see watermarks visually or only after i scan the film?
 
I saw them by holding the film up to the light and moving the film slightly back and forth. For me they were on the smooth side--the side without the emulsion.
 
dogbunny said:
I saw them by holding the film up to the light and moving the film slightly back and forth. For me they were on the smooth side--the side without the emulsion.
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just checked mine no watermarks detected.
how long did you dry your film?
 
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