Squeegee or not?

Squeegee or not?

  • Squeegee

    Votes: 93 33.0%

  • Drip-dry

    Votes: 189 67.0%
  • Total voters
    282
I used to squeegee with a sponge and Photo-Flo but ran into trouble with sheet film. I swithced to Edwal LFN and drip dried. I never had any more problems. If a water spot shows up it will come off with film cleaner.
 
Wet a chamois - real or artificial - pull the film across the chamois two to three times on each side, and hang to dry. No scratches, no water marks.
 
ed1k said:
but I do real printing.
Click to expand...

I take issue with this formulation, personally. Inkjet printing is as real as any other printing method.

I tried a few rolls of drip-dry and just cannot get it to dry without really bad spotting. I went back to the sponge, though very gently. I would like to try those photowipes though!
 
squeegeed once or twice
BUT ended up preferring
a Quick Spin of the Fingers down the roll
once I do a thinned down version of ILFOTOL /wetting agent

anyone interested in a squeegee :)
PM me its Yours
Best- H
 
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I don't develop much film now, but when I did I never squeeged. Just use Photoflow wash. Another good suggestion is to hang the strip at a 45 degree angle so the water will run off of each frame separately, instead of cascading down the entire film strip. I always used to hang vertically and never had any problems.

/T
 
I always use a Jobo squeegee and always rinse the blades well then shake them dry immediately before I use it. Never have any problems with scratches. I don't use any wetting agent but I do have the advantage of living in a soft water area.
 
I have a small, cheap Kindermann dryer. I drop reels into it, push the button and wait for 45min or so. No squeegee needed.
 
Any physical contact risks damage. All you need is piece of grit on the squeegee that failed to wash off when you prewet it or something on the film that you scrap down thus damaging multiple frames instead of one.

An air compressor is best to remove excess water if you are in a hurry.
 
What I do is first run some hot water into the bath so there's a bit of humidity to reduce airborne dust, then during the rinse and for the final rinse I use wetting agent, and hang the film over the bath and let it drip-dry.

I'm in a hard water area, but so far I've never had any water marks and very few problems with dust.
 
Never. I use PhotoFlo at half the recommended concentration in distilled water, shake the film, and have never had scratches or water marks. The distilled water is worth it, considering how much you spend on time, film, and chemicals. The DW portion cost ($0.79 gallon) is $0.09/roll 120 (9 rolls per gallon) or $0.05/roll 35mm (16 rolls per gallon).
 
My final film dunk is in Photoflo, then I hand up the film, then dunk my two fingers in the Photoflo where I just had then film, then finger squeege. I never have spots on my film.
 
Never squeege films.

But prints... not necessary for RC, but I have yet to make a satisfactory FB prints worth fixing, let alone wash and dry :bang::bang:
 
I really can't think of any good reason for a squeegee to be involved anywhere in the darkroom, except for maybe a big floor squeegee when cleaning up the wet area of a big gang darkroom.
 
No matter how careful I was, no matter how clean I got the squeegee, no matter what...I've always noticed small scratches on the film. Nope. Drip dry for me. But prints, yes.
 
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